Fred Castle was my “go to” deacon when I was pastor of Perkinsville Baptist Church in Boone, NC. Fred was the kind of Deacon that every pastor needs. He was first and foremost a man of prayer and a faithful churchman. He was a beloved husband, father and grandfather.
Fred was a man of wisdom, a quiet, gentle soul who never sought recognition for himself but who was always available and ready to lend a helping hand to someone in need. Fred never got in a hurry but he was never late. You never heard him say a disgruntled word about anything or anyone. If you needed a companion to visit a family or go to an out-of-town hospital, Fred was the man to call on.
For a hobby and extra spending money, Fred grew Christmas Trees. If he wasn’t on the mountain side trimming his trees, he was in his workshop restoring Model A Fords and repairing hit and miss engines or water rams that used the force of gravity rather than electricity to pump water up a steep hill.
But more than anything else, Fred modeled consistency. He looked for the simple way to solve problems. He looked for the most reasonable and the most practical solution to the challenges he faced.
I remember the time that we were building our home in Boone and the church properties committee told Gloria that we could have the very nice clothes line that was in the backyard of the church. The clothes line was held up by two very nice metal posts that that formed a T at the top. They had been placed in the ground and secured with a significant amount of cement. Fred was on hand when a church member with a backhoe lifted those metal posts out of the ground. We needed to get the cement off of those posts and Fred sat on the ground and watched me exhaust myself trying to break the cement loose with a sledge hammer. After awhile, Fred asked, “Do you want me to show you how to get that cement off the post? I said, “Yes”. Fred picked up the sledge hammer, hit the cement three times in the same place and the cement broke apart in two pieces. Right before my eyes, Fred demonstrated consistency without saying a word.
Consistency is a quality of life that speaks volumes for our Christian witness. Let us strive for it in our prayer life, our Bible Study, our worship, our outreach and service to God.
In His Love,
Charles
