Dale ANDERSON

En mémoire de Papa
Dale R Anderson

Merci Seigneur
Pour chaque jour de sa vieS
Pour les années ensemble
Louange à toi, Jésus
Pour sa vie, son appel et ses dons
Bénis soir-tu, Père Eternel
Pour le pain de chaque jour
Par laquelle nous avons été bénis
Pour sa direction
En famille et en musique
Bénis soir-tu, Père Eternel, pour son amour
En tant qu’époux
En tant que père et grand-père
Merci Seigneur
Encourage-nous à être des ouvriers
Pour ton royaume comme lui

Toi Jésus, l’espoir, la lumière et la joie,
Remplis-nous de paix
Car enfin, Papa Dale est comblé et bénit
Dans l’esprit et le monde céleste.

Merci Seigneur pour sa foi.
Amen

Surtout que nous gardons une profonde affection pour votre famille. Dale a été, pour François et moi, un moyen de grâce à plusieurs reprises, dans différentes étapes de nos vies et nous louons le Seigneur pour cela.

Sois assurée que nous sommes en pensées et en prière avec toi/vous dans cette épreuve. Que l’Evangile de notre Puissant Sauveur soit prêché, entendu et vécu, par la grâce de Dieu le 28. Que la joie de Dale, plus vivant que jamais dans l’Esperance qu’il contemple enfin, interroge les cœurs de ceux qui ne sont pas encore au Seigneur.

Que vos cœurs à vous soient consolés le moment venu, alors que vous avez commencé à traverser le deuil du manque et de l’absence de votre bien-aimé.

Que Dieu vous montre que sa grâce est encore suffisante.

Dale and I met in college – we were not really destined to meet
We were on 2 parallel tracks –
Dale in the music conservatory
Me in the chemistry lab
We were both fiercely independent

Yet we had a number of things which united us
Our faith in Christ from childhood
Believing parents who were active in the church
We influenced by the same pastor - Craig Massey
Dale at camp, Me as my church pastor
We both had recognized a call to missionary service
We both had bent for artistic creativity

Our call to come to France came several years after our marriage when we spent 2 weeks with Art et Muriel Johnston who worked in France. We were unified in our call – sure that God wanted us in France. And here we have remained for 55 years.

Many people think piano playing or choir direction was Dale’s gift. He always looked at his piano playing as a talent that God gave him. His spiritual gift was to help others to use music to glorify God. His life verse was:

Col 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

He loved working with students in his choirs and greatly missed the contact when he was forced to retire from student work because of his hearing loss.

His final years –
He had a hereditary liver disease which we did not truly understand until too late in his life.
These last 2 years have been a time of progressive loss of abilities – mobility, memory, writing and piano.
I remember the last day he tried to play the piano. He was frustrated by fingers that would not work. I stood in the kitchen and cried for him. Piano had been such a part of his life since he was 8 years old.

The last 8 months we spent more time together than ever before. We both lost our independence. Dale by losing up his ability to do for himself. Me by giving him my free time and choosing to stay at home with him. He allowed me to help him which he had rarely ever done. The presence of the Hôpital à Domicile was a blessing. While it was constraining, it allowed him to stay in our home until the end.

He would frequently say he wanted to go home, but our apartment was not it. Now he is home in a permanent, eternal dwelling with his Lord. I hope he is making music and helping others to sing God’s praises.