Seven Years Ago Today- A Tribute to David Bowers

(The following was written a few months ago on the 7th anniversary of the death of my best friend.  I have waited until now to publish it because I wanted to be sensitive to David's family and get their ok.  Accept for a few corrections of typos this is what I wrote then.)

October 15, 2012

Seven years ago today, my best friend, David Bowers, passed away quietly in his sleep.  He was 44 years old, the husband to a beautiful and devoted wife, Vickie, and the father to four amazing kids, SheaLa, Robby, Jonathon and Josh.  Though he struggled with diabetes, to our knowledge he was not sick but an autopsy revealed he had an “enlarged heart.”   That diagnostic would certainly fit.  David was small in stature but had a huge heart and many deep intimate friends to go with it.   

I will never forget that Saturday morning.  David’s daughter SheaLa was sleeping over with our daughter Hannah.  He and I were scheduled to get together later that day with some other men to raise a tent for the upcoming celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles. 

At 6am I got a call from Vickie telling me that they were having trouble getting David to wake up.  What she was saying wasn’t making any sense so I asked to talk to Tom, Vickie’s dad.  I said, “Tom, what is going on?  Is David awake?”  He said, “No.”  I asked, “Is he sick?”  He answered, “I don’t know.”  Finally I asked, “Is David dead?”  He answered, “I think so.”  It was so unthinkable that no one could even consider the possibility that he could be gone. 

I was in Pocatello by 6:30 am and we immediately began to pray to raise David up.  As we prayed we felt the Lord with us but David did not stir. 

I called my friend, Kevin Gardner to come over and help me pray.  I just knew that the Lord would have us pray to raise him from the dead.  He and Virgil Horner arrived in Blackfoot from Twin Falls on Monday morning and we prayed for several hours before we went over to the funeral home where David’s body was. 

The funeral home was full of people consoling the family but Kevin and I, along with Virgil Horner and my son Samuel went into a back room to pray one last time over David’s body.  After an hour of prayer Kevin and I both said simultaneously, “he is here.”  I saw David in the spirit behind a gate but he did not engage me.  In my distress I voiced my desire that he come back so that we could continue to co-labor for the many years of ministry that we were meant to have together.  But soon the presence seemed to fade and after another hour of prayer, we released him to the Lord. 

His funeral was extraordinary, packed with 600 people in attendance.  Tributes were made and it seemed that everyone who spoke said that David was their best friend.  Repeatedly people from all over the nation related how he would call them and encourage them.  He called people just to see how they were doing. His telephone had the contact information of hundreds of people. 

At the end, as I was about to close the service, His eleven year old daughter came up on the stage to the podium and told me she wanted to sing a song.  I simply stepped aside and watched and listened to her sing unrehearsed and A-Cappella three verses of a song called “The Voice of Truth.”   It was incredible and for me it was a sign that something profound was going to come out of it all. 

David was such a huge part of our lives.  His investment of love and personal involvement was so intense that it boggled our mind to think of him not being there.  Although he was small in stature, he was a giant in terms of his impact.  Someone once wrote, “A great oak has fallen and for many it means a change in the whole landscape of life.”  That was true of all who knew David Bowers. 

David and I had gotten close over the last few years.  I have said before that I have never felt a deeper love from any one man than I did from David, save Jesus.  He would say things to me that would almost make me blush but they were not in any way inappropriate or effeminate.  They were strong words right to my heart and I literally felt at times that Jesus was helping me understand his deep devotion to me through David.  He had a way of slipping through all my heart guards and touching me to the core.  This explains why so many people felt that David was their best friend.  My wife used to joke with me that “my boyfriend” was on the phone.  We talked every day. 

After he died, I left his final voice mail on my phone for months.  There was nothing special about the message except it carried that simple vibration in his voice that I had come to cherish, that told me that somebody deeply cared for me, believed in me and had my best interests at heart.  

He pastored a small but significant fellowship of people in Pocatello, Idaho which included his mother and father in law, Tom and Vivian Henseley.  They had come to know David as their pastor in Wyoming and uprooted their lives after 20 years to come and help him and Vickie in Idaho.  I pastored a church in Blackfoot, twenty miles north of Pocatello. 

I remembered the day when he told me that he was going to change the time of their church’s gatherings to Sunday evenings so that they could join us on Sunday mornings.  I was pretty surprised but delighted as well.  Father’s House was never the same after that.  I felt a huge shift in the Spirit.  In some sense, that unselfish act had catapulted our fellowship to a new level of authority in the region.  That was David’s gift to so many: simple, unselfish acts of kindness which elevated others, seemingly at his own expense.

Unassuming, gentle, loving, helpful in the truest sense, David reached out to many and left a huge impact.  I was busy trying to be important.  He was busy loving me and others.  He used to call me his hero.  (That was one of those statements that made me blush.)  But I know that his acts of humility and kindness made him one of Heaven’s heroes. 

