A Tribute to Elease

Last Thursday I attended the funeral service for Elease. Elease was an African-American lady who used to babysit me and my brother and sister when we were young. I learned several things from Elease during those years she kept us. Just a few are:

*The power of example. One of my clearest memories of Elease is her sitting at the kitchen table reading her little, green Gideon Bible. This impacted me to want to know God more and read His Word.

*Homemade french fries are awesome. She made the best.

*Women can preach. I know that should stir up some comments. The thing I remember most about Elease is how she would line me and my brother and sister up and preach to us. Not just lecture us - she preached to us. By the way, she was an ordained minister (Don't send me nasty comments. I didn't ordain her.) and I guess she felt we were her congregation.

*You can eat a tomato just like an apple. Yep, she used to just pick it up and bite into it.

*God often speaks in ways you don't expect. Elease used to tell me over and over that one day I was going to be a preacher. Now this was hard for me to believe since I was so shy I wouldn't talk to relatives, let alone strangers. But she was sure I would one day be a preacher. Years later when I felt the call to ministry - I remembered what Elease used to tell me.

Elease, thank you for impacting my life.