5-25-03
WORLD'S MOST INSPIRATIONAL FUNERAL
This
week I did the eulogy for a musician friend and sang a graveside song. I
cannot believe there was a more inspirational funeral anywhere on this
planet this week. Not because of my little role in the service or
anything anyone said or did. It was all because of the man he was.
On a day of all-day rain, the funeral home was so packed that some
people left because they couldn't get close enough to see and hear. How
does a man accumulate so many friends?
The man was drummer Larry Mason. He's played on the road with some of
the top names in music but he bought a club in a working class area of
town many years ago and spent much of his life playing drums there and
heading up the Honeysuckle Band.
How does a nightclub drummer become so well-loved that people flock to
pay their respects? So loved that his guitarist, a master woodworker,
builds him a magnificent casket out of cedar? So well-loved that people
walk around crying over losing him and praising God they had the
privilege to know him?
All I can come up with is love, kindness and friendship. He was a
walking, talking, living, breathing love machine. He was a bear of a man
and his size alone made sure no troublemaking ruffians created trouble
in his place but that's not the real reason there was so little trouble.
It was more like no one wanted to create trouble for Larry. They liked
him. Most of them really loved him.
He could cool down a troublemaker with kindness alone. He'd say,
"Man, what's bothering you. Tell me about it." And you knew he
wasn't being artificial. You knew he meant it. He really wanted to know
what was bothering you.
It may sound strange to people who think you can't even play in a
nightclub and be a Christian but I say he was one of the most godly
persons I have ever known. Yes, godly. When he put his arm around your
shoulders you felt like God was giving you a hug. No man has had a more
profound spiritual impact on me.
So what did I sing at graveside? A silly little song I wrote, "The
Path of Glee, "from my gospel CD. It was his favorite. I sang it in
his hospital room three weeks before he died and he sang bass at
appropriate points. Standing there singing for my precious pal in the
Tennessee rain, all I could think was, " I wish Larry was singing
bass with me."
Maybe he was. Not even death can kill a man like Larry.
~~~~~
Other Sunday journals and writings by Dalton Roberts can be found on his
website at http://www.daltonroberts.com/
