Influential People In My Life – Part 2

Here is another writing about some people in my life that made major impacts on me. This one is going to hit a larger section of time. What they all have in common is God. All of these men were people that made Godly impacts on me at different times in my life when I needed it most.

The four men I am going to write about today are Dezi Baker, Don Worcester, Rick Partain, and David Knapp. All of who I will refer to by their first names from here on out. I also just realized as I wrote this that 3 of the 4 all have first names that start with the letter D. Is that weird? Probably not.

Don was my first junior high youth leader. I was in 7^th grade and I wasn’t always the best of kids. I was influenced by my friends and as a result I certainly didn’t always speak the way I should have to others (my peers mostly). I went to youth group and Sunday School even when I didn’t want to, and Don was always there. He cared for me and my friends. He was able to show me and teach me what it meant to have fun and learn about God. During this time I don’t remember too much about his direct impact other than that he was a good male figure in my life when I wanted to be my own person. I remember that he would take a few of us guys out for food once in a while. I remember toilet papering his house as a prank with some of the other leaders (and then finding out the sprinklers ran over night before he had woken up so the mess was apparently really bad). I also remember when he chose to leave our church after his divorce. I remember him being sad but strong during that time. I remember him not turning away from God (at least not to my knowledge) at that time. He wanted to do what was best for the church body and his divorce was causing a distraction and so he chose to remove himself to eliminate that distraction. I remember being sad for him. I also remember him telling me and my friends one day a few years later about this new lady he had been dating and how he was thinking of asking her to marry him. I remember going to that wedding (the first wedding I remember going to), and how much God’s love showed through that as well. Then many years later I was at a men’s retreat and I needed a speaker that was going to talk to me. I prayed that God would send someone onto that stage that I would really hear that weekend, and then out came Don. I was dumbfounded and in awe. It was an answer to prayer. He talked about being a Godly dad, he talked about the time I just talked about and how it affected him and his walk with God. I was able to talk with him outside the sessions and he gave me good Godly advice to a dad of girls. I am forever thankful for having Don in my life. I still read his posts on Facebook. He and his wife run marriage conferences (that I should consider going to with my wife sometime…) and counseling, and they are involved with Young Life still. And on top of having him as my leader for a while he was the one that brought in the next person on my list to affect my life: Dezi Baker.

Dezi was quite different in many ways from Don. They both came from a Young Life background (look up Young Life if you don’t know what it is. It is a great organization). Dezi was wild and crazy. Dezi was exciting and fun. Dezi was a friend and a leader. He was my youth leader from mid-junior high all the way through high school. He taught me what it meant to live out my faith. He showed me what I meant to be a Christian. He showed me how to love others. I mentioned in another post (at least I think I have, oh man I am already forgetting things) about a time I was at a summer camp in California and I didn’t want to do the service project. Dezi was the one who convinced me to go, and told me the importance of going, and that day turned into one of the most important God-days of my life. Dezi’s house was open to us. I was able to ask him questions. I remember doing things like Experiencing God with him and his leaders. That helped me learn more about growing in my faith. He showed me from his life experiences that God can use people that make mistakes. He taught me that I need to ask for forgiveness and I will always receive it from God, and that He will still use me. He contributed to me not being a worrier. I never recall him worrying. He probably did, but he didn’t let it affect his life and his mission. He was the first person to take me to learn to shot a gun. That was an experience. A skinny 16yr old and a 357 magnum may not have been the best idea (the gun nearly hit me in the head, and we had no idea where the bullet ended up). Then after my first shot he proceeded to finish the rest of the rounds and hit something with each shot (at least that is how I remember it). He was a man who loved his family and still does. He showed me, as a young man, what that love was to look like. I was beyond blessed to have Dezi as my youth leader during that time in my life. I think of him regularly in my life. He also taught me how to have fun. There was ice blocking in Gilbert. There was going to the movies. We watched Star Trek together. I need to make time to meet up with him again. He moved a bit further away from me a number of years ago, and I allowed that to be a barrier from making time to see him. He has had some health scares during that time, and I prayed for him regularly. He has pulled through, but it does tell me I need to make an effort to go out and see him sometime. And on top of that Dezi introduced me to Rick Partain since he was one of the parental leaders that worked with us in our high school group.

