Last week, I attended the memorial service for the father of a close friend. It was, as most gathering such as this are, a time to renew relationships that had been allowed to go too long without contact. I saw people I had not seen in twenty years, and recalled shared experiences that molded and shaped me as a person. During the service, as the eulogy was being given, I learned some things about Tim’s father that I never knew, and as I participated in that sacred act of remembrance and thanksgiving, I experienced the renewal of my own faith as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Mr. Leonard only had a third grade education and was the son of share croppers. On the second day of his life, he was sitting at the end of a long row of cotton as his family worked to bring in the crop. He became a truck driver and, along with his wife, rasied four kids on a relatively meager income. He was a man of prayer, a man who studied the scriptures and taught Sunday School his whole life, doing his best to bring men into a relationship with Jesus Christ and a life of active discipleship. He was faithful to God, to his wife, his family and his church. He worked long and hard hours, but always made it to church on Sunday. And he was intentional about sharing his faith with others. His life was a lamp of discipleship. I was reminded of the passage from 2 Peter 1:19 “You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” As I left the church that morning, I was aware that a lamp had just burned out, but as I looked up, the sun broke through the morning sky, and on the faces of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, friends and family members gathered there, I could see the sparks of remembrance and thanksgiving igniting new flames of inspiration and commitment. And from those flames, new lamps will be lit. Lamps of discipleship will continue to burn, shining light into the dark places of life. I pray that my life will be one of those lamps.