My greatest concern with his passing was for Vickie and the kids.  I was concerned about practical issues such as finances, etc. but my main concern was for their hearts and whether they would feel cheated because of whom they had lost.  I was reeling, but I could not possibly begin to imagine their pain.  But I remember the last few months of his life, David seemed to really start keying in on his kids.  He took them on walks.  He built model ships with the boys.  He devoted himself to touching their hearts.  He held his daughter in his arms.  He also began to help them memorize scripture.  I remember one of the verses he was telling me they were memorizing was 2 Chronicles 20:12, “Lord, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”  I realized later the providential nature of this extra care.

I called to talk to Vickie today.  I knew today was the anniversary but I did not realize that it had been seven years since David fell asleep the last time.  I asked about her and the kids.  All David’s kids are involved with the youth group and in love with God.  They have formed a little worship band and are enjoying being a part of the church’s worship team.  God is blessing them deeply.  As we spoke I felt a deep gratitude rise in my heart for what God had done for us all in spite of our sorrow and loss and I realized that David had planted seeds deep into the hearts of His children. 

I felt the Spirit of prayer as Vickie and I shared together today and I rejoiced in the Lord’s goodness seven years to the day from the hardest day of our lives. 

I praise God for the investment of love David Bowers made into my life.  I still love and miss him.  But his impact I will cherish forever.  He sewed into many lives.  Many people stand strong today because he loved so well while he had an opportunity.  Short life.  Long impact.  He loved and worshiped Jesus with abandonment.  He unveiled the love of God to me.  I am a much better man because I knew and was touched by David’s life.  May the rewards of my life in some way accrue to his account. 

Brian Harrison

“I assure you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies it produces a large crop.”  John 12:24

The Restoration of Apostolic Christianity

When people read the book of Acts, there is often a deep desire to see and experience what is described there in the early church.  It is not so much the desire to go back to the primitive lifestyles that they had. What is so intoxicating is that sense of the nearness of the presence of God upon the lives of the early believers.  It is Heaven’s interaction with the earth that believers long to see.  And this is at the core of what apostolic Christianity is.

Apostolic Christianity involves a cooperative dynamic between heaven and earth that advances the righteous cause of the God’s will in the earth.

It is not just going through the motions of the Christian life, or even pursuing the Christian disciplines.  It is more than having good relationships although relationships are at the core of the matter. It is more than social justice.  It is also more than preaching the gospel for the conversion of a soul.

Apostolic Christianity is that special moment when God himself begins to rest on the church’s endeavors. 

It is when the church's activities begin to coincide with the Lord's ministry of reconciliation.  It is more than reaching out to your neighbors but it is God reaching out to your neighbors through you.  It is more than friendship, its communion.  It is more than love, it looking into someone’s face in God's presence.  It manifests in a thousand different ways and yet it is all apart of the whole heavenly invasion of the earth.  It is more than feeling sorry for a hurting person; it is being moved with divine compassion with results bigger than can be explained. 

Apostolic Christianity is what we have always longed for and thought that the Christian life ought to be only more...  It is reaching out in Christ's name, not in drudgery but in sheer joy, an internal explosion of love that cannot be explained by anything other than the uplift of God's presence reinforcing the impact of our efforts.

Now, a person is not just trying to find the words to witness for Christ; because the spirit of Christ is witnessing to Himself supplying both thoughts and words while abiding in the atmosphere adding His confirming presence.  Now, one is not just praying for the sick; Christ is praying for the sick through them.  Now, one is not trying to console the brokenhearted, the presence of God is consoling them from within.

Apostolic Christianity insists on the presence of a real God in the real world.  It assumes divine intervention because the Gospel is based upon divine intervention.  That is what the "good news" is.  God intervened.    

Apostolic Christianity began the day Christ was raised from the dead.  Unfortunately, for whatever reason, a vast percentage of the church lost contact with and awareness of the Kingdom’s presence and activity on the earth and much Christian expression became nothing more than a man focused religion.

The blessed reality is that the restoration of Apostolic Christianity is happening as the present day church awakens to the activity of God in the earth.   Many are realizing that the early church’s experience is not just a onetime event but is meant to be a pattern of things to come.   True Christianity is supernatural and it is meant for everybody.

The divine activity of the kingdom of God has never left the earth nor has it diminished.  "Of the increase of His government and of peace there shall be no end."  Isaiah 9:7.  It continues to advance as God’s people love unconditionally and suffer without complaining all the while knowing that all things work together for good for them that love God.

But tangible presence of God's kingdom is being rediscovered by many.  The church is awakening to a lost heritage and privilege.  That privilege is hosting the presence of God, cooperating with His purposes and displaying His wisdom and glory.     

Here is a radical thought for you; Apostolic Christianity is not just the work of God alone.  It is also the work of man.  It is a work of cooperation between God and man.  Man cannot pull it off without the very real involvement of God.  And God will not do it without man.  Jacob called it “the dance of the two camps.”  See Genesis 32:1,2.  Apostolic Christianity is heaven and earth reconciled and cooperating to see the life of God in full manifestation.  A person cannot fake it, because it takes two to tango.  God won't fake it because "He is light and in Him is no darkness at all."   But it is here now for those who are willing to sell everything and buy in.  "Let him who has an ear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches."    

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”  And the two, heaven and earth, were always meant to be partners.  

