Dan Wolgemuth’s Tribute

She was G on my cell phone.  I would back out of my parking spot, be it in Kansas City with General Electric or in Denver with Youth for Christ.  I would poke that G and wait for my phone to circle through and the name Grace Wolgemuth would pop up.

I would wait for a moment, even as recently as four or five weeks ago.  Grace would answer, “Hello!” sunshine through the air waves.  I would say, “Hi, Mom.  It’s Dan.” Sometimes she would say, “Stan?”  “No, not Stan… Dan.”

“Danny, my little boy!”… four weeks ago… I am just months away from being 55 years old.  “Danny, my little boy.”

My mother loved me and I loved to have her call me Danny.  She would correct herself, “Oh, I’m not supposed to call you Danny.  You are President of Youth for Christ now.  I’m not supposed to do that.”

But my mother did that for this very reason.  It was the gravitational tug to Joshua 1.

Joshua 1 says,

The Lord said to Joshua…
Moses my servant is dead
Now therefore
Arise go over this Jordan
Into the land that I am giving

You’ve heard many beautiful, powerful and compelling stories this morning.  They are a small snapshot.  A still photograph of a technicolor life.  Grace, my mother, was an incredible woman.

But as we conclude our collage of family tributes, we do so with this bold declaration…

Grace the servant of the most high God is dead… Now therefore… Now therefore

Not some day, not eventually, not soon.  But now.

Therefore, as a result of this beautiful well lived life and the grace of God that indelibly marked her soul.

Today, much like the children of Israel in Joshua 4:8 – We have collected 12 stories from our journey with Grace.  And as we have stacked them before you we are moved to occupy our calling from God.

What is our promise?
What is our opportunity?

Grace lived great things / she loved deeply.

But make no mistake; she did so out of a deep sense of purpose…

A purpose that takes us to the edge of the Promised Land and that transforms this statement into a question… Now, therefore.

She, along with others that we love and revere who have gone before us await our response.

What will we make of this legacy?

What will we do with this land?

Now… therefore

To God be the glory… and all God’s people said, “Amen!”

– Dan Wolgemuth, Son
Friday, March 26, 2010