It is with great sadness that I write about the loss of John W. Merritt on December 29, 2006. But it is with great and abiding joy that I remember part of a very small portion of his life and the many gifts he shared with everyone he knew, including me.
I was going to write about his book and his life’s work, but you can get information about his book on this web site. I want to talk about what he represented to me: love, commitment, loyalty, honor, zest for living, patience, and grace.
He deeply loved his wife, his children, and his grandchildren (he told me many very funny stories about his grandchildren’s precociousness, which was a great source of delight to him).
He was committed to the battle against the evil, deceit and manipulation he witnessed within his own church. He didn’t abandon the faith, as many had, but he was courageous enough to tell the truth, and to offer solutions to help heal the wounds that split his beloved Baptist family. The integrity and patience this kind of commitment takes is legion.
He honored all that he loved by truly living the message he taught. His zest for life and the humor in humanity was deeply contagious. No matter what we talked about, he made me laugh, out loud and robustly, every single time we spoke.
He loved and cherished his many, many friends, from all over the world, whose lives have been blessed by knowing him. He had that rare gift of being able to make the person in his company feel cared for, accepted, and appreciated. He was always quick to ask how my family and I were doing, and with genuine interest; he really cared about us.
I feel so fortunate to have known him, to have worked with him. I had the honor of publishing the revised and expanded edition of John’s greatest written legacy, The Betrayal: the hostile takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention and a missionary’s fight for Freedom in Christ.
He also was wise, gentle, had a quiet grace and confidence about him, cried as easily as he laughed, was not afraid to show his tender heart and vulnerability, which never contradicted his great strength of mind, body, and spirit. And he loved God more than anything else on earth.
Even though he suffered off and on for years with a form of blood cancer, he was always upbeat and gracious. He prayed every day with confidence that God would heal him because he had so much to do before he was called home. But I guess God had different plans. I don’t blame him. I would have wanted John to come home, too.
We will miss you John, but we will always remember you and your extraordinary life with happy and grateful hearts.
Love from Robbin, Jane, Rick, Cory, and Tom
