This post is taking part in Randy Elrod’s Watercooler Wednesday!

This week Randy spurred us on to think about email. The title of his entry is Friends Don’t Let Friends Email Drunk. His thoughts came after Google announced a new feature on their Gmail called Mail Goggles. The idea of the new Gmail add-on is to make sure you don’t send a stupid email in the middle of the night. Especially because that’s when most people send email they later regret. So, the fine folks at Google came up with a way to make sure you’re “sober” before mailing in the middle of the night. Kind of a cute idea, but it’s probably more cutesy than functional.

Anyway, from there Randy asked us at the Watercooler what our best email story is. Whenever anyone asks me that question, one story always comes to mind very quickly…

Let me tell you about an incredible man named Jim Pegg.

I met Jim at the first church I was assigned to in Warkworth, Ontario, Canada. We were fresh out of Seminary and we found ourselves in a nice little farming community. The fun part about this appointment revolved around the fact that we were also only about an hour away from our parents. After being away from our parents while in school for five years, it was nice to be back home. Shortly after our arrival to the church, Jim Pegg moved to Warkworth. We quickly became good friends, and he became my Pastoral Assistant at the church.

Jim was an older man. As a matter of fact, he was a World War II vet. He taught me many things, and he always told me I taught him many things too. While I could go on and on about Jim, this post around the Watercooler is about email, so I will stick to that topic.

Jim was in his mid-70′s I believe. By this time we’d moved down to New York State, but we kept in touch. Actually, Jim had discovered the Internet and email. I always looked forward to checking my email every morning because there was always something from Jim. He would share about his day, or some new discovery he made while reading the Bible. Whatever the contents of his email, I always enjoyed reading them. Jim had heart problems on and off again and as a result was scheduled for surgery. It was standard type by-pass surgery. Nothing to worry about and no big deal. Of course while some of us did worry about Jim, he was quick to put our minds at ease and say “No problem. It’s just standard and all will be fine.”

The day before his surgery arrived and as usual, Jim was at his computer looking things up on the Internet, and sending email. Of course I sent him an email the day before wishing him all the best on his scheduled surgery. His reply came back saying all was well.

He then signed off that day writing;

I’m preparing to head to the hospital later today. Dorothy will drive me up. All will go well, I will send you an email when I arrive back home.

Until then, ‘I commit my spirit into His hands.’ Jim

The following day, the day of the surgery, I received a phone call about mid-morning from Dorothy. Something had gone terribly wrong. Complications arose, Jim went into a coma. The following day not only was Jim’s spirit in His hands, but his soul was too.

These thoughts always bring a tear to my eye. As I said above, I learned many things from Jim. But if anything, I think the most important lesson I learned from Jim is how to truly be a Sojourner in this thing we call life. He lived a calm, balanced and peaceful life, knowing no matter what, he could always find true rest, peace and comfort, in His hands.

A Fellow Sojourner,
Dr. Rus