The Grace of Boogs

Happy Birthday Boogs!  Today would have been the 67^th birthday of my hero and dearest mentor.  I know he is in Heaven and today’s post will be a eulogy transcript from his Memorial service last Fall.

Eulogy for Dick Mette: The Grace of Boogs

 Given September 12, 2010 by Brad Davis

At Trinity Episcopal Church in Escondido, CA

It was a day like any other day; filled with those events which alter and eliminate our time.  It was the late 80’s and Dick Mette had just lost a ton of weight.  Me and Jon, and our other best friend, Dave Bender, were sitting in the back seat of the Camry joining Dick & Leslie on an errand to the Goodwill to donate most of Dick’s wardrobe because it no longer fit.

For some reason our friend Dave, who is infamous for opening his mouth and inserting his foot, says: “Good thing you lost all that weight Mr. Mette, you were beginning to look like Boogaloo Fats”.

We had no idea what this meant, but to our very mature teenage selves, it was hilarious.  So began the nickname of Boogaloo, and eventually, just Boogs.  For obvious reasons it was easier for us teenage boys to call him Boogs instead of Dick—at least to his face. We were very mature.

It was Boogs who became my hero, a father figure, and taught & demonstrated Christ’s grace to me—showing me that a Father loves his son always.  NO MATTER WHAT! 

To me, he was a golden lampstand.  The first person to tell me that the apocalyptic, end-of-times Book of Revelation is actually a book of hope.  Boogs’ spent a lot of time reading and studying the Book of Revelation.  I’d like to read a small passage from this book to help me explain some of my thoughts, and why he was a lampstand in my life:

“I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me.  And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone “like a son of man”.  His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire.  His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters.  In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword.  His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.  When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead.  Then he placed his right hand on me and said:  “Do not be afraid.  I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead and behold I am alive forever and ever!  And I hold the keys of death and Hades…The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this:  The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.” –Revelation 1: 12-18, 20 (NIV)

My biological father died when I was 4-years old.  He was shot and killed by a police officer during a robbery and attempted extortion.  My mom was left behind with 2 kids.  She remarried and had a 3^rd son, but eventually divorced and never left her path of self-destruction. As the oldest child, I had a clear view of my mom’s battle with hard drug use, alcoholism, and chronic poverty. It wasn’t a good life.

It is out of this situation that God moved us across the street from All Saints’ Episcopal Church.  Where he introduced me to a plethora of loving families, including my personal heroes: The Mette Family.

Circumstances made it so that I eventually moved in with the Mette’s during high school and they became my legal Guardians.  It is here that the entire Mette family taught me true grace. 

Boogs’ told me early on that grace could be easily understood by the acronym:  G.R.A.C.E -- Gifts Received At Christ’s Expense.  But, more than that, grace was demonstrated and lived out in front of me in meaningful and life-changing ways.  Even though I was just one of Jon’s poor friends from the ghetto, with a unique sense of humor (and unique digestive system) with a vastly different and undeserving background, they would take me in and love me—NO MATTER WHAT!

·         If I crashed the hard drive on the computer in the middle of someone’s homework assignment.  They loved me, NO MATTER WHAT

·         If I ate all the ice cream and put a 99.5% empty carton back in the fridge.  And forgot to tell Leslie to buy more. They loved me, NO MATTER WHAT

·         If I stayed out past my curfew, waaaay past my curfew, and left them with an empty tank of gas to boot.  They loved me, NO MATTER WHAT

·         If I offered free advice and marriage counseling, in all my wisdom and experience, they humbly rejected my offer, and still loved me, NO MATTER WHAT

·         If I came home from College with $10,000 in debt and gave all of the Collection Agencies their name and address to call 5 times a night, in the middle of dinner.  They still loved me, NO MATTER WHAT

·         If I shook up a can of orange soda, bit into the side of the can, and sprayed it all over their best friend’s cabin, they still loved me, NO MATTER WHAT

I made a lot of decisions that resembled the south end of a north bound donkey—and still do.  The Mette’s did not always like what I did, but they always, always loved me, NO MATTER WHAT.  This, I have learned, is the same kind of love that God has for us.

It is because of this love that, to me, the Mette Family was the church, and Boogs, as the head of that family, was head of this church, and I was a welcome member.  And the Book of Revelation tells us that the church is like a golden lampstand—Boogs, you shone the brightest!

Revelation tells us this world will have calamity, war, strife, tribulation, and evil walks this Earth—but we find our hope in knowing that the story ends with God being victorious.  HE WINS! 

Amen?

Boogs, you struggled here on this earth.  Especially physically, whether with your weight and food addiction, snoring and sleep apnea, pulmonary embolism, and the awful cancer for the last 4 years.  You were tried and tested.  But you still held fast to your Faith and your Hope.  YOU WON!  I pray that I can have that kind of strength.

Thank you for sharing your journey with us.  Your soul is now free. 

Though you are no longer a lampstand here on this earth or a legal guardian to me, you are a guardian Angel to all of us, a star held in the hand of your Father in Heaven.  Thank you for shining in our lives, for this brief moment—showing us grace, showing us hope.  We will miss you and love you and hold on to your memory and the hope that we will see you again one day—NO MATTER WHAT! 

Amen.