A Tribute to Adi Harris

This week we lost our dear friend Adi Harris, and we mourn with my niece Ruth, and their two sons Daniel and Johnny and their daughter Ashley, and with Johnny and Ashley’s spouses, and with the grandchildren. He had just passed his 58 birthday.

Adi was a lovely guy, with a great love for his wife and family, and all things beautiful in life, including the great outdoors. He had been battling cancer for over ten years, but never wanted to talk much about it. He was an outstanding example of courage, faith and tenacity through many years of cancer treatment, and was determined to keep working, and did, throughout most of that time.

Adi was a Christian, an ardent follower of Jesus Christ, and it would take too long to recount all he packed into a lifetime of Christian service in Church and in the wider community. He had a particular interest in World Mission and for many years organised teams of young people to go on short-term mission around the world, often travelling with them. He had a particular love for the people of France and had a desire to move there. Now he is home, with his Lord he loved and served.

Sometimes we ask why God allows such a productive life to come to an end, at what we see as a relatively young age. The truth is we don’t know the answer to that question. This poem by Corrie Ten Boom was read to me as a young man after my mother’s death at exactly this age, and I found it a great help and comfort. I share it in the hope that it will bring comfort and hope to others in similar circumstances.

 

My life is but a weaving

Between my God and me.

I cannot choose the colors

He weaveth steadily.

 

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;

And I in foolish pride

Forget He sees the upper

And I the underside.

 

Not ’til the loom is silent

And the shuttles cease to fly

Will God unroll the canvas

And reveal the reason why.

 

The dark threads are as needful

In the weaver’s skillful hand

as the threads of gold and silver

In the pattern He has planned

 

He knows, He loves, He cares;

Nothing this truth can dim.

He gives the very best to those

Who leave the choice to Him.