Rick Partain was a special man. He was a “man’s man”. He played sports, did car work, enjoyed the beach (and had the tan to prove it), and more. But to me he will always be a great example of a husband and dad. Rick was one of my high school and early college leaders at church. He loved us kids. His house was always open to people. I can’t tell you how many times we had activities at his house from pool parties to Bible studies. He was known for giving everyone he got to know a nickname. Mine was “Canfish”. I have no idea why, and at first I don’t recall being a fan of it, but it grew on me. I started labeling things for church camps with Canfish. In fact my snow ski poles still have Canfish labels on them after all these years. The love he showed to anyone he met affected me. I saw that genuine care that he had for people. He loved on us all. And his love for his kids and wife also showed. Even when they screwed up you could tell he loved them so very much. And it was the same with me. There was this one time when we were at his house for a pool party and a couple of the girls had forgotten their swimsuits and I offered to take them home to get them. Well, at the end of the street while I was turned left I T-bones a car (don’t worry the three of us were all fine). Well, we were waiting on the side of the road for the police and emergency people to show up, and when they did they claimed they couldn’t aid us, because they couldn’t ask us questions since we were all under age (not sure about that…). So, they walked off. Then all of a sudden I noticed a group of people heading down the small street. It was everyone from the party. They all wanted to know what had happened. Rick showed up and offered to take “responsibility” for all of us. He even winked at me and said, “This guy too.” Then in college over a summer break the college group was meeting and they wanted to set up prayer partners. I had been going through a lot at college and I wasn’t comfortable talking about it with my peers, Rick stepped up and apparently offered to be my prayer partner. We ended up meeting every other week for sure to chat and we talked on the phone every week. He gave me a FedEx keychain to help me remember that he was out there praying for me, and I still have it. Rick died several years ago. I will never forget that day. My wife and I were in the UK, and I happened to be on Facebook, and I read the news. I was in shock. I cried a little. He was taken too early in my human opinion, but I know that he was taken when God wanted him to be taken. Thankfully I was able to go to the funeral. The almost 1000 seat sanctuary at the church was packed and there were people standing along the back and the aisles. It was a testament to who he was and how he affected so many people. The people whom talked at the funeral recounted how great a man he was (and how they all had nicknames that he had given them). He was an example of a husband/dad/man that I also hope to be.

Finally, there is David Knapp. I got to know David at church as well, but once I was an adult. He and I were in the same adult Sunday School class at church for many years. He is a missionary, but not one that travels to a far off country to proclaim the Gospel, but he aided those people in different ways over the years. I have learned so much about God from him. He taught our class many times, and every time he did I think I learned something knew. That is one way in which I value his presence in my life. I grew a lot during those times in his teaching. But I also learned more about being content in hard times from him. David has had a hard life in my opinion. He has one of those amazing testimonies of how God worked throughout his life in different ways. I first knew David while he was married to his second wife. He had remarried after his first wife died and he had 4 children. He married a woman that had lost her husband and had 4 children of her own. So, they successfully blended 8 children into a family that followed God. I can’t even imagine how hard that must have been, but he talks about it with a smile. While we were at that church with him that wife got very sick as well and eventually went to be with the Lord. I could tell he was in pain, but at the same time he was so happy for her. He continued to talk about the gloriousness of God. That is something I have taken with me from him. That had again be so hard. A second wife getting sick and passing away again. He showed strength in it. He showed his trust in God through it. He remarried again a few years later, and they are doing well. He is still working with Ethnos360 and she runs a magazine called ReachUp for women. He is a quite and humble man. He is another great example of how a man should be toward his family and toward God.

I know some of you are probably wondering things like, “What about his wife?” and “What about his parents?” Don’t worry those will be coming, but I wanted to touch on some non-family first.