Jerrell Sadler, A Giver

by Joe Hickman, editor, HaLife.com

     Jerrell Sadler always gave everything he had to whatever he was involved in. And that was a lot.

     Warming up before a church softball game, he would throw the ball much harder than I wanted to catch. But it made me throw the ball back harder than I would have. And thanks to Jerrell, two guys much older than everyone else on the teams, probably too old to play, had more fun than anyone else.

     Jerrell had the brightest welcome smile, just walking into his presence always made me feel better.

     Hearing him say, "Heyyyy, Joooe!" in my mind makes me feel better today.

     And that's not easy, because Jerrell's funeral was Monday.

      He had a sudden heart attack at home Friday morning. And while his body was being rushed to the Baylor hospital emergency room, he was already greeting old friends in heaven and trying out his new body.

     Jerrell was one of the strongest men I have ever known. On dialysis in the mid-1980s and through the difficult rejection period after a kidney transplant, he could no longer take care of the seniors at the retirement center where he was administrator, nor serve as an active deacon in his church, nor coach the teen boys basketball team. But his positive attitude always lifted others up.

     When his body finally accepted the kidney, Jerrell was right back out there. Loving more old folks at another retirement center and nursing home, active again in church, officiating at NCAA track meets, going fishing with his twin brother Jerry and his sons, taking his wife Gloria to Hugo to check on her aunt, building things for his grandchildren....

     As the years went by, Jerrell became sort of a miracle, living much  longer than most with a transplanted kidney.

      He began to have more physical problems, and didn't always feel that great. But he never stopped loving, laughing, and lifting others up. A couple of weeks ago, he came by and with a scalpel cut tennis balls for my walker.

     On his final Sunday, he wheeled Barbara Russell from her Sunday School classroom to the chapel, and held the door for me to amble in, too.

     Today, I keep thinking about the boys on Jerrell's R.A. basketball teams, and wonder where they are. I know they will be sad.

      So many thoughts and memories flood in when a friend leaves.

      Lord, thank you for a good friend who always made me feel better. Tell Jerrell how much he meant to everyone here.

      But please don't tell him how sad we are.

      I don't think he'd like that. 

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