My Preacher

by an Old disciple

“Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.”~ 1 Tim. 5:17

He was in his early twenties, a Korean vet, and had spent the last four years after his discharge going from bad to worse. He was now standing in church, with head bowed and eyes closed. It was the invitation. His newly- converted mother had prayed him home from California and talked him into attending a revival meeting at her church. It was the first time he had been in a Gospel church or heard the plan of salvation. All of a sudden, with his heart beating a mile a minute, he felt a hand placed over his, as he tightly held to the back of the pew in front of him. When he looked up, he saw a red-headed man, with a face just as red, from weeping. This man had stepped past the people in the next pew, until he was facing the young man. As he patted the back of the hand of this young sinner who was under conviction, he said, with tears flowing down his cheeks, “Son, don’t you want to be saved?” This was the first time I ever saw or met Howard Sears. The man, who for the next fifty-three years I affectionately referred to as “My Preacher.” 

 He was my mentor, my friend, and my spiritual father. He stayed up till the wee hours of the morning, answering Bible questions for me. He was a friend who stuck closer than a brother and forgave me, as a father, for all the foolishness that characterizes a young convert and “preacher boy.” Not only was I saved under his ministry, but I met my lovely wife, and was called to preach under it. 

 I’ve had the advantage of knowing the “red-head,” before the snows of winter fell upon his head. At all four seasons of his life, I testify before God, unlike the weather, he was unchanging. What you saw is what you got. And what I saw, I always liked. Descriptive words that come to mind when I think of Howard Sears are: compassionate, loyal, patient, forgiving, kind, and caring. But in my mind, his everlasting legacy will be, “He was a good man and filled with the Holy Ghost.” How rich a man I have been for having known this gentle giant! I miss him terribly.

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