On the Death of a Great Pastor--Homer Bassett, R.I.P.

None of you have heard of Pastor Homer Bassett, who passed away this past Friday at 11:00PM at the age of 73. I was lucky enough to know him for a short time and learned a great deal from him not only through watching his life, but watching him go through death as well. Homer was a retired pastor who joined my church a couple years ago. As a teenage boy he felt an initial call to ministry and after fighting it off for a few years enrolled in a Bible college to receive the necessary training needed to enter the pastorate.

Homer would not fit the typical mold of a "great" pastor. He never pastored a large church. His pastorates in the old days were small circuits of churches that he oversaw. In more recent years the churches he pastored were not the ones that guys like myself would be too eager to go into. I'm not sure if he was ever even a full-time vocational pastor. But he served faithfully for a number of years before retiring and then serving his community in other ways as well. For many years, Homer directed one of our denominational campgrounds. Then for the past ten years, Homer was the director of Men's Ministries at Carriage Town Ministries, the local mission in downtown Flint which serves the downtrodden in this region.

For years Homer dealt served those fighting homelessness, addiction and other deeply rooted sin issues, hopelessness, etc. Homer was named "Man of the Year" in 2003 by one of the local major network news affiliates. Around the house, church, and community, Homer was also quite the handyman. He wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty and was always volunteering his services. In fact, placed in his coffin are a couple of his favorite tools. Under his hands is his NIV Study Bible that he so faithfully lived by.

I got to know Homer even better this past fall when he and his wife became participants in my Sunday evening Bible study, which takes place at another member's home. But whether it was in the Bible study or in Sunday School or wherever, Home never tried to upstage the teacher, and even if he disagreed with you he would not embarrass you. When he did talk, what he said was always encouraging or thought provoking.

Right before Thanksgiving, Homer was having pains in his legs that wouldn't go away. When he went to the doctor they thought it was blood clots. But they sent him to the hospital and after some tests they found out that it was actually pancreatic cancer that has also spread to other vital organs. The expected survival time was only 3-6 months. Talk about a shock! Rather than get mad at God or retreat, Homer humbly asked for God's will even through his great fear and suffering. After just month, he decided to stop treatments. He began getting weaker and weaker and suffered more and more pain. But through it all, he kept his wonderful sense of humor (he always had a funny quip on the top of his tongue) and always praised God.

Two weeks ago he got so bad he was moved to a center where he received 24 hour care. Luckily they were able to give him he doses of painkiller so he did not have to feel as much pain in the end. Homer quickly declined these couple of weeks. In just one week he lost so much weight that he was unrecognizable. He could barely speak and eventually lost all speech capacities. Another pastor and I went to see him just several days before he died. He barely looked himself. The other pastor and I told him goodbye and that we'd see him in heaven. We told him we'd miss his jokes. You had to have been there but Homer was able to crack a half smile. Then he struggled to speak. As he lay there dying and a shell of his former self and unable to speak he was able to barely struggle out a phrase that he kept trying to repeat: "Praise the Lord."

Homer praised God until the very end of his life. I have rarely seen so much courage, humility and character. I hope one day I could demonstrate even half of that character. Usually when I hear stories like this of somebody on my death bed I find myself saying "Yeah, right" or question if it really happened. But I was there, and it did. And it touched me deeply.

Homer was never too impressed with himself and never really liked to receive any praise. In fact, he would have told me never to write this. But I learned a great deal from him in this short time and will never forget his example. All of us should have people like this that we are able to look up to and learn from. I'm so grateful that God puts people like this in our lives. I have 100% confidence of where Homer is now, though we will miss him. God bless the family and many people that this wonderful man touched. I will make sure his example and stories of his courage and character survive his death. When Homer's spirit was received by the Lord, I'm confident the words he heard were: "Well done, good and faithful servant." Rest in peace, brother.