Two Friends Go to Heaven

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones.” Psalm 116:15

Last week I lost two personal friends within three days. Well, I didn’t really “lose” them, I know exactly where they are. But they are no longer here with me, and that’s a bummer.

One was Ernie Aparicio, essentially one of the founding members of our church, at least on the Green Gables Chapel side of the family tree. Ernie was born in Walsenburg in 1930 and grew up through the depression years. His dad became ill while he was young, and Ernie had to drop out of high school to help support the family (that was a pretty common experience in the 1930’s).

Right before his mom died, she helped him join the Marines, by adding a fictitious year to his age. I don’t think the Marines asked a lot of questions in those days – if you really wanted to enlist, they winked at your form and handed you a uniform. The Marines were good to Ernie but he returned to civilian life and soon joined the Denver Police Department in 1953. For twenty five years he served his community as an officer and later a detective.

Ernie was involved in a lot of tough police work, but he only pulled his gun a few times. Once, he was the first officer on the scene of an armed robbery in progress, in a butcher shop. The robber was coming toward Ernie with a meat cleaver, and Ernie had to do something. He had a clear shot at the man’s chest, but later said, ‘Aw, I didn’t want to do that – I just shot him in the leg, and that solved the problem.”

Ernie and his wife Rose were one of six couples who went to the bank to co-sign the loan to finance the land on the corner of Kendrick Lake – the land on which our church now sits. Ernie loved his God, his country, his city, his church, and his family. Around here, he will be sorely missed.

My other friend was Bob Chamberlain, a local boy born and raised in Lakewood, Colorado. He didn’t stick around, though, becoming an Air Force pilot in the 1960’s, serving twenty years and setting several records while test-piloting the B1B, now the Air Force’s premier tactical bomber.
Bob then flew for United Airlines for twenty years, rising to Captain and even to Flight Crew Examiner.

He and his wife Huntley were key leaders in the Activation Ministries church plant on Lookout Mountain (in the old Lookout Mtn Church building.) We went on mission trips together, flew together, and I was out at their Mountain Song ranch on many occasions. Whatever Bob was doing, he made it fun. Didn’t matter if he was working, flying, ranching, water skiing… he had that knack for having fun at whatever he was doing – and so everyone around him had fun too.

Bob had some simple philosophies that often sounded like Proverbs. I ran into him at the airport one day, we were flying different airplanes, going different directions. I pointed at a distant storm cloud that concerned me and said, “That weather may be a problem for me.”

“Don’t fly there,” Bob said cheerily. “Fly somewhere else.” You know, it’s hard to argue with that kind of logic.

One day we were on the way to the Philippines to work with our partner church, and I inquired about how he, as a professional, handled the challenge of jet lag. There’s a lot of literature out there about adjusting your eating and sleeping habits while on the road, in order to cope with the time zone changes.

Bob looked me and said, “Eat when you’re hungry. Sleep when you’re tired. Fly when they call you.” Again, it’s hard to argue with that.

My two friends have left me with some good lessons for life. Love your country, and your church, and your community. Make everything fun. Don’t shoot ‘em in the chest if a leg will do. Eat when you’re hungry. Sleep when you’re tired. Finally, when God calls you, fly home.

Blessings,

Jim