Paul Gillespie

             After arriving in Virginia for about the third time in our lives, we decided to get a house and stay put for awhile. One of the first ventures was to find a church as we didn't want to be out of a church for too long a time. I went to the phone book and finally picked on to call and see what happened. The secretary answered and I began quizzing her on the church. It was a former AWANA church and it had a good mission program. We decided to give it a try and went there the next Sunday. We soon developed relationships with the friendly people of the church and we were busy trying to remember the names of all of our new friends. We stayed on at the church. I was offered an opportunity to substitute in one of the Sunday School classes and did so. I stayed on as a “substitute” for the next 10 years. I noticed that in my teaching and preaching, there was one man who always gave an “amen” when I mentioned the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The man became my friend over the years that we spent at Grace Baptist Church in Roanoke, Virginia. I got word via Facebook last night that my friend, Paul Gillespie, went on to glory. Matthew 28:5-6 says, “And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.”

         Paul Gillespie often shared with me about preaching the gospel and said that you don't preach the gospel until you get Him out of the grave. That's when he would should out, “Amen.” Paul wrote over a thousand poems about the Gospel and of course the death, burial and RESURRECTION of the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of them he would put to music and accompany himself on his guitar as he shared the poems he had written. Paul and I served on the deacon board and also on the mission board during our stay at Grace Baptist Church. Paul was a firm believer and supporter of missions around the world and even had visited a work in South America and told of his experiences on the Amazon while visiting some of our missionaries in the area. Paul was a man of prayer and lived the Christian life as an example to me and many others. The smile, that was continually on his face at least when we were with him, was a reflection of his relationship with His Savior. Paul continually preached by his life and by his words, “He is not here, for He has risen as He said.” We can look at Paul now as we grieve His going on to glory, but we can also say, “He is risen indeed.” The Apostle Paul remarked in Second Corinthians that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Everything in Christianity hinges on one thing and one thing only, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave. The tomb is empty and the Lord Jesus Christ walked around for forty days witnessing to the fact that He is alive! Because of the resurrection, we all have hope and Paul's hope came to fact the split second he passed from this life to the next. If you quietly say to yourself, “Christ is risen,” you can probably here Paul say, “Amen.” Praise God today for the faithful lives of believers around the world whose faith is in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We too, shall live.