Wednesday, March 13, 2013

J. Barton Payne's father: finishing like a boss

In my reading of Bible Interpreters of the Twentieth Century, I just began reading about one of my favorite OT scholars who died too young, J. Barton Payne. I read this about his father, who was a pastor:
When Barton was eighteen, in May of 1941, his father was struck with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rapid paralysis, while he was preaching. After losing sensation in his legs he sat in a chair to finish his sermon. He died a few days later, shortly after hearing that Barton was one of fifteen in his junior class of three thousand to be elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Good finish. Preaching; stricken; half-paralyzed; sit down, finish sermon; go to Jesus happy.

1 comment:

JG said...

My goodness. I have a friend who suffered (and recovered, thankfully) from Guillain-Barre. What a visual. What a faithful shepherd.