Alvin Marek taught me a lot about life. He was one of my first deacons. When a hurricane hit the Texas coast back in 1983, it spawned tornadoes in central Texas where Alvin and his wife lived. I was at their home when one hit his farm. We were eating supper later and smelled gasoline. He went out to check, came back and made no comment. I asked later if he had found anything. “A tornado hit the barn and destroyed a gas tank,” he said. I wondered if he would have mentioned it. One wintry Sunday morning, Melanie and I arrived at the church and found Alvin at his post lighting the space heaters to warm up the building. I asked about a bandage on his hand and he said he had lost fingers in an accident. By his calm expression, I didn’t know if he was serious. He was.
Alvin taught me a lot about God through his prayers. Our deacons prayed with me in one of the Sunday School rooms before our worship services every Sunday at Pleasant Grove. He always included James’s words in his prayer. “Every good and every perfect gift . . .” he would say with a hint of a Czech accent. To Alvin, God was a good, good Giver. You and I know people who thoughtfully find and give good gifts. Melanie possesses that gift. Have you noticed that our good and perfect God always knows the perfect gift to give?
For James and Alvin, God was above us, watching over us, sending good gifts down at the right moment. In our turbulent world, God stays the same and stays the course. God’s light does not flicker. He is the Father of all the heavenly lights, the Sun which rises every morning and the moon which follows its pattern, the stars which shine brightly on a clear night. This gracious, unchanging God wants to be our Father, too.
