hank thompson : remembering the cloud of witnesses

i have now been in hendersonville for three years. in those times we have started a family, made many friends and gotten to know many great people. but being an implant into a small town atmosphere has its interesting moments. like this

i'm walking the children's hallways one day and i see this little girl whom i see with her parents in my sunday school class every week. i say hello to the child and the teacher proceeds to tell me "do you know who this is?" and before i can even respond "this is hank thompson's grandchild." this confused me.. this is addison, amanda & john's little girl.. then i remember, hank is amanda's dad, who just happens to be the ex-mayor of hendersonville. he was the family member with the name and long standing member of my church, i just knew the family a little backwards from everyone else apparently.

hank passed away on sunday. like others of our hendersonville cloud of witnesses that have passed away in my three years time, i am still capturing who these people have been. i really only knew him as the dad to amanda. but as i found out through the last two days spending some 16 hours conversing with people touched by this man & seeing the full family in resolve & grief i know this new witness a whole lot more..

so other than working our vacation bible school (another posting). i was playing a different role mixing that 'do all things needed for ministry' to a job and doing all things for your friends. services were yesterday & today (visitaion & service). i never planned on ushering some 700 people (over 1000 in all) through the pews of our church in a maze i likened to an amusement park ride line. staying hours and hours later than a planned day, just to be a presence. standing holding seats, handing out bulletins, grabbing water, moving flowers, giving pats on the back, crying and laughing.

i grieved for the family & have prayed for them for over a year now, these last two days though have given me a little more clarity as to who was in my prayers and why our cloud of witnesses becomes a little more colorful.

but as son lance mentioned via

“He did not talk a lot about his faith because he didn’t feel like he had to,” Lance Thompson said. “He lived it out.”

i think hank will find a friend in saint francis.