The Loss of a Legend

Aubrey William Buie, Sr.

HAUGHTON, LA - Funeral services for Rev. Aubrey William Buie, Sr., 87, of West Monroe, LA, will be held at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, February 20, 2008 at the Souls Harbor United Pentecostal Church with Rev. Tom Johnson and Rev. Jimmy Masters officiating. Interment will follow at 2:00 p.m. in the Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery under the direction of the Hillcrest Funeral Home of Haughton.

Rev. Buie passed from this life on Sunday, February 17, 2008 at The Oaks in Monroe. He was preceded in death by his parents, Milton William "Bud" Buie and Ida Mae Hilburn Buie.

Rev. Buie was born on Sunday, March 14, 1920 in Lecompte, Louisiana, graduated from Tioga High School in 1938 and married Gloria Gwendolyn Morgan on June 2, 1941 in Alexandria, Louisiana where he attended the First Pentecostal Church pastored by Gloria's father, Rev. A. T. Morgan. Aubrey was employed by the Baptist Hospital in Alexandria as an x-ray technician while also studying medicine under Doctor Barker, the hospital's Chief of Staff.

Rev. Buie received his call to the ministry in 1939 and was subsequently ordained into the ministry by Rev. Dan Hayes. During almost seventy years of ministry, he pastored congregations in Ball, Bossier City and New Orleans, Louisiana, Kilgore, Texas, South Bend, Indiana, DeRidder, Alexandria and Bastrop, Louisiana, Sherman, Texas, West Monroe and Jena, Louisiana. He was the founding pastor of several of these churches and many ministers received their calling under his anointed leadership.

As a skilled draftsman and builder, Reverend Buie assisted many pastors in the design and construction of new church sanctuaries. He was an avid sportsman enjoying both hunting and fishing.

He is survived by Gloria Gwendolyn, his wife of sixty-seven years; three sons and their wives, A. W. Jr. "Bill" and Lou Buie, Sandy Lake, LA, Ralph "Buddy" and June Buie, Monroe, LA and James "Jimmy" and Linda Buie, Livingston, TX ; two sisters, Maxie Mae Frake, Bossier City, LA and Norma Faye Teekel, Bossier City, LA; one brother, Archie Duncan Buie, Blanchard, LA; five grandsons, Michael David Buie, Christopher Marcus Buie, James Arthur "Jaime" Buie, Jonathan Joel "Jay" Buie and Jeremy Wayne Buie; nine great grandchildren, numerous cousins, nephews, nieces and extended family.

Visitation will be Tuesday, February 19, 2008 from 5:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at the Souls Harbor United Pentecostal Church in Calhoun, Louisiana. Flowers, greetings and cards may be sent to the church at 113 Slocum Road, Calhoun, LA.

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Grandpa could have been a doctor, engineer, lawyer or any other profession and certainly would have succeeded beyond any one's expectations. Instead, at God's leading and direction, he lead men and women to The Great Physician, built churches, campgrounds and congregations and as his grandsons found out, he laid down the law.

Whether it was the finer points of horseback riding, shotgun etiquette, the tanning attributes of the big red belt, or the gourmet qualities of a Taco Bell Chalupa; whether he was saying, "Stay out of the garage! Stay out of the barn! Get off the Roof!" or heaven forbid if he caught us playing hide and seek in halls, Sunday school rooms and offices of the church in Sherman. Grandpa was never one to hold back his opinion, his direction or his discipline. And in that, he was a blessing to his grandsons. It meant that he was paying attention, he was looking on and giving of his time.

On one particular occasion for me, back when he and Grandma were in Sherman, Grandpa took notice of my interest in music and more specifically the trumpet. I am sure that he had more important things to do that day, but he took me down the stairs to a little room off the sanctuary. There he picked up a trumpet and handed it to me. He began to show me how to hold it, how to purse my lips and then how to create a sound. After that, every day of that summer vacation I begged him to take me down and teach me some more. And he did. He started to teach me a song. Fortunately for me, it only required one valve. Little by little he taught me the whole thing. To this day, I don't know how he knew what he was doing, but the seed he planted in me over 25 years ago still produces fruit that I enjoy today. The little song he taught me was this....

Oh I want to see Him, look upon His face

There to sing forever of His saving grace

On the streets of Glory, let me lift my voice

Cares all past, home at last, ever to rejoice


Welcome home, Grandpa. Welcome home.

This World is No Match

After hearing this event spoken about by Rev. Tom Trimble this evening, I researched it a bit and thought some of his thoughts along with my own were worth sharing.

