By Neil Earle
In fact death was the big loser at the Memorial Service held this Sunday for Mr. Bill Edwards, a beloved elder in Glendora and founding member in Rancho Cucamonga.
Bill was diagnosed with prostate cancer a few years back from which he made a remarkable and faith-filled recovery. However, his enemy reappeared in the last year as lung cancer reaching into his brain and upper spinal vertebrate. All this just added to the size of Bill's victory over death as he impressed the dozens and hundreds who interacted with him this past year as a man who truly knew no fear.
During his eulogy Pastor Curtis May mentioned how Bill was looking forward to "crossing over," to meeting his Lord and Master. That vivid and vital faith helped carry us all through the struggle though his wife, Barbara and son Paul McClure and wife certainly need our prayers at such a loss.
How does one to learn to face death without fear? How can we actually embrace the certain knowledge that if you live and believe in Jesus Christ you will never die?
Well, Bill was a committed Christian. That was the first and most important thing you need to know about him. He was born in Detroit, which meant he and I could converse and reflect on the days of Gordie Howe and all the other old-time great Detroit Red Wing teams. When he moved to California with his family, however, Bill became an avid Lakers fan. This was part of his rich and varied background as he graduated from Compton College and enlisted in the US Air Force in 1966.There he was trained as a jet engine mechanic and went on to attend PCC and graduate as an architectural specifications expert and draftsman. In 1984 he was employed by the City of Pico Rivera as a building inspector from which his illness forced him to resign on June 8, 2007.
He responded to a powerful Gospel message in 1971 and experienced the most important death of all, the death of the old self and the receiving of new life in Jesus Christ. He soon met his beautiful and engaging wife, Barbara, with whom he loved to travel and visit historical places. Together they served God's people shoulder to shoulder as elder and wife and Bill always had a soft spot for the underdog and a kind and gentle touch which was remembered by all who knew him.
I remember setting up chairs with him in Rancho Cucamonga in 2004 as we struggled together to build that little church out there. Bill was never too proud for the menial tasks. But it was in his last months as the cancer closed in that his light shone more and more brightly. Nor did Christ in any way desert him for Bill and Barb saw many miraculous interventions even as he became slowly weaker. Perhaps his crowning moment as a minister came when he visited the Glendora Church for its 35th anniversary on June 30. We had all been praying mightily for him but as I looked up from the opening prayer there were Bill and Barb sitting in the back, enjoying his last service and looking remarkably good.
At the fellowship meal a lady came up to him, "I am so sorry about what you're going through."
Bill replied: "Don't be. I know where I'm going. I'm all right with this."
"I'm all right with this." Wow! How can we top that? May we all be blessed with such all-conquering faith as we face the end. But that is precisely the kind of conquering faith Christ has promised us. Never forget what Bill knew well: "Whoever lives and believes in me shall never die (John 11:26) and "Thanks be to God who gives us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57).
These last weeks and months Bill's life was like a victory parade as he passed from this mortal life into the presence of Christ, even more directly than he knew Christ in this life.
We'll always remember him and take comfort from the words of Bishop John Donne with which we began:
"Death be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou doest overthrow
Die not, poor Death; nor yet canst thou kill me...
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more. Death, thou shalt die.