Tribute to my Grandpa

I recently was asked on a social forum who I would like to have dinner with, and I answered with this post..

My adopted grandfather, Leslie H. Burns (actually Leslie Horatio Seleca Boyer Burns). He worked on a farm breaking horses and plowing in his youth up in western Canada, then lived in P.E.I. and then married and lived in Massachusetts. He met the Lord in his 40’s and God forever changed him.

He started seminary after taking his GED (or whatever they called it then). He got to the math and said “God if you want me to be a preacher, You’ll have to help me with this!” He told me “Then it all seemed just like common sense.” He went on to pastor several churches and capture the hearts of many people. It is his life often that encourages me that it is never too late to make a difference. He preached and acted as an interim pastor right into his 90’s.

My mom met him and his wife Myrtle at a church in Manchester, NH, and they adopted each other. He had a banjo clock that when I was little he would bring me to and open up the innards and show me the pendulum. He never had children of his own and cherished his time with mom and with us.

God called me to be a worship leader and song writer when he was in his 90’s and I was living a too busy life. He died only a few years after that and I miss him still though it has been about 12 years.

I had a dream a few months after he died. He was at a church office and was taking things out of his briefcase and putting them into mine. I said “Wait! I want you to tell me more about Jesus.” He smiled one of those smiles that comes from a lot of years of knowing and said “You let Jesus tell you about Jesus.”

I miss him. I know that still in my life I don’t live as dedicated to the Lord and as consistent in prayer as he did. I can remember as a boy living above his room (he lived for a while with us when he retired), hearing him cry out to God for one person after another every night. He prayed for me every day.

I look forward to eternity where we can not only do lunch, but spend time in worship and communion together again.