Me 'n Steve

In Him we live, and move and have our being...
Acts17:28


Me 'n Steve
2007

Montgomery Alabama Early 1980's
Vocational Rehabilitation Complex
I hadn’t seen my happy friend like this before; but he had good reason.
"Mark, I don’t know what I am going to do...she is so tiny...so helpless...and I can’t do anything to make it better," Steve mumbled with tears in his eyes.
"Steve, there is only one thing we can do; we have to pray," I replied swallowing hard.

My friend Steve. Our life encounter started when I was completing a practicum requirement in graduate school and Steve became my supervisor. I liked him instantly, as did everyone who came in contact with him. A hulk of a man who could hit a golf ball a country mile, his sincere southern charm and love for others made him a people magnet.

In 1983, our paths crossed again, as we both were hired, unbeknown to each other, the same week at the Rehab complex in Montgomery. We became like Mutt and Jeff, and have shared so many crazy adventures over the years that I chuckle when I think of him. I figured out quickly what the magnet was in Steve’s life, too. The magnet was/is Christ.

It is a strangely wonderful thing God does at times...He puts the right people in your life at the right time. Prior to 1983, Annie and I had been in a church group that left us both wounded and suspicious of all things 'churchy'. Not that we left our faith, but trusting in others was difficult, to say the least. Steve was the one person in my life who restored that trust. I saw in him a simple, sincere, faith in Jesus, not phony or showy, but real, much like the scripture above: I saw Christ moving, living, having His being in my friend. I wanted it badly, and began to find Christ again through my great friendship with my dear friend.

Early 1980's
Sarah had been born dangerously premature....Steve and his wife Dori were in the fight of their lives to see the helpless baby respond...prayers were flooding heaven from the many friends that these two saints had touched over the years...Sleepless nights at Alabama’s best neo-natal unit, which happened to be right next door to our Rehab complex...Please God...save little Sarah...I could only pray in the way my friend Steve had taught me, simple and genuine...

Annie and I began to attend Steve and Dori’s church. We were drawn to the people there, believers with the character of God, not braggarts, no flashy histrionics, just practical, existent, folks doing their best to walk that Emmaus Road with Christ. The character of God became real to me; Steve’s earnest and heartfelt faith began to take root in my heart, and without saying a word or becoming ‘preachy’, he helped fill up the empty well in my parched soul.

Early 1990's
Same hospital, another baby...more tears...tears of joy, the birth of my own son, Stephen, a family name on my Dad’s side...but also a tribute to my friend Stephen A. ....He was there with me as I was there for him....What a day of rejoicing...
And Steve’s family by then...had doubled...Sarah, the pretty blond with Mom and her sweet, whimsical little sis Jordan....Our prayers had been answered...

Feb. 28, 2007
"How did my prayer sound, boy?" Steve asked. He had been asked to say a blessing for our the Legislative Breakfast this morning. A number of state legislators, our commissioner, assistant commissioners and other significant guest were in attendance. Steve and I had found a little corner in the back of the meeting hall after the invocation.

"Steve, I replied, "I told you this long ago, I have admired your sincere faith for years and it can’t help but show up wherever you are." My lifelong friend, I honor you with this story; a man's man who has imprinted the grace of Christ on my life and many others...Truly you bring life to the scripture...For in Him we live, and move, and have our being...

Oh...and that little baby Stephen turned 16 this past week...and Sarah... now a beautiful young lady who graduated from her Daddy’s and my alma mater and is touching the lives of young children as an elementary school teacher...Indeed, God is good.
Mark
Prov 17:22