Anonymous
Although this is a sad day, we can take great comfort in knowing that Pop finished the race well and is with Christ his Savior in Paradise. Dave Shirey was a godly man who served the Lord with gladness during his life. He sought God regularly through reading the scriptures and he put his many gifts to use in various church situations over the years. His trust and hope for salvation were firmly in Christ’s sacrifice for sins - not in “being a good person” or in any of his own “good” works. And yet, in putting faith in action, expressing love, he did many “good works”: He served on church leadership boards, helped with financial management, taught “Sunday School” classes, and helped out wherever there was a need. He also served our country in the Air Force during the Korean War. Pop was loving, kind, gentle, quick-to-listen slow-to-speak, self-controlled, and very hospitable - I can’t recall how many times he opened their home to many folks in need ranging from relatives to church family, letting them stay for up to a year or more as needed. There were also many picnics, and then there were mega-picnics - several churches at a time and hundreds of people.
Pop was particularly good at giving special gifts that were well thought out. I can recall a hand-crafted electronic metronome that he made for me out of extra paneling from our house in Annapolis - that still works fine to this day. Another example is that one Christmas in the early 1970's he stayed up most of the night Christmas Eve to install an HO train layout on trestles overtop of his train layout - all this to maintain the element of surprise. And it had its effect - I was blown away at the time. He did the same thing a year or two later for Phil, adding a third track to the layout.
On the spiritual side, all these things have been fine biblical examples for us and have influenced us to help others, serve, and to work hard as unto the Lord. On the practical side, Pop imparted many life-skills to us which have served us well. And, on the “enjoyment of life” track, as an example of Pop’s influence: I have a canoe because I trained under the canoe-meister himself - Pop. Like most Marylanders we eat steamed crabs, because from as far back as I can remember, Pop was regularly going out on Saturday mornings to either catch or acquire them to ensure we were well stocked.
In closing, we are grateful that God gave us some excellent family times with Pop over the last few months. The biggest of these was Mom and Pop’s 50th wedding anniversary celebration in June. Looking back now, in a sense this was like a grand farewell. I know he was deeply touched by the encouragement from everyone. He also got to see his first grandchild, my daughter Rachel, graduate from high school. And he got to see John and Maryann’s adopted son, Ian.
One particularly sweet dialogue I had with Pop on Father’s Day was to build him up with Psalm 46 verse 4 which reads: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.” As he had struggled with chronic pain over the last 5 years, this was yet another verse that brought encouragement and strength as he considered the invitation to drink of the river of God, that is to drink of God’s Spirit. For, only in Him is there fullness of joy. Now Dave Shirey see’s God as He is, face-to-face - where the river never runs dry.##imported-begin##Paul's Narrative from Thursday##imported-end##