By August 2014, Bill was looking for a driver to transport
him to and from the jail in Toms River, where he was a Christian counselor. I
took the job and over the next five years, we made at least 1,000 trips back-and-forth
together, not only to the jail but on some of his Doctor’s appointments and so
on. Those were times of intense Christian fellowship but also of fun and
laughter at times. Bill had a bad back and I can testify that many mornings
when I’d pick him up, he was in pain but his determination to do inmates some
good helped him override that pain and press forward. In his upper 70s now,
Bill could have retired comfortably if he chose to but he was serving His Lord
and Savior by serving others, even with bad eyesight and a body that was
breaking down. I was honored to be “helping” him in his ministry by driving
him, especially his counseling ministry to abused women as my deceased mom was
one who never had a Christian counselor of Bill’s caliber to help HER.
In early 2015, I learned that my first wife, Beth, was
terminally ill and over the next two years, Bill counseled ME during our rides
as he was also a Licensed Grief Counselor. When Beth died in early 2017, many
were amazed at how well I “rebounded” but I’m here to tell you that GOD USED
BILL, every time we drove together, to give me guidance, clarity and support.
Around this time I developed a cataract in one eye that I couldn’t get
corrected because of my wife’s cancer and the attention she needed. I never
told BILL, but I couldn’t see at all out of my right eye. When I eventually
scheduled the cataract surgery, and had to take time off from driving Bill, I
‘fessed up and he jokingly said “YOU MEAN YOU’VE BEEN DRIVING ME AROUND AND BETWEEN
THE TWO OF US WE’VE ONLY HAD ONE GOOD EYE?” We laughed and laughed (and I don’t
need to tell anyone who knew Bill what a HEARTY laugh he had)! Another time we
got pulled over on the Parkway as I was speeding, trying to get Bill to HIS eye
doctor up in Staten Island. Bill and I both had dark glasses on and the
policeman must have thought we were BOTH blind and couldn’t read speed limit
signs. Of all the places I drove Bill, the ride to Staten Island was my
favorite, maybe because it was the LONGEST trip. However one time his eye
doctor did something wrong and I had to drive Bill back-and-forth to the Island
four days in a row…THAT wasn’t fun.
When Mercedes and I got married in 2018, Bill was our best
man as he was close to both of us. About four months before the wedding, I was
driving Bill home from the jail and we were passing the Clarion hotel on Rt. 37
where our reception was to be held. Bill started musing about how we’d be
driven there in a LIMO, but the only problem is that Mercedes and I hadn’t
planned on getting one! We quickly corrected that and, in retrospect, we’re glad
Bill brought the subject up.
Bill has always been available to help Mercedes and me and,
in fact, ANYONE who needed help. He was an exemplary husband and father who
taught me, by example, how to stay in touch with your children even when
they’re far away geographically. The times I attended his Bible Study classes I
was always challenged in my faith, and when we were on the Deacon board together he was never afraid to speak his mind and what he perceived to be GOD'S mind, most of all. I have no doubt that Jesus told Bill “Well
done, good and faithful servant” when he died, but the good Bill did for others
was in gratitude for the salvation gift Bill freely received from Jesus, not to
try to EARN salvation. We MISS Bill but we WILL see him again one day, if we
are on our way to the place where he and His Savior are now, “Absent from the
body, present with the LORD”!!
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