A short time ago, an important person in my life went to Glory. His name was Terry Eden. When I was a young boy, Terry was a devoted layman in our local church. He was, among other things, my Royal Ambassador leader and my Sunday School teacher. When I was a boy, Terry seemed like a bear of a man. When he got angry, his face would get red and his eyes would flash, and he could be kind of scary. But Terry also had a soft heart. And it was not uncommon for those same eyes to well with tears and his voice to crack when speaking of the Lord.
Terry was not only a church acquaintance, but he and his wife (Karen) were also good friends of my parents. And so as a young boy, when I responded to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and made my way to the front of the church during a Sunday night invitation, it was Terry that knelt beside me at the altar and led me in a prayer to surrender my life to Christ.
As time went by, Terry became the pastor of another local church. About this same time, my family moved to a different town, and so I wasn't around him quite as much. (Although the Edens remained part of our lives.) But as a young man struggling with doubts about my conversion experience, it was Terry I sought out for guidance. He gave me great peace, as he recalled in vivid detail praying with me that night, and assured me that he had never seen a young child who had a better understanding of the Gospel. After God called me to preach, Terry was among the first to offer his pulpit as an opportunity to get some experience. Terry encouraged me to be faithful to preach the Word.
There are lots of little memories I have of Terry - too many to write about here. Many of them involve fishing and camping. Terry Eden was a good man, and a godly man. Hopefully you can see why he was a special man to me. His wife, Karen, is a special lady to me as well. Please say a prayer for her and the rest of the family.
"Thank you, Lord, for Terry. Help me be to someone else, what Terry was to me."
