Battle Ended

The two and one-half hours slipped by so quickly as the three of us sat at a high-top in the Starbucks in Stone Mountain, Georgia.  Just a few months ago, we were catching up on each other’s lives and ministries, sharing insights on life, and discussing concepts for impacting unreached people groups.  There was only one thing unusual—periodically our conversation turned to the subject of personal health.   

You see, my friend of four decades—Roscoe Brewer—and I seldom ever discussed our personal health through the years, but on this particular day as Roscoe, his wife Margaret, and I sat sipping our coffee, the subject surfaced a few times.  Although Margaret and I were drinking coffee, Roscoe drank a cacophony of vegetable juices that he had brought with him, to help in his battle with cancer. 

Yet, in spite of this battle, in spite of feeling poorly, and in spite of the fact that he was on his way to yet another doctor’s appointment, Roscoe’s focus was still where it had been for the vast majority of his life—on reaching people with the Good News of the Gospel. 

            The first time that Roscoe and I ever met and ministered together was in Detroit, Michigan, when he came with a team of SMITE Singers from Liberty University (then Liberty Baptist College) to speak for a regional youth rally—the Southern Michigan Youth Fellowship.  At dinner that evening, we discussed our individual ministries involving young people and global evangelism. 

By the time we went our separate ways that Saturday evening, we had made plans to minister together a few weeks later in Querétaro, Mexico with a children’s ministry team from Liberty.  The ultimate result of that ten-day evangelistic excursion was a plan that Roscoe and I hatched to open four regional SMITE (Student Missionary Intern Training for Evangelism) offices around the country. 

Our plan for regional SMITE offices never materialized, because when Roscoe returned to discuss the strategy with his senior pastor, Dr. Jerry Falwell, the plan changed!  Instead, my family and I moved from Michigan to Lynchburg, Virginia, where Roscoe and I worked together for the next three years—living out our ever-changing plans to impact our world for the cause of Jesus Christ. 

Today, when I received the news that my friend Roscoe’s battle was over—that he had stepped out of time and into eternity, my heart became heavy.  The heaviness is not for Roscoe.  Heck, he’s better now than he’s ever been!  The heaviness is for his family, who will miss him dearly, as will his many friends who are scattered around the world.

Perhaps more than any other characteristic, Roscoe’s focus on global, strategic evangelism, will forever impact and inspire my own focus for targeting specific people groups with the ministry to which we are called.  Speaking of impact and inspiration, what is yours?  What kind of impact are you making for Christ?  Whose life are you inspiring to greater effectiveness? 

And, BTW—do you pray?  If you do, why not pause now to ask God for greater wisdom in using you within the circle of your own influence.  Everyone has a circle of influence—some larger, some smaller, but we all have that circle.  And while you’re praying, would you also pray for Margaret Brewer and her family during their “journey through the valley,” experiencing the void left behind by Roscoe’s absence?

The Old Testament character Jonathan, son of King Saul, said to his dear friend David, (1 Samuel 20:18 KJV), “ … Tomorrow is the new moon: and thou shalt be missed, because thy seat will be empty.”  There will be an empty seat at the Brewer household now—the seat of a husband, of a father, of a friend.  And Roscoe will be missed.

As you read this, you may be going through a “valley” of your own.  Would you like to be encouraged and strengthened along your journey?  You can find this kind of benefit in my recent book, Leave a Well in the Valley, at www.dalepeterson.org, or if you prefer a Kindle version, www.amazon.com.

 

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