I first met Jamey in his white convertible VW Rabbit, driven all the way from Oklahoma to Florida so he could attend Bible College. I was a staffer, he was a freshman. He loved me anyway and showed it with simple honesty.
"Not sure how I'm gonna fit in with all these rules 'round here. Not sure they're all needed, to be honest," he said with a grin, followed with that signature chuckle of his that starts with several "ha's!" from the chest and becomes a hearty laugh. The laugh was his love and the word was his love and he really didn't know how to think about life without love.
This mix was a wonder, really. His appetite for life was all-consuming and yet not. He knew his energy and eagerness could be overmuch and he had to work and learn how to calm it down. But it was him so very much and no one wanted it to die. No one wanted him to die, or thought he ever would.
Love never dies and so Jamey never dies. It is an old truth and all the more real for that. Love never fails. The eager roofing he did as a young man in Oklahoma, the diligent studies in College and Seminary and beyond, the full self-giving he gave to Cara and their family, his passionate pastoring in Morgantown and elsewhere, his gifted teaching.... All of this was in love and from love and for love.
Love energized his life and came from his soul. It was born of a father and mother who loved him well and gave him to Christ. And in Christ he found all he needed to be free to give away all he was. And give away he did, blessing everyone he met.
Now he is gone from us and from his precious family. And in their lives and ours in measure, the world will know this remarkable man who thought life was for love and little more.
I'm glad I knew him. I will never forget him. I hope to live as well as he did.
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