Goodbye, for now, Brother Glenn
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Faith Fitness
Bro. Sam Kaufman
We said goodbye, for now, to one of my best friends on Tuesday