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Benoni Bulletin--062908-NOW IS THE HOUR"NOW IS THE HOUR. . ."(Tribute to the Late Jimmy Mansfield)Someone said, "He was never sick a day in his life." When I saw him on my last trip to South Africa, he was "the picture of health." Not for one second did I think that would be the last time I would see him on this earth. He was handsome, slender, agile, and affable. You could not help but like him. In addition, he had an inquiring mind. Not surprisingly, he was strongly opinionated, often expressing his own opinions with gusto. Previously, his religious walk had been somewhat shrouded in confusion with a sense of dissatisfaction. When he began to scrutinize what he considered to be a rather mysterious book, the Bible, the message of salvation impacted his heart. Though he vehemently resisted it at first, the truth of God's revelation could neither be denied nor avoided. He was honest . . . so he took the vital step of obeying his Lord. He came out of the watery grave of baptism to a new life with a sense of mission and belonging, Romans 6:3-4. His mission was to help others find the treasure that he had found in the gospel, 2 Timothy 2:2. His sense of belonging was to be included in the greatest family on earth--the family of God, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like most of us, he had many personal battles to struggle through. There were many hills to climb upward. Emotional briars and thorns wounded his feet. Fractured close-human relationships were the result of his own ill-chosen decisions before finding Jesus. Nevertheless, there was a painful price to pay and that contributed to some hours of isolation. The road to addiction which he had travelled almost derailed his once-tragic life , but the solution was always close at hand. This time a son, who knew better than his dad, took action. After capturing his father's imagination with the Bible, he put together a plan for reaching his dad. Because of that overwhelming act of filial piety, his boy could now call his dad a "brother," too. Now the beloved Jimmy Mansfield has suddenly and sadly passed from us. He is at home with his beloved Lord. At 58, his death was premature by the Biblical limit--"three score and ten or by reason of strength four score years," Psalms 90:10. We will always remember with admiration how his previous struggle with alcohol-addiction turned him into a crusader against this "fire water." Along with Alcohol Anonymous as his mentor, we saw Jimmy as God's gift to us at Benoni to help rescue those who were perishing from this debilitating, devastating and degrading master. He understood better than anyone the horror and sorrow they were undergoing. He was always there for them. Inspite of our loss, there is good news here too. Jimmy is at peace. His last few hours on earth were extremely happy. His heart was filled with joy. According to those who know, his death was sudden and virtually painless. We thank God for that. We will miss our brother here but we know we will see him again. We conclude with the adapted words of an old song that has played on my heart and left me sleepless and sorrowful at being so far away at this time. We dedicate them to Jimmy. Now is the hour, While you're away We'll sorely miss him. We express our condolences to the whole Mansfield clan--to his wife, Linette, his daughter and son, Matthew, and to Paul and Litza. We especially salute Paul for the love he displayed in bringing his dad to Christ and to Tom King who played a significant role in Jimmy's walk with Jesus. Love you all, Al--"the Horne of Africa." |
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