Pastor Jim Furnas

Today I became aware that a great man who had an enormous impact on my husband and I, starting over 15 years ago, has passed away. As it is a time to be sad for everyone he has left behind, it is also a day to rejoice that Pastor Jim Furnas, a true man of God, has received his well deserved opportunity to walk through the gates of heaven and meet Jesus face to face. He is receiving his heavenly rewards for the huge impact he has made in this world, all in the name of Jesus Christ.

It all started over 15 years ago. My husband and I had been engaged for several months and I was pregnant with our first child. I was at a point where I was about to give up hope on finding a pastor to marry us in a church. Because I was pregnant and not married, we had been told by pastors that they couldn't marry us and that we couldn't even use their church. It was very discouraging because the Bible I was raised by talks of love and acceptance. I didn't feel loved by these pastors and I certainly didn't feel accepted. This all happened to us for a reason. God was just guiding us to a specific place where he had amazing people just waiting to take us in. We were referred to the Nazarene Church where we met Pastor Jim Furnas. Right up front, we made him aware of the fact that I was pregnant. I remember his reaction to be surprising because of what we had been told by others. It didn't catch him off guard in the least. It wasn't even an issue to him. In fact, he didn't even react to the news at all, aside from congratulating us. That was a first.

As is customary, we were required to attend church and to meet with Jim during the weeks leading up to our wedding. Our meetings were filled with information about marriage according to God's word, wisdom from Jim's personal experiences, encouragement for us to make the right decisions and hold true to our vows and stick through the hard times, and even just some friendly conversations between us as friends. This man really made me feel accepted and loved, despite the fact that I had gone against God's word and become pregnant before marriage. He assured us that God's love for us never fails, no matter what decisions we make in life. We are all human and born sinners. That's the beauty of Christ's gift of eternal salvation. He took the punishment for us so that when our human nature takes over and we make unwise decisions, we are forgiven and he will ultimately use our mistakes and turn them into good, as long as we love him and walk with him. Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

On July 26, 1997, Pastor Jim Furnas proudly stood before us and pronounced us husband and wife. God made our dream of being married in a church, by a pastor, come to reality with the help of Pastor Jim. We continued to attend Church of the Nazarene after our wedding. The church as a whole really took us in and made us a part of their family. After our son was born, they threw us a baby shower to welcome him into the world and into their family. Not only did Jim officiate our wedding, but he also performed our sons dedication ceremony in front of the entire congregation on a Sunday morning. Who better to help us dedicate our son to the Lord than the first pastor to accept us conceiving him out of wedlock.

My husband later got a job out of town and we moved our family about an hour away. We found a church to attend in our new town.We did occasionally visit our family at the Nazarene Church when we were in town visiting family. Pastor Jim was later called to serve at a church further away and we ended up losing touch with his family.

The news of his passing really caught me off guard. I'm deeply saddened for his beautiful wife, their children, and all of those whose lives he has touched. At the same time, I rejoice for Pastor Jim, for he has received the highest honor of meeting Jesus, face to face. I'm certain his rewards in heaven are many, and I'm certain he was greeted at the heavenly gates by a multitude of people that had the honor of knowing him during their time on earth.

Lesson Learned

WOW! This whole blog site is completely different since I last posted. This may take some getting use to. It seems as if once I figure a format out on any website, the creators go and change it all around on me.

This morning as I was getting ready for my husband to pick me up for org. day, I did a lot of thinking. I'm not sure where it all came from, but I'm pretty sure God has his hand in it.

Lately a lot has been going on within my husband's unit and with my husband personally. He hasn't been home much due to them tasking him out with everything under the sun. Add that to the fact that he's the only one licensed to do ammo, and he has a soldier that he is constantly having to babysit for. I guess they just figure that they know he will get the job done effectively without having to explain anything to him, so they throw everything his way. There's a lot more to the story, but I won't go into that. With all this going on, I have become bitter with this unit for keeping him at work longer than necessary, and longer than most everyone else for that matter. I've also become irritated at the soldiers that keep screwing up and forcing my husband to be gone even longer so he can babysit for them.

This morning it hit me. If my husband is having such a bad experience with this unit lately, what's to make me think that they aren't all having a hard time. It's very possible that the circumstances surrounding these soldiers are just making them feel like giving up. My husband has the benefit of having a wife and kids to come home to at night. He has a wife that's always available when he needs to talk. Some of these soldiers don't have any family around at all. Of course they have their army family, but sometimes that's just not enough. It's not the same as having a life long companion that you can always count on, or like having a family member that you've spent a better part of your life with. Plus, I've noticed that it's really hard for some soldiers to separate their army life and their personal life. After all, they live army on a daily basis.

Once again, I've been reminded that we go through things to better us as individuals. These last few months haven't been the easiest, but I have learned a lesson. I'm not going to spend my time being angry and frustrated that things are so messed up with this unit. Instead, I'm going to pray for those who are making it unbearable at times. I'm going to pray for those soldiers that seem to be having personal issues that are leading them to behaviors that take my husband away from home. At the end of the day, he is coming home to his family, however late that may be.