Thank You, Jesus, for Steve Severance
Ever since Steve Severance passed away last Friday, I’ve been processing. I typically process this kind of stuff slowly; rarely does it hit me all in one gush. It’s like a slow drip, where I gradually formulate thoughts and lessons over time. Often, it’s by writing that I crystallize what’s swirling around in my brain. As I sat down this morning to pray, my mind kept wandering back to Steve, and so I figured maybe the best thing I could do to learn from this experience is to write down all the thoughts that have come to mind. Here they are. I phrased them with the words, “Thank you,” imagining what it would be like if I could have one more conversation with Steve.
Hopefully, this will be a blessing to our church as well.
Thank you for demonstrating that loving, and patient encouragement goes farther and impacts more deeply than biting critique.
Thank you for reminding us that we probably can’t say “I love you and I’m thankful for you” enough.
Thank you for the reminder that we should all stop worrying about whether we’re “puffing someone up” by encouraging them. God commands us to be encouragers, so we should do it effusively.
Thank you for showing how bold confrontation doesn’t have to be harsh. It can be gentle. Many of us have stories of Steve confronting our excuses. But we never felt belittled or mistreated.
Thank you for showing how God often does great things through small people. The impact of this man is not proportional to his stature or his platform.
Thank you for demonstrating how one man can add shape to the character of a whole church.
Thank you for the reminder that it’s much easier to listen to someone’s advice when you know their humility and love.
Thank you for demonstrating that true godliness starts at home, in your marriage.
Thank you for showing how a husband who publicly loves and praises his wife is a powerful thing.
Thank you for showing how it's possible to retire without retiring.
Thank you for demonstrating the always learning, always growing mindset, and defying the worldly wisdom that old age gives you the right to grow stagnant and curmudgeonly.
Thank you for demonstrating what it looks like to steward your body well. The last Sunday of your life on earth, you walked home from church.
Thank you for bringing a spirit of prayer with you wherever you went. Conversations moved from horizontal to vertical without any friction.
Thank you for reading the short book I wrote for our church, marking it up, and typing out a page with 9 points of specific feedback, all encouraging and valuable.
Thank you for giving away $2 bills.
Thank you for not using your “golden years” to travel everywhere and ignore your church family.
Thank you for using your evenings wisely, rather than using old age and increasing fatigue to excuse yourself from service, spending an increasing number of hours in front of a TV screen.
Thank you for caring for lonely, hurting, struggling members of our church, even though no one asked you to.
Thank you for being so thankful. I never once heard you complain.
Thank you for finding me after church and encouraging my preaching.
Thank you for preparing yourself and your wife for death.
Thank you for loudly, unashamedly, saying “Amen” after a good point in a sermon. This is an encouragement to the preacher as well as those listening around you.
Thank you for showing up to every Welcome Lunch and every Membership Class with the intent to welcome new people and begin caring for them, even though no one asked you to.
Thank you for often being the first one to ask for prayer during our Sunday evening prayer time.
Thank you for waking up early to come to our Men’s Equipping Group on Saturday morning to spend time with a bunch of us young men. We needed your fatherly presence.
Thank you for the generous, encouraging gifts you gave me and others. Thank you for saying, after giving me a financial gift: “I wish I could give more; your ministry is worth far more than what I was able to put in that card.”
Thank you for asking hard questions.
Thank for helping me envision what is meant by Psalm 91:14-15 “[the righteous] still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.”
Thank you for using the last 3 years of your life to help revitalize a church.
Thank you for treasuring Jesus Christ and inviting us to treasure him with you.
Ultimately, my thanks is to Jesus Christ, who made, saved, and used Steve Severance. An old man in a tired body, rigorously pursuing Christ and bearing fruit - not many things more inspiring than that. May the Lord raise up many more like him.
