Uncle Eldon 

In sorting through my files this morning, I ran across a brief devotional I wrote a few years back about my sweet Uncle Eldon Fuhrman. (You can find him on Wikipedia.) I wrote this devotional after he called to let me know he was retiring from his job as seminary president to care for his wife because her dementia had grown worse. I greatly admired my uncle and thought his sacrifice might inspire you.

Uncle Eldon's news caused me to fumble the phone and slop coffee on my jeans. “But Uncle Eldon!” I protested. “Seminary presidents don’t just retire in the throes of a successful career. Students and teachers need you. That job is your life. It gives you purpose.” I didn't say he should hire someone to take care of my aunt, but I thought it.

“Your Aunt Blanche needs me more, honey. The school can find another president, but no one else can love your aunt through dementia. She’s my purpose. Besides,” I detected joy in his voice, “This gives me more time to pray.”

Over the next fifteen years, I talked to my uncle often. He told me he prayed for me and each of my children daily. Eventually, he and my aunt moved into a nursing home and both needed wheelchairs, but he could still drive. So every day he loaded my aunt into his car for a long drive to visit the seminary. Before returning to the nursing home, he parked in front of the dorm named for him and prayed for each resident at length.

When he died in his late eighties, my Uncle Eldon still knew his purpose.

Thought: When tempted to feel old and useless, I remember my uncle and know God still has a purpose for me.   

Verses: “To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.” Eccl. 3:1 KJV

             “So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me.” Ps. 71:18 ESV