Words about my friend... J.R. Davison

6/19/2008

John Randolph Davison, IV was born February 14th, 1947 in Bluefield, WV. Yes, that's February 14th and yes, that's Bluefield, WV.

JR's father, John, had been attending college in Bluefield, but after his training they moved back to Washington, DC and soon to Arlington, VA. JR or back then, Randy, grew up in Arlington where he eventually attended both Falls Church High School and finally Woodson High School for his junior and senior years.

JR loved to fix things... and he seemed to be able to fix anything. He loved woodworking, surfing, bicycles, motorcycles; anything that moved... He reconnected in the last several years with his love for guns and shooting even learning to load his own rounds. JR gave me my first rifle...

But it was spring of his senior year at Woodson High School where he met his wife of 39 years Candee. JR attended N.V. Community College where he studied Urban Planning, but soon he was invited to join the United States Marine Corps. He and Candee married, moved briefly to San Diego for training in preparation for a year-long deployment in Vietnam where he served primarily as a radio operator. Part of JR's duties included directing medevac helicopters to make difficult landings so that wounded soldiers could find a way out to receive help and healing in the middle of the battle. He seemed to have a knack for things that required that kind of gifting.

After returning from Vietnam, he served the rest of his military career at Quantico where the military had a program that helped Marines transition into civilian life. This is when JR began his new career back in Fairfax County working for Gulf-Reston Corporation who had just begun the development of the Town of Reston. Because of dyslexia JR found it difficult to read, however, he had an eye for how things were put together and he could see and appreciate the beauty of letters and graphics on a page. I know many of you have been recipients of his little cards or notes that were like mini works of art that included a meaningful scripture verse or phrase. Even though he found it difficult to read he appreciated the value and the beauty of the written word.

Reston Land Corporation finished their work in Reston and JR was moved from his original role in design and planning to assist field agents selling condominiums in Arlington. It was during this time that JR found out about Grace Ministries.

If there could be anything typical about a Grace Ministries staff member, JR was not. After he received training at the Grace Ministries office in Atlanta, JR joined our staff to do appointment style counseling with both men and women at our office in Manassas. You see, Grace Ministries had a system. You met with people for hour or maybe hour and a half appointments where you listened to a person's presenting problem, took their social and spiritual history and presented the exchanged life truths using pre-printed diagrams that were most useful after you were well trained in the outline that included certain phraseology and scripture verses. Well, this wasn't working for JR. He could exist in the system, but he wasn't thriving in the system. This wasn't easy for us as a ministry, because we had some pretty strongly held attitudes and approaches as to how ministry was to be done and it was uncomfortable for us to be challenged at the level of our 'sacred method.' Soon it became obvious that JR's greatest ministry with people was not happening in well placed wing-backed chairs behind the closed door of an office, but instead in the office waiting room, the parking lot, the Starbuck's, the Bob Evans... Where salt and pepper shakers, sugar packets and those little tubs of jelly and honey replaced notepads, preprinted diagrams and the phrase, 'I'm sorry, our time is up for today...'

At Grace Ministries JR Davison lived Jesus as a vital member of our staff especially in the area of men's ministry; coordinating small groups, and men's outings including hikes, shooting competitions, movie nights and of course bike trips. JR also served as a member of our ministry Leadership Team and his role as Table Host Coordinator for our first Fellowship Dinner serving friends and guests in getting to and helping others join in on one of the most exciting events in our ministries' 21 year history.

JR was my ministry partner, my brother and my friend.

I felt it was important today to share with you an overview of JR Davison's life; his birth, his work, his ministry, his accomplishments. But JR just like each one of us could never really be known by that kind of biographical description. To know JR is to have experienced JR. That was JR's belief as it related to all relationships.

On the inside of JR's bible was one of those little cards written in some very classy font that I'm sure he could name. It was his mission statement and it is printed on the back of your program. It reads:

"I want to know Jesus Christ as the source of my very life. Not to be someone who is just well informed about him. I want more than knowledge; I want him alive and active in my spirit and soul; leading me to know his will for my life. I want a deep personal relationship with him that touches every aspect of my life. I want him to be my very life, day by day, moment by moment and for others to see his life in me." J.R. Davison September 2000

For most of us who had experienced JR, what we initially thought was going to be a conversation that would last maybe 5 minutes… were wondering what had happened when 3 hours later you could only walk away concluding that JR was the best listener who never really stopped talking.

A conversation that was uncomfortable, but inviting. Who is this guy? This guy's different. He thinks differently. He sees things differently. He sees me differently. I think he really cares about me...

I think that one of the most noticeable relational attributes of Jesus while he walked the planet with people, was this sense that when you were with him, He was totally with you. He wasn't distracted, he didn't have another appointment. Thinking to myself... "I might have value because there is someone who cares about me"

JR wasn't Jesus... you know that, but he had the life of Jesus, eternal life, in him ever since August 1987. JR wasn't Jesus, but like Jesus, JR by his life was saying, "when you see me, you see the Father." You see, it wasn't just JR that we experienced or needed to experience, it was the life of Jesus we needed, it is the life of Jesus we need today and every moment.

Even though JR may have always found it difficult to read he appreciated the value and beauty of pixels on a page; he saw letters as pictures; pictures that were there to tell a story... a story about life... about relationships. He was that picture to us and we now carry on that story forward in our lives in every moment of our lives

2 Corinthians 3:1-6
Does it sound like we're patting ourselves on the back, insisting on our credentials, asserting our authority? Well, we're not. Neither do we need letters of endorsement, either to you or from you. You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it-not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives-and we publish it.

We couldn't be more sure of ourselves in this-that you, written by Christ himself for God, are our letter of recommendation. We wouldn't think of writing this kind of letter about ourselves. Only God can write such a letter. His letter authorizes us to help carry out this new plan of action. The plan wasn't written out with ink on paper, with pages and pages of legal footnotes, killing your spirit. It's written with Spirit on spirit, his life on our lives!