Gospel Reading, Luke 8:22-25
One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side of the lake.’ So they put out, and while they were sailing he fell asleep. A gale swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger. They went to him and woke him up, shouting, ‘Master, Master, we are perishing!’ And he woke up and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; they ceased, and there was a calm. He said to them, ‘Where is your faith?’ They were afraid and amazed, and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?’
I would like us to go back to the story from the Gospel of Luke for a moment. If Chuck were a disciple in Palestine with Jesus, he may have been the one to put into Jesus’ mind the idea of getting into a boat and going out on the Sea of Galilee. Unlike the others, he may not have been afraid of the storm, rather, he may have been setting the sail to run with the wind as fast as boat would go. After Jesus calmed the storm, saying, “Oh, man. Let’s do it again.” If he sang a song on the boat, it may have been REO Speedwagon’s “Ridin’ the Storm Out.”
As you have heard, Chuck was a man that worked hard and played hard. As you have experienced, Chuck was a man that loved to build things. The thing that he loved to build most, was to build people.
Chuck built a relationship with Lisa.
It may be a simple thing to say that Lisa and Chuck met in college and married. But the story is a little more fun than just that. In 1968, Chuck played football at Manchester College under Jack Jarrett. That year they went 7-1 only losing to Hanover. Lisa having completed a six month tour with International Farm Youth Exchange in Brazil was on a lecture circuit to full fill her obligation for having been chosen for the program. One of her lecture engagements brought her to Manchester College in 1968.
Lisa stayed with her friend, Joy. While there Chuck happened to drop by. Lisa assumed that Joy and Chuck were “together.” She soon found out that he was just a friend that dropped in for a visit. He treated them both to dinner driving them in his 1964 convertible through the snow. Was the top down or up? Lisa’s fuchsia dress caught his attention.
Because of her busy speaking schedule, Lisa could not clear a date for a date with Chuck until April. She arrived from Purdue for a trip to a festival wearing red elephant pants and a peasant shit. Chuck was impressed with her “Purdue” clothes. Their first official date was in Lafayette to see the movie, “Camelot.” I asked Lisa how she knew this was the guy for her. She said that she usually went out up to three times with a guy. At that point, she usually was bored with him. No one had made it to a fourth date. With Chuck, she wasn’t bored even after four dates and never had a boring moment since.
He proposed during Christmas of 1970 delivering a ring to Lisa on the flat bed car of the train that circled the base of his Christmas tree. They married the following August and celebrated 48 years together this year.
Chuck built a life for Cilissa (list) and Ashley
Building a life for Cilissa and Ashley started with having the perfect house. It had to be on a lake. They found an undeveloped lot and were fortunate to buy it. He kept the plans for the house in his head. Lisa and he worked to build their home together. By the late 1970’s they had a home on Tippecanoe and baby in the garage.
Through the years, he loved giving Christmas gifts. He hide presents. He coded presents. He booby trapped presents. Invariably he would forget who’s package went to whom. Stopping the gift wrapping with, “Oh wait, that’s for mom.”
He loved anything on water, liquid or frozen. He taught the kids to ski on hills from Mount Wawasee to Breckenridge, Colorado. He loved Skidoos and Slalom skis, pontoons and motor boats. He was the Captain of the Boat. Because of his work at Main Channel Marina and teaching, he knew most everyone on the lakes. As Captain of the Ship, he narrated a cruise of the shoreline telling stories of the people that they lived and worked with through the years.
Lisa and Chuck created a home where the girls friends found a welcome and parents felt secure. He loved his grand kids. As life slowed for him, he fished with grandkids in front of the house and piloted the pontoon to take them tubing.
He loved his grand dogs. He would fill his pockets with treats and lay on the floor for them to find them. He just wanted to create fun.
Chuck built a life for others.
For Chuck, fun was in the games and in the teaching but the purpose was to build people. I asked what artifact may represent Chuck. The girls said a basket full of stuff. Chuck believed all things can be used. I take that to mean all things have value. Especially when the “things” are students and players or customers and friends.
Chuck had your back. If a youth had a hard way in life and lacked basic items, Chuck provided. He knew that one small thing could change a life. He guided. Gently corrected. Never passed judgement. It is no wonder that people surrounded him. A simple trip to Lowe’s may take two hours because of all the folks that wanted to talk with him.
Chuck gave everyone an opportunity to be the best that they could be. He was thoughtful and big hearted.
The last couple of years have been tough on Chuck and the family. There are some storms in life that cannot be calmed with words. However, we do have the capacity to be calm in the midst of the storm. After all that is exactly what makes playing football, snow skiing and water skiing and scuba diving and adventure in general so exhilarating. We put ourselves in calculated chaos. It tests our capacity to remain centered and present within the chaos.
When life hands us a storm, like having a body that fails to thrive, it challenges our ability to remain centered and calm. Here is where faith steps into the moment. Jesus was not bothered by the storm on the sea. I suspect that he rather enjoyed it, the sliding sensation like surfing down the waves and the roll of the boat. My faith helps me to remain calm within the storm rather than calming the storm that I am in. This is the unexplainable peace of Christ. This peace comes to us when all evidence suggest that we should be panicked. You can flip this the other way. Peace is the tail tale sign that God is present.
I have had the honor of knowing Chuck these past few years. What I marveled at on each of the visits to a hospital is the peace I experienced from Chuck. I did not experience panic or fear. It was not a resignation to an un-preferred outcome. It was the peace of someone ridin’ the storm out with those he loved.
“Wait for Lisa. She uses big words.”
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