Remembering Sara's Uncle Bob

My Uncle Bob passed away last week after a 6-month battle with pancreatic cancer. We went down to Tennessee over this last weekend to be with the extended family and to attend the funeral. My uncle's best friend, a minister-Rev. Gary Baker, performed the private family service, which was a wonderful memorial to my uncle's life.
During that service, Gary shared three words that he said were "other words for" Bob Hicks. The first was Friend. He shared how Bob had been his best friend and how he had been the kind of friend that the Bible describes as "sticking closer than a brother."
The second word was Treasure. My Uncle Bob was a creator--he loved to build things, especially any kind of woodcraft. Everyone in his family has something that Bob made with his own hands that they treasure.
The third word was Soldier. My Uncle Bob served in the Army when he and my Aunt Jane were first married. During that time he served in Vietnam in the Army Security Agency. He didn't talk very much about his time in military service, but he was completely dedicated to his service to his country during that time and after. He also was a soldier in his battle with cancer. As Gary said at the service, he battled cancer as a soldier and showed everyone how Christians deal with pain and suffering.
Most of my memories about my Uncle Bob center around the times I would stay with Bob and Jane whenever my self-employed parents were out making money all over the country. I would sit and do my homework on the couch while watching Jeopardy or the Discovery channel with Bob (or whatever that channel was then...) We would watch wood-working shows or even cool surgeries (since we were the only two who could stand to watch those surgeries!) I know I would not have been able to get an "A" on my rock collection in the 8th grade if I hadn't had Bob's help!!! Okay, I'll admit it....I actually didn't do anything! Bob did it all! I always felt so safe when I stayed with Bob and Jane while my parents were on business trips. And I have to admit that I did like his "special" cough medicine!
The military burial that my uncle received was so appropriate, and it was the most moving service of that sort I have ever been to. We are very comforted that my Uncle Bob is now free from pain and rejoicing in Heaven with our Lord.
I will conclude this post with the passage that Rev. Baker read at Uncle Bob's burial.
"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls."
1 Peter 1:3-9