Let your light shine: A tribute to my childhood pastor, George D. Smith

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:16

Two days ago, George Smith passed from the brokenness of this life to abundant eternal life. Known to many as Pastor Smith, George was the only pastor I knew from the earliest time I can remember till I moved away in my freshman year of college. He was a man who loved God with all of his heart and loved others so well. Many have been touched and forever changed by this man who, with all his heart, wanted to share the good news of Jesus Christ with as many as he could. Sunday after Sunday, I heard about this God who loved me so much that he sent his only Son to die so that I might be saved. Summer after summer, I attended Vacation Bible School where George gathered all the kids on the steps of Bakersville Church, and sang songs about Jesus, while strumming his guitar. He cared deeply. He loved immensely. He preached a God who would travel across time and space to rescue me. But he didn’t just preach it. He lived it.

He loved like Jesus.

For a long time, this energetic, sporty pastor who led teens on summer biking and hiking trips, was bound to his bed, when he grew older, by poor health and difficulties. He suffered much. For years, he was faithfully and lovingly cared for by his wife Judy, who has come alongside me in my own grief, encouraging me with such words of encouragement and hope.

Not long ago, she texted me these words…

“Megan, George woke up this morning so distressed over Caleb’s death. It hit him fresh, as though it were yesterday. We are praying for you, precious mama, highly esteemed in heaven.”

I felt seen and known. Loved. My pains were carried by others. They gave me a picture of Jesus, who himself, knew me and loved me. Who carried my pains as his own.

A beautiful memory I have is of George and Judy coming over one time when Caleb was a toddler. He brought his guitar and sang, “The fox went out on a chilly night” and Caleb was enthralled!

My best friends, Jaimee and Jenn, were their daughters and I can remember going over their house many many times over the years. They made me feel a part of their family and I can remember sledding down hills in their woods, skating on the pond with them, and putting on the vinyls and having karaoke in their living room with all of us kids taking different parts. Many times, I would come over their house after church and watch Julia Child on the TV, with a roaring fire, while us girls gave each other scalp massages! I remember playing the game of “dictionary” with the family, where we would take turns picking a word from the dictionary that no one knew, and everyone would come up with their own definition. (This was before the invention of the game, Balderdash!) Oh the laughter as we read the silly definitions, especially when George would be the one reading them because he would fumble over everyone’s writing but his own!

Thank you, Mr. Smith. Thank you for loving all of us. For showing us Jesus. For being a light in this world and showing us that God himself is light.

I don’t know exactly what heaven is like or how we’ll recognize each other before we get our new bodies in the new heavens and new earth, but I know that it is beautiful and wonderful and glorious…because Jesus is there. And His glory is more glorious and wonderful than we can even imagine.

Mr. Smith, I weep when I think of the joys you are now experiencing. That you are now free from pain and the hindrances of this life. Maybe you’ve found Caleb. Maybe you’ve told him how much my heart aches for him and how I long to see him. I hope you’ve told him how my faith in Christ has grown through the unimaginable. How I now know a side of Christ that I only heard of before. How Jesus has come closer to me in the sorrow than ever I could imagine.

Death is not good. It is the last enemy. It is the great separator between loved ones. It is something we all must face, in one way or another. But God works even death to accomplish his purposes of bringing his children home to him. And bringing peace and hope to the ones left behind.

You were a great light in this dark world. Now, your loved ones must carry on without you, with the hope that one day, we will all be together again. God be with them, and give them the grace to make it through each day, while they’re waiting to reunited again, one day.

Well done, George. Good and faithful servant.

Enter into His rest.