HOW CAN I SAY GOOD-BYE TO YESTERDAY?????????
ST.LOUIS, MO......... Some days you feel like u just don't want to be here anymore. Today is one of those days.
This morning I attended the home going services for Michael N. Bishop (11-29-1954 - 09-01-2018). To those of u reading this blog that didn't know him.........."boy, did you miss out." Mike - the name that only a select few of us could call him - was that guy who always wore a smile. And his smile was contagious - when u saw him smiling u had to smile as well. So when ever and where ever u ran into Mike it was a good encounter, because it always started on a good note. And it would end on a good note because Mike was not the kind of guy you got mad at, u just could not have a beef with Michael Bishop.
And if anybody had a reason to have a beef with him.....it would be me. You see by the time Mike was 10 years old, he had the passion, ability, skill, and determination to be one of the greatest major league baseball players that ever played the game. Mike could put Ozzie Smith to shame.....4real!!!
Because he was so good, he got certain props in the - ruff and tuff - North St. Louis neighborhood that we grew up in. Having said that.....nearly ever time Mike saw me he would say, "Ike, howcum u don't have no hair on your legs man, ha,ha,ha?" I had no answer. I was clueless. I was nine years old. What did I know about having hair on my legs? Mike had hair on his legs, but I didn't, so it was a standing joke, whenever we would meet. I grew to look forward to those encounters, even though I knew I was going to get "dogged out" by Mike, I knew we would both have a few laughs and keep it moving.
Mike never knew it, but I envied him so much because of his father. His father was the reason he played baseball on such a high level and he was also the reason that Mike developed into the kind, compassionate, family man that he became. Just like today, in those days, there weren't many of us that had that positive role model in the home.
Having a father, at home, did/and does make a major difference in the life of young black males. Don't let anyone deceive you into believing that a mother can do it all by herself. A mother can raise a decent male human being; she cannot raise a man.
Because of that negative component in my life and that positive component in Mike's life the roads we traveled were, most definitely headed in different directions. I dropped out of high school, fathered my first child, got married, and was headed for Viet Nam, by my 17th birthday. Mike, on the other hand, graduated from high school and college, coached little league baseball, got married, raised a family, retired with over 30 years at General Electric, and had his own radio show(Old Soul Harmony...KDHX 88.1) for over ten years.
Mike's father had given him a special gift.
He had exposed Mike to the importance of following his passions, which led to opportunities, which allowed him to tap into the power within.
Mike learned that viable secret about life and living early on. He learned that he had gifts and that his gifts were to be used for the benefit of others which in turn would give him peace within himself. That's why he was always smiling....... he had found his joy and peace within. He was pleasing his creator and he was happy and at peace with the world.
Some people never become aware of the secret to life. The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, ( 3-25-1942 - 08-16-2018), knew the secret to life.
Aretha had that inner peace which surpasses all understanding. And even though she had her share of heart-ache and pain -(like starting a family when she was still a child herself )- she never doubted that God was on her side. She went on to become a song writer, actress, pianist, and maybe the greatest female singer that ever lived, as well as being a civil rights, and women's rights activist and humanitarian icon.
Former U.S. Senator and Viet Nam War (POW) John McCain, (08-29-1936 - 08-25-2018, knew the secret to life.
John McCain, was another man who's life touched mine in a substantial way. John McCain, survived not one - but two -plane crashes. He spent 5 1/2 years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp, two of those years were in solitary confinement. During that ordeal he attempted to commit suicide.....twice.
For the record, let it be known that I wouldn't wish being a prisoner on anyone, and most definitely not solitary confinement. But if you have never experienced it u have no idea the magnitude of thoughts, including suicide, that go through your mind when u have NO ONE to talk to, see, or touch, but the God that lives within. When u spend days and nights, and nights and days, week after week, and month after month, in solitary, you have reached the point of no return. When death becomes your victory and u give out and give up, the creator of the world, that made you for a special reason and a special task, takes control and gently guides u into your purpose, and you survive and succeed, against all odds.
I will forever miss those three unique and beautiful souls mentioned above. For me, something will be forever missing. The world will be forever a harder, and colder, and different place without their presence in it.
Even though I know that those that die in the way and will of God can never die. Their flesh is forever gone, but the spirit that their flesh was housing will be here forever. I know that. But still, this place that we call earth is some how - LESS BEAUTIFUL AND LESS PEACEFUL THAN IT WAS - when they were here.
Which brings me to, probably, the greatest lose that I have sustained(so far) this year. My Pastor, the Reverend Vassar Keys (04-18-1929 - 05-18-2018).
I returned from federal prison in 1990. And at the request of my mother(another great soul that I miss dearly) I started to return to the church that my biological father(The Reverend Sherman Glover) had founded in 1931.
My Pastor, who had known me since my birth, was then on the Board of Deacons. For three straight years he wouldn't talk nor speak to me. I couldn't figure it out. Was it my breath? Was my deodorant not working as it should? Here I was in awe of this man and he wont even speak - let alone - hold a conversation with me.
I would make it my business to get in his path every chance I got........and all he would say was "Praise Him." That's it, that's all I could get out of him was "Praise Him." I have grown into the knowledge and understanding to realize that - that was all I needed to know. He was guiding me and grooming me into the direction I (must) go to understand and utilize the power that I had at my disposal.
He became My Pastor in January 2006.
From 2006-2013(over 7 years) he put me in God's University where I was trained, ordained, and certified an Apostle.
He assigned to me a designated seat, in an holy place, where he breathed on me, and enlightened me during Sunday school, while he unfolded the mysteries of the gospel, as it had been revealed to him by my father.
I am forever grateful to this man for all that he has done to me and for me. He gave my wife, my youngest son and daughter, and my father-in-law an introduction to the spiritual power that resides with the inner-man and women after regeneration. Then, after re-birth, he started the process of teaching them how to use it. I miss u Pastor Keys. Your presence in this earth, and in our place of worship, is just not the same without u. I have been taught how to carry-on, but still, I miss u. Maybe, one day I will have someone else that I can call My Pastor..........but not now...its too soon.
Right now, I'm still in mourning, and I don't know when I will stop, only God knows that. Hopefully, no one gets it twisted. I still have my joy and I'm at peace, nothing can change that, but just like Michael(Mike) Bishop, and Aretha Franklin, and John McCain, this world, that is not my home, is just a colder, harder, crueler, place without My Pastor in it.
And some days u just feel like u don't want to be here anymore. Today, is one of those days.
Marvel not; ye must be born again.
TG4RG
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