The word “remember” or a variant of it is found in Scripture over 500 times. The Israelites built altars to "remember" what God did for them. I have rocks in my office, on my bed stand, in my car, and even in my backpack with verses written on them that remind me to “remember.”
“I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.” Psalm 77:11.
I remember being baptized on January 1, 1983 (around 1 am) and received the Holy Ghost (as the Pentecostals call him) on September 11 of that year. I turned my back on my faith through middle school, high school, college, and young adulthood and remember rededicating my life to follow Jesus in October of 2000. This October 25, my wife and I will celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. Our son, Josh was born July 13, 1997, and our daughter, Jenny, was born June 4, 1999. Both of our children are married to incredible people, Josh married Olivia on August 3, 2019, and Jenny married Zach on August 12, 2022. On June 19, 2022, Maggie and I became grandparents to Avery Lynn Anderson.
I remember July 20, 2011, when I felt a calling from The Lord to “put more skin in the game” and the conversation later in August I had with Wayne Schmidt who encouraged me to take a ministerial class – who knew that was the first of 25 classes towards being ordained into the Wesleyan Church by Wayne Schmidt on October 9, 2016? This changed my life as well as my family’s life.
These events are moments in time that are etched in my mind. I couldn’t tell you too many details of what else happened on these dates, but each of these moments have had life changing impacts on my life. These are exciting anniversaries to remember.
We are called to “remember” in Scripture. We aren’t necessarily called to remember for sentimental reasons but to remember what The Lord has done for us, His faithfulness to us, and His love for us. This encourages and reminds us to be faithful to Him and His instructions in our lives. These things are easy and enjoyable to remember.
This makes sense, doesn’t it?
But……
I remember July 20, 1986, the day my younger brother, Tommy died from lymphoma. I remember February 1, 2014, the day my father passed away, and February 15, 2023, the day my mom passed, and February 1, 2016, the day my brother-in-law passed away. I remember April 24, 2007, when my mother-in-law passed away and July 25, 2011, when my father-in-law passed away.
Are we called to “remember” these dates also?
I cannot believe on January 31, 2024, it will be 38 years since one of the most life changing days in my life and yes, I remember that day in 1986 all too well.
I remember we had a wrestling tournament the next day at Lincoln Park HS. I remember sitting at my locker getting dressed for practice and as soon as I put on my shirt, I heard the commotion. There was arguing, yelling, chest puffing, then pushing. I remember I was 6-8 feet from the core of the altercation. I remember seeing my friend come out of the crowd with his hands pressed on his chest running back to his locker and then sit on a bench in front of his locker. I remember my friend’s statement of, “I got stabbed!!” the last words I ever heard him speak.
I then remember one of the most horrifying, graphic scenes I have ever witnessed. As my friend sat at the bench, blood poured out of his body like a faucet. The blood quickly covered the floor and all the towels and shirts that we applied to his chest. We laid him down on the floor of the locker room, propping his legs in the air, waiting for the paramedics to arrive. I remember my friend’s face was as white as a ghost and I vividly remember the moaning noise he made as the paramedics put him in a full-body air cast and wheeled him off to the Wayne County Medical Center in Wayne, MI. I remember sitting with my teammates, coaches, and friends waiting for the doctors to give us an update.
Then ..........
I remember our head coach, Wayne Schimming (we called him Schim) address us. With tears in his eyes and a crackling voice, he said, “Bobby is gone.” This is where the details of what I remember turns much less detailed.
What is crazy is that I can give almost a minute-by-minute account of the situation from the time I joined the commotion until Schim said those words to us. So much after that is scattered.
I annually reflect on January 31, 1986, and how it affects me today. I usually reflect on the way I lead or the way I care for and pour into those I serve in ministry and in my family. I have reflected so often as to “life lessons” that can be learned by a tragedy like this. I have reflected and learned how God loves us, cares for us, and understands these tough life pains and sits with us in them. I have learned that life is precious, fragile, and short and we are to live with intentionality.
I have read the verses that “help” us in these times, like Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Yep, I know they are Truths and I store them in my heart, but they don’t always help.
I’m learning more about grief and lamenting and how we process life’s sorrows and hurts. God, in his amazing love for us, has given us the gifts of anger, grief, and lamenting to process these situations. These things are not emotions but vehicles to express, process, and reconcile the pain inside our hearts. We read many times in Scripture how people mourned, cried, wrestled with God, and shared their disappointment. The book of Psalms has many songs of lament. In the books of Job, Jeremiah, and Habakkuk, we read frequent lamenting. There is a book of the Bible named Lamentations, written by Jeremiah.
As I sit, processing another January 31 lesson, I will always remember what happened that day as a reminder to remember God’s gifts of anger, grief, justice, mercy, suffering, redemption, reconciliation, love, forgiveness, and eternal life – just to name a few!!
I will continue to remember so that I remember.
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