On April, 10^th 1963, disaster struck the USS Thresher, the lead ship in her class of nuclear-powered attack submarines in the US Navy. During routine deep diving tests approximately 220 miles of the coast of Cape Cod, MA, the failure of a weld in the salt water piping system caused high pressure water to short out electrical panels, which in turn caused a shutdown of the reactor. This caused the sub to lose all power, begin drifting and then to sink. Efforts to blow ballast tanks were met with failure as excessive moisture froze and plugged the valves where the high pressure air would have flowed. The USS Skylark, a sub rescue ship that accompanied the Thresher, hears the high-energy low-frequency noise with characteristics of an implosion. 129 service men lose their lives in 1-2 seconds.

Deeps sea vehicles find the wreckage in six major pieces at a depth of 8400ft. The pressure at that depth is 3600lbs per square inch. The Thresher looked as if it were a crushed tin can. But what they didn’t expect to find at the site was this……LIFE! The area was teeming with life. Marine life whose skin was no thicker that 1/8-1/4 of an inch were surviving at these incredible depths. It caused those searching the site to wonder, what kind of force was in these fish to keep them alive.

Isn’t it amazing? With all that we have seen lately, the loss of a loved one, the destruction of nature, the multitude of prayer requests; its human nature to understand if one should succumb to the pressures of this life. Sometimes we are not ready when life hits us hard. We are unable to see the catastrophic spiritual failure that could happen if we become complacent in our daily walk. One hurt, one wrong attitude showed toward us, or one temptation we are not prepared for could send us spiraling into the depths of spiritual destruction. It was later discovered that the joint that probably failed in the Thresher was brazed rather than welded. Prior tests showed only a potential problem with 14% of the joints. It was determined not to pose a significant risk to warrant repair. How sad that a small weakness brought down a mighty vessel. So it is with our spiritual walk. We can look at all the positive results and mighty strengths of our walk (which we should recognized and give God the glory), but our downfall may be the little nagging weakness. The little problem we have that we brush away, but ultimately leads to our spiritual demise.

But there is a hope! So let us proclaim this! Just as the life at those great depths had something inside of them, you have something even greater. God has blessed you with His gift! His Spirit. It is a strength that cannot be defeated. There is no weapon formed against you that will prosper. Despite the pressures around you, despite what this world throws at you, His strength is perfect.

This world is no match.

John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

Rom 8:31 What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

Sit Down and Be Counted

John 6:10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

John's version of the feeding of the five thousand takes on a slightly different view than the other three gospels. In fact, in John's gospel, he tells us not only what Jesus did, but who He is. Some of the most important language in the Christian faith is found there: I am the light of the world, I am the good shepherd, I am the living water, I am the truth and the light, no man comes to the father but by me.

Mark's version tells us that the disciples came to Jesus letting him know that they did not have enough food and that they needed to send the crowd away. Truly, that is the challenge to the church of today. So many hungry people, yet we push them away because we can't see God meeting their need. We say we can't solve everyone's problem; we don't have the answer to everyone's crisis. I am so glad that when I came to Jesus, when I couldn't go it on my own any more, He didn't send me away empty handed.

John says Jesus looked out and saw a hungry crowd. It was He who challenged Philip by asking, "Where shall we buy bread that these may eat?" He wasn't unaware of the situation. He already knew what He was about to do. There is no need that you can come up with that is not known to Him. In fact, He's already working it out.

There is no mention of the number of this gathering until Jesus told them to sit. Mentally, sometimes men think we can't get anything from God unless we are standing on our own two feet. We have to be the provider, the protector. We have a hard time admitting that we have needs, that somehow if we are not in control of every situation in our lives, that it is a sign of weakness. But these men realized there was something special about an encounter with Jesus. They recognized there need to be in the presence of a Holy God. Sitting down means giving up a little control, means we may not be seen, we may not get the attention we think we deserve, we may think that we will get overlooked, perhaps give up some of my uniqueness, my individuality or identity.

But sitting down with Jesus means spending time with the Master. It means allowing Jesus to minister to those hidden places in our spirits, surrendering control to His will. Naturally, we as human beings think that we have to stand; we have to be doing something. In the busyness of being where we need to be, getting where we need to go, we miss out on the miracles God wants to do in the stillness of our lives.

Five thousands lives. Certainly there were more needs than just natural hunger. Five thousand minds, attitudes, histories, understandings and pieces of baggage. After taking what little they had to offer, five loaves and two fishes, He fed them ALL!

Twelve baskets left over! He is more than enough to heal, to restore, to fix and to answer. There is no need to worry about an inadequate supply....if we would just sit down and be counted.