My Uncle Stan Paulson passed away after a two year fight with ALS (Lou Gehrigs Disease) on Wednesday. As soon as I heard of his passing, thoughts flooded my mind about how much he impacted my life and the lives of everyone around him through his 74 years on this earth. As these thoughts entered my mind I knew I had to get them out and onto paper, and that I wanted to share the story of my Uncle Stan, from my perspective of course, as soon as I could!
I began to think of this incredible man of God, who I am sure would have made it to healthily into his 90’s if not for the terrible disease gradually destroying the muscles in his body!
This past weekend I went to Grande Prairie for the funeral and I was reminded again about the amazing man that this world has lost!
So, here is how I remember my Uncle Stan! I find it hard to narrow down all of these thoughts that are swirling around my head and make it into a cohesive writing, but I will do my best.
In the fall my Uncle Stan was starting to feel the effects of ALS more and more and he started to chat with a man who was dying of cancer, George, at church every Sunday. They would reflect on life and would compare notes and guess who would get to heaven first. Well George made it there in November, and now Uncle Stan is there as well.
After the church in Sexsmith had a healing prayer meeting for my Uncle Stan one evening, my Uncle was talking to his son, Duane's Father-in-law about the prayer service and had the following insight: "David, do you remember how we used to order from the Simpson's and Eaton's catalogues back in the day, and if they didn't have what we ordered they would give you something better in it's place. I think that is what happens with requests to God. If he doesn't give us what we ask for He gives us an upgrade, something much better than our request! If God does not answer our request, and I am not healed, then He will give me an upgrade, something much better!"
Right until the end Stan was making an impact on lives. I heard stories at the family get together about the last few days of Uncle Stan's life. He had an impact on people right until the end. Nurses were drawn to serve Uncle in ways that are not normal. The story that shows this more than anything else is how one particular nurse served him for only two days, the Monday and Tuesday before he passed away. The nurse came to talk to Uncle before she left her last shift and asked if she could kiss him in the forehead. She said that he had impacted her life in ways that she had not been impacted in before. The way that he was not bitter, but showed love to those around him. The way that they could see peace in his life. Uncle Stan could not really talk at all the last few weeks of his life, but a few days before his passing he was still making an incredible impact on lives of those around him! That is totally God, and shows you a glimpse of how God worked in Uncle's life!
Uncle Stan was like a grandpa to me, he was more than your normal uncle, especially since he was an Uncle through my Dad's sister, Hilda, who passed away in 1993! And the crazy thing about this is that the way that he treated my brothers and I was not an exception. He treated all of his nephews and nieces, and I know also other people who he got to know, in this same way as if they were special, and like they were his favourite! All the nephews and nieces, and even great nephews and nieces had memories of things that he did for us that showed Christ’s love for us. We all thought that we were his favourite nephew or niece!
My Uncle was such a servant! And he inspires me to this day. I want to be half the servant of God that he was! When he retired from working for the school division he started coming out to our farm to help with seeding and harvest and he would work harder than any of us. And Uncle Stan would not just come for a few weeks, he would come right when seeding or harvest started and would not leave until it was over! And when there was ever a break due to weather, or anything else he wouldn’t just sit back and read a book, no, he would get out some paint and start painting the sheds bins, etc. He was always finding ways to serve us and fix up our farm! And I know that between seeding and harvest he would be helping his children, or his other relatives! And every winter he would go on a trip doing missions for a few months in countries like Ethiopia, Korea, Columbia or China! He would help fix up schools, or help fill a teaching role for a semester, or I am sure whatever else needed doing! He had such an impact on the people who he met in these countries that several of them even came to Grande Prairie to go to College and stayed in his house! One of these young men from Ethiopia, Anyo, even flew from Toronto for the funeral and was an usher with my brother and I!
Uncle had the whole funeral planned out, and it was just the way he would have liked it to be, about family, friends, fellowship and fun! And most of all about Christ's love!
I remember every time he came to our farm for seeding he would bring pictures of his expeditions over the winter for us to see how God was working in other parts of the world, and he would always bring coins, and ties and other types of trinkets for all of his nieces and nephews and their children.
Or I think of the letters that he would send me in the mail that were written on birch bark.
Uncle Stan would always be looking for ways to help us, like if he knew we needed a car or that we were interested in something he would get us magazines about it.
Or I think of my cars that I have owned, how am I ever going to buy another car again without him to assist me? He would let me drive his car at such a young age. The first car I ever owned was his old car, and he let me pay for it in installments, so that it wouldn’t hurt my budget heading off to University!
Even the newest car I got. I was in Thailand on a missions trip and Uncle Stan had heard that my old car was starting to fall apart, so he emailed me to come up through Grande Prairie to buy his car. But, in the meantime he had found a car which would probably better suit me, more in my price range. So, he recommended me to buy that car and did all the paperwork for me. I am so glad I had that 4 days with him, while we figured out all the paper work to get it into Saskatchewan! It was hard to see the first stages of ALS at that point.
I have so many memories of Uncle, from him taking us moose hunting, or of us putting coins on the railroad tracks behind his house and seeing how they had been squished by the train!
The last few weeks before Stan's passing he was heard saying several times, "I am ready to go home, I want to go home." One of the requests he had was that his children (Twyla, Sharlene and Duane), and grandchildren (Brady, Brian and Hannah) would live their lives for Christ, so that after he sees Christ, his wife, and parents and the rest of his family already in heaven, that he will wait to greet his family to heaven. He said that the most important reminder for us is to love our family first and then to love others. The most important thing in life is love! And that love flows from Christ!
The World has lost an amazing man this past week, a man of God, and the world was a better place with Stan Paulson in it and is not as good of a place without Him. As my younger brother stated, when Uncle Stan arrived in Heaven, I know that God said, "Welcome home Stan, you have done well, my good and faithful servant!"
Uncle Stan was not given the temporary healing that we wanted for him on this earth, but instead was given the greatest gift of Ultimate healing in Heaven!
I miss him, and I know I always will while I am on Earth, but I know I will see him soon, and I will always be inspired to be like my Uncle Stan. I know that if I come even close to being the man he was that I will make an amazing impact on this world!
Two of my heroes in the faith and men who have had a Huge impact on my life, Uncle Miles and Uncle Stan. This was taken at our 2008 family reunion, and the last time I saw Stan.
