Pastor Taylor Park said it well---a time for grieving as well as celebrating as Terry Parlow has now left his blindness and paralysis behind and is embracing a new life in the heavenly realm.
Whole. Complete.
Yesterday, I was privileged to share memories of Terry Parlow with his friends and family.
Terry
Parlow Memorial Service 1/21/15
Many of you here have known the Parlow family longer than
I have, yet we all know one thing---Terry Parlow loved the Lord.....
...and that love for the Lord “kept” Terry (Numbers 6:24)--God’s
grace enveloped him in a way and with a depth that those of us on the outside
could only marvel. It was that “light” which Terry had an abundance of---a
light intensified by the physical darkness of his blindness, light which Terry
shared with me by lifestyle example.
For a few years after Terry’s 2004 accident, I would read
to him on Wednesday afternoons---he loved biographies and history----esp war
stories ---civil war---World War II
A few months ago I read a book whose title spoke to me of
Terry---All the Light we Cannot See,
a story of a young girl who was blind from age 6--and the storyline emphasized
all she was able to see and sense in relationships, even without her sight,
reminded me of Terry’s “condition.” Terry “saw” spiritual truth at every turn
and was willing to share with everyone---the dependence and grace necessary to
live blind and wheelchair bound---all the while seeing God’s hand in it and
celebrating God’s goodness. I never once saw that faith waver.
Oswald’s Chamber’s 1/19 entry in his devotional book, My Utmost for His Highest, spoke
volumes to me about ”darkness being a time to listen and wait on God to send
the light.” Terry would wait and then he would share what he was learning, his own personal "light"---
Being
blind and paralyzed removes all self-sufficiency but there is still a choice
---bitterness or acceptance.
Humility and acceptance were a part of Terry’s
faith fabric. I never saw anything but humility and acceptance from Terry---ever
trusting God throughout these past 10 years. All else paled as Terry
continually “placed His confidence in God Himself, not in “blessings.”
Terry epitomized the words from Psalm 130:5. “I wait for
the Lord, my soul waits and in His word, I hope.
Terry Parlow used his “disability platform” to shed God’s
light on all of us and we were blessed for it.
Recently, one of my most memorable “Terry blessings” was
the day the lift on his van broke. I was speaking at First Evan’s monthly “He
Cares,” a ministry for the homebound. He was between ICU visits at the time and
had said very boldly, “I’ll be there!”…..and he was. Determined, he had asked
sweet Ronye, his caregiver for help and she “pushed him in his wheelchair” all
the way there. What an encouragement to me. What a man of his word!
Terry loved the Lord and he loved Claudia---since Whitehaven
high school days until her cancer took her home. Tt\hey were always together,
outliving medical projections for both of them and celebrating their 50th
anniversary just months before she died.
“His Claudia,” the ultimate caregiver, ever at his side,
even at Shepherd Ctr when Terry was deemed the worst---at Shepherd’s that’s
like being the worst of the worst. She kept him going. All of us seemed to say
their names in tandem. A true couple.
As former neighbor Julie said that, “After moving to
Memphis, Terry and Claudia embraced her like a warm blanket” ---always
encouraging, guiding and sharing God’s love with her. They did it together.
Terry loved the Lord, loved Claudia, and loved sports,
esp. if they wore TIGER BLUE---he taught hubby Larry and friend Terry Tippet
the value of a good radio commentator --one who could make the “game” come
alive for a sport’s fan. He said he could visualize every move in a Tiger game
if Dave Woloshin were commentating.
Terry made us all aware that when
“listening” to TV commentators it was a LOT harder---as commentators rarely
recap and spend more time giving their own opinions instead of describing an
event---or saying, “Would you look at that?” “Or have you ever seen anything
like that?” It’s easy to understand a “Blind Viewers” frustration.
Terry loved the Lord, loved Claudia, and loved sports
---and that competitive spirit spilled over into another love---an affinity
which Terry and I shared. We both loved Jeopardy and often “watched” it
together. Many days I had an unfair advantage because there would be a “visual
clue” category, but somehow that seemed to bother me more than it bothered him.
What chance does a “blind” man have in identifying mustaches of famous people
when you can’t see the mustache, much less the face of the person.
Even if I were in another part of the condo, and the “T-h-i-s-
is Jeopardy” theme music came on, he would call out to tell me it was starting.
Ronye & Katherine, his God-sent caregivers, seemed to always have it on
Channel 3 at 3:30 on week-days.
His memory was incredible and he would often comment on
the girl from Wisconsin or some other tidbit gleaned from one of the
contestants---esp. the blind gent who came back for the “Battle of the Decades”
this past year.
Terry had his own rules for keeping score. Even on days we
watched it separately, he would phone me with an update on the number of
Jeopardy questions he answered, and the number from the double Jeopardy round.
Occasionally, he would factor in the true daily double but that was harder to
do since he only gave himself points and not money amounts.
But....the "Final Jeopardy" category was where Terry ruled---because if
he got the Final Jeopardy answer, he considered that a real win!
Saturday January 17th Terry got the Final
Jeopardy answer. Terry always knew the Final Jeopardy answer to his own life.
The question is, “Where will Terry spend eternity?”
The answer (in question form, naturally) “Where is heaven?”
Terry “Got” the correct answer the minute he stepped into
the Presence of his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That makes Terry the
winner…..
I’m just grateful to have been able to be a player in his
life.
