James O. McKenzie, Papaw James

        "Go Rest High Upon That Mountain….Son, Your Work on Earth is Done"

I send my children down a road, to a place I no longer travel, but to where, I know, they always will, and to where, I know, my heart will always follow.  On a road, down through the mountains, across the highway and around the bend in the curve that is called Staffordsville.  I have traveled those miles many, many times since 1985.  But on this one, last trip to lay to rest their Papaw James, they go only with their Dad.

My children have traveled those miles….in the Winter at Christmas time while singing, “Over the River and Through the Woods, to Mamaw and Papaw’s house we go”.  They have traveled in the Spring when the trees were fresh buds of God’s glory and their faces lit up as the “mountains” were kissed by the sun.  They have ridden back seat in the Summer all bathing-suited up and ready for a fresh splash in their Aunt/Uncle’s pool and they have traveled in the Fall when the leaves on the trees turned colors that only God could construe….with “Ahhhs” and “Ohhhss”  as they drove past the canvas of God’s handiwork.

As I send my children off today, with their father, to bury his father, I am drawn deep, deep into a “coal mine” of memories which God releases to me a little at a time so that the pain of loss is bearable.

I love James O. McKenzie.

I always felt his love returned. Even today.

And, while I didn’t always understand his mountain ways of doing things, I did come to understand what was important….He loved his family Big and Powerful and Mighty.  Like the solid, hard rock that is the foundation of his birthplace in Flat Gap, Kentucky, He was a strong and powerful and mighty-minded man. 

His words were so few that even Mamaw told me once about Scott (who is exceedingly like his Dad), “don’t worry…after 50 years of marriage, you will learn not to need to hear him speak, you will just come to understand how he thinks.”  Papaw was like that.  He said very little, but one actually did come to understand what was important to him.

Hard work

A good horse trade

Saving frugally on everything but the family, and then spending generously

Grandchildren

Great grandchildren

Children

Grand daughters

Grand sons

Walking up the hill to his family’s grave site

Looking down from the hill over his family’s homeland

Breakfast bologna

The value of laying a $5 in the hand of a grandchild every time you see them

Sneaking the keys to his children’s cars and gassing the car up

His turn to do dishes

The value of laying $100 in the hand of his child every time he saw him

Insisting on paying because “that’s what Dad’s do”

Slow, steady steps through the woods with his grandchildren, telling tall tales along the way

Back porch swinging with his family

His favorite lazy boy chair (and, being sure to have his picture made holding all the grandbabies in it)

Stories, and more stories of life when he was young

The importance of heritage

Faith in people, even when it wasn't easy

The value of a good woman

The power of a hug, full body, front on

The enormity of a freely given smile to everyone who came through his door

The warmth of his large hands covering those of his little daughter-in-law (I held his hand one time in all of those years…in prayer…before we ate.  I will cherish that holding)

The sweetness of Mountain music and mountain people

Holding a grudge, but then letting it go

Being big brother at all times, through all seasons, not just the easy ones

The manly pride which comes from having sons, grandsons, great grandsons

The manly protectiveness which comes from having a wife, daughters, grand and great grand daughters 

The ability to finally….yes, finally walk down the aisle to receive Christ as His Lord and Savior….because that is what God calls us to do. 

I was not there the day he took on Christ, divorce settling itself into my soul in broken-hearted little pieces, so, I missed that great day with great regret.  Because I believe in my heart that when he took his walk, it was likely one of the most sincere acts I would have ever witnessed. 

 

Papaw didn’t do many things lightly.  Accepting Christ was to him, not just something someone did at random pace, but rather, that which one did with FULL ACCORD…with one’s whole heart, whole body and whole soul. 

He didn’t allow others to push or guilt him into it….He did it in his own time, when he and God agreed it was time. 

I believe God blessed that walk in mighty and powerful ways which we have yet to see the fruit of…. 

Because when he walked, his steps may have taken him humbly to the cross, but they also took those of his flesh and blood with him:  his beloved wife, his sons, his daughters, and all the many grand and great-grands that come behind him, for if you polled them, all would mightily agree….Papaw took that walk in great faith that day…in great hope….in great belief and after years of talking it over with God. 

This is his legacy to his family….to lay down his mountain pride at the foot of the cross. 

This is his greatest gift to his family….to show humility, strength of conviction and strict obedience to the Will of God. 

I see in my children, each of them, constant little reminders to me that yes, they have Papaw James’ bold, brave blood running through their veins.  As water runs strong down the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, so does the blood of James O. McKenzie, run strong through the veins of my babies. 

I thank God for Mr. McKenzie.  For because of him, I have them…..my four precious gifts from God who daily remind me of HIM, my heavenly father, and of him, my earthly father-in-law (always). 

And, as they go to lay him to rest, a rest of which he is so deserving, I cannot help but smile. 

He would want that….he would cut a joke, or tickle or tease, all for the sake of a smile, a sing of laughter, a glance of teary happiness 

I don’t think he would want us to weep today, but rather to smile.

I don’t think he would want us to be bound in great sorrow, but rather to give way to great joy.

I don’t think he would want us to hold back in ego or pride, but to do as he did…. 

Walk forward in forgiveness, in compassion and in LOVE. 

As far as I could see, that is what he seemed to do. 

I think if he was here today, he would look us straight into our faces, and tell us to love one another, to remember the good, to let go of the bad and  

To walk…. 

Up that great mountain……where God and Glory and Mountain Sunshine live. 

Blessings and honor

To a man who I will always hold dear, a true father to me through all seasons,

Even in this season of rest…. 

Lesa