Love in Full Bloom: A Tribute to Ethan Anthony Shepherd

February 7, 2013

This morning we held a funeral for five day old Ethan Anthony Shepherd who died and went to be with the Lord three days ago.  His was a full and fruitful life!  Rarely has one’s presence been so aware of or one’s life and passing left such a mark.  But Ethan Anthony was no ordinary boy.  His parents loved him with all their hearts and therefore gave him an enduring legacy. 

Several months ago Paul and Naysa were made aware of some complications with the pregnancy.  The skull had not fully formed around the brain and there were some other deficiencies in the brain development as well.  Paul and Naysa were informed that their baby very likely would not live long or that if he did he would never function without severe limitations and handicaps.  Trying to wrap their heads around the implications of what the doctors were saying was more than they could fully assimilate.  Nevertheless, Paul and Naysa were faced with a choice.    

A month later the worst case scenario seemed to be confirmed.  Even though abortion was never an option they would consider, Paul and Naysa were still facing a dilemma not knowing how to posture their hearts.  Would they protect themselves against the pain of loss by closing their hearts since there was little hope of life or would they engage their son while still in the womb and begin to feed him through love?

That is when Paul and Naysa made a choice that would change their life and the lives of others forever.  With help from their amazing family and their faith community they decided to put their fear of loss aside and to begin to engage him as much as possible.  The first thing they did was give Ethan Anthony his name and not just any name.  Ethan was the a name from the book of Psalms (see Psalm 89) that Paul felt the Lord impressed upon him and Anthony is Paul's middle name.  

Additionally, they decided that they were going to love him with all their hearts.  They refused to hold back for the fear of loss.  They were going allow their love for little Ethan to move into full bloom.  Paul and Naysa decided to live believing that they were going to be blessed by this child and that they were going to begin speaking to him in the womb and preparing for his arrival.  They were also going to go into the added risk of “believing” for a miracle, praying into his destiny and giving their defenseless son as much chance of survival as they could possibly provide.  Though the prognosis remained grim, Paul and Naysa’s love and faith remained undiminished or abated. 

As I found myself praying for them from time to time a single picture kept coming into my mind.  It was the picture of a baby blue hyacinth in full bloom.   Hyacinths are flowers that bloom in early spring and therefore often they are subject to the peril a late winter freeze.  But their beautiful colors are a signal of the end of winter and beginning of spring and new life. 

On February 4th, Ethan entered heaven.  The whole Shepherd clan, who fully supported Paul and Naysa in their unrestrained decision to give Ethan their whole heart, now face the reality of a late freeze.  They loved with all their hearts knowing full well that to be so deeply invested might leave them high and dry with deep heartache in the end.  And what do they have to show for it all? 

After such an ordeal, it would be easy to close up shop and decide that that kind of love is too risky and too painful.  Or a person can be one of the brave one’s and decide that that is the way we are meant to live, full throttle, wide open, loving and being loved because this is our opportunity to lay it all down….  “He who sews sparingly will reap sparingly.  He who sews bountifully will reap bountifully.” 

Love like this does not always have an immediate reward.  The law of sewing and reaping is threefold.

1. You reap what you sow. 
2. You reap later than you sow. 
3. You reap more than you sow. 

Paul and Naysa, and everyone in their lives have sowed bountifully.  Therefore, rest assured, they will reap bountifully!  And in the end, Ethan Anthony Shepherd will have left his mark and his legacy in five short days of breathing air because he received deep abounding love and his family will never be the same. 

Paul’s younger sister, Alisha, miscarried her one month pregnancy the day after Ethan was born.  She lives far away and couldn't join the family in the ritual of sadness and loss though she experienced it all the same from a distance.  But she had an interesting perspective to the whole thing.  She considered her brother and sister in law “lucky” that they got to hold their baby for a few short days….  Perspectives! 

Paul and Naysa have loved and lost… but they have also gained. 

The immediate results?

1. The joy of holding their son alive and responsive. 
2. The extraordinary experience of pouring their hearts out knowing that there was nothing that Ethan could give them in return... and yet he did…  
3. The satisfaction of knowing that they gave their son everything at their disposal to live life fully.  
4. A deeper love and appreciation for their other three sons, for the three amazing brothers, who loved and lost with them. 
5. No regrets. 
6. No reversals.  
7. No going back wishing you had done it different. 

That’s what they gained in the short term.

What about the long term results?  Who can measure?  Long term, Paul and Naysa may just find that their investment of love over the last few months was the most lucrative investment that they had ever made.  In terms of what it has done to the family, the dividends are already astronomical.  Today during the funeral, over a 100 people gathered to remember a child who lived only five days!  That fact alone was evidence enough of the impact that Paul and Naysa’s investment was making.  I venture to suggest that they will come away more deeply committed to living every day the way they lived the last four, full throttle, open hearted, not worried about being repaid, and fully trusting God that He is able to keep what is being entrusted to Him until the final day. 

Would to God we were all so “lucky” 

So here’s a tribute Ethan Anthony Shepherd, to the boy who lived for five days and whose coming and going helped make the world a better place.  His mom and dad gave him a legacy and a chance to leave a lasting impact because they allowed him to get into their hearts.  There he will remain until the end of days.