In Memory of My Grandfather – Wallace York

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. – 1 Timothy 4:7-8

Tonight Wallace York entered the presence of God.  My “Pips” has struggled over the past month, and tonight his pain ended and perfect joy began.  The death of a loved one, a grandfather, who was the very definition of faithfulness and glad Christian service produces truly mixed feelings.  No longer will I be able to call upon his wisdom, or compare sermon notes, but no longer will he suffer, and no longer will the effects of a fallen world ravage and deteriorate his body.  I will miss him tremendously—as a matter of fact I am watching Shane, one of his favorite Westerns, just because it reminds me of him (I am not referring to Alan Ladd’s appearance, as much as he would have loved to suggest that)—but now he stands before the throne of God and more than ever understands the words “holy” and “worthy.”

It seems so reductionistic, perhaps even insulting to try and distill the effect of a man whose influence is as much a part of me, and as vital to me, as the organs that sustain my body, into a meager few paragraphs.  However, at this moment my heart is overflowing and I cannot be silent.

Pips taught me what it meant to be a husband who loves his wife like Christ loved the church and he shattered the stereotype that romance fades with age.  Pips taught me at a young age that the Word of God was not ornamental to the life of a Christian, but integral.  His ability to quote Scripture would have humbled a concordance, and it certainly humbles me.  The word that always came to my mind when I thought of Pips was the word wisdom.  I was an idolizing grandson who was in awe of his grandfather’s ability to constantly say and do the right thing.  I used to think that surely it was some sort of spiritual gift, but as I have aged, I have realized that it was quite simply a man saturated with the Word of God desiring complete obedience.

He passed on a love for the church that seeks to serve it and build it up.  He gave me a vision for the world.  My grandfather went to Brazil as a young man, but was forced to leave due to health complications, however his heart remained and he has integrally been involved in a missions agency ever since.  I was shown that a preacher must genuinely thrive on the ministry of the gospel.  Pips loved to minister to people.  He had no greater joy than telling people of his savior who had transformed him, and who would transform them.  He taught me to never wait around to be told of a need, rather to seek them out.  He would walk the halls and survey the waiting rooms of Lexington hospitals just to find people who looked like they needed to be blessed and would pray with them and share the hope that is found in Christ.  He demonstrated to me a love for the pulpit.  I do not know of anyone who loved to preach more than Pips.  While many preachers his age rested on the comfort of well-worn sermons, Pips was constantly writing new sermons.  Every time I visited him he was working on some sermon, and I had unspeakable joy in comparing study notes with him.  The last time he preached he could not stand, so he had his church place a chair on the platform and he preached sitting down.  Oh that God may so captivate my heart with the conviction of the potency and sufficiency of His Word!

The last time that I heard Pips preach he preached a sermon on what separates Christianity from other religions.  The third point of his sermon was “A Rent [torn] Veil.”  I remember sitting there in awe and humbled by this sermon, and wishing that I could preach like that.  His point was that because of Christ’s sacrifice we may have intimacy with the great I AM.  When I heard the news of his death this sermon immediately flashed in my mind and I rejoiced because Christ’s sacrifice and the resulting intimacy with the Father mean more to Pips than they ever have.

Pips had several maxims and speeches that he repeated ad infinitum.  He had a prepared speech whenever a music minister would skip over the third verse of Horatio Spafford’s hymn “It is Well.”  He always said that was the best verse, and that if the music minister skipped it he should be “taken out and shot” (one of the great joys of my life was getting to preach on the program of a conference with my father and grandfather, and even after Pips gave his speech, the music minister skipped the third verse, my father got up to preach after that and told the man that he was one of the bravest men my dad had ever met).  Here is the third verse:

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

When my Dad called tonight to give me the news he told me “We have a legacy to live up to.”  That sentence has haunted me.  My grandfather’s legacy includes several churches planted, many churches faithfully pastored, young men theologically trained at Clarksville Bible College and Lexington Baptist College, honorary doctorates, and literally thousands of lives touched around the world.  I don’t know if I can live up to a legacy like that.  Then the words of that hymn floated into my mind and I realized that these are merely things that stand as a testimony to my grandfather’s true legacy—a man passionately in love with his Savior and with telling and demonstrating the Gospel in every aspect of his life.  That is the legacy I pray that I, and all those whom my grandfather has blessed, live up to—lives lived solely and wholly for the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  I thank my God for Pips, but even more than that I thank him for Jesus Christ and my salvation and the opportunity to tell others of power of God for salvation and to serve in the name of Christ.

~ by michaelcyork on May 11, 2009.