This posting is not about my kids. This posting is about the impact that a person is capable of having. This posting is about our friend Micah Gifford. We had the blessing of knowing Micah for a year and a half. We met him in May of 2005 at the continental breakfast that our church congregation has on Memorial day weekend instead of Bible class. Micah had shown up for Bible Class and been surprised with breakfast. Micah was relatively early and so were we. Being the only people there his age we start chatting with him and ask him to sit with us. We found out that Micah had a great sense of humor, devotion to God, and a fresh set of orders to Alaska through the Army. Micah could joke around with Patrick, accept my smarty-pantsy comments (and dish them back very well), and encourage us to continue serving God. We also learned of his love for golf, and Patrick and Micah had the ever-elusive game set up between them. Every time the planned to play something came up. They were nice enough to take turns with who couldn’t make it. Micah would be moving; Patrick had something come up with the kids; Micah had to leave for field training; Patrick had to deploy; Micah had to deploy.
I remember one Sunday when Micah came in and sat in front of us and he still had the size tag on the back of his collar. I put my hand on his shoulder, removed the sticker and handed it to him. After worship he jokingly asked me to put the sticker back on his shirt because he was proud of his shirt size.
On another occasion Micah came in and sat behind us on a Sunday evening. We were singing a whole bunch of praise songs that evening and Micah heard Dwight (who is a southern soulful singer) get up and lead a few songs. Micah leaned forward and told us that he liked the way that man could sing. After worship he talked about how his Dad being a preacher and how he got to visit and worship many congregations through his dad being a preacher and through going to a Christian college. He commented about the joy that he got from singing and hearing folks sing whole-heartedly to God.
Micah was humble and helpful. We had a game and song night at the Doyle’s house during the time that Patrick was deployed. Micah played dinosaurs and wrestled with Kira while I got to have conversation with adults. He also humbly took on the role of singing the alto part and teaching the girl’s part on a few new songs.
Some people (OK 1 political person) have said that the military is for people who “weren’t smart enough to go to college.” Not true for Micah. He told us that he enlisted after graduating from Harding University and planned on becoming an officer after his enlistment was over. He left in October for a one year deployment to Iraq. On December 7, 2006, Micah died in Iraq. While the human side hurts knowing that we will never see our friend again, our spiritual side rejoices for his soul leaving this world and heading home. The last time that we saw him before this deployment, he talked about how he had struggled with his service to God; how he wasn’t sure if he was doing enough. Then he started looking forward to this deployment as an opportunity to serve God and show our Savior to other soldiers who might feel lonely and have time to think. He wanted to show them that obeying Jesus was the way to comfort and peace within. He had 2 months over there to do this work. I pray that we will all study the Bible like we want to and show Christ to others like we want to because our time on Earth is limited. This is part of my grieving and coping. I talk, I pray, I process, I remember, I share, I cry, I return to life a little more in touch with remembering the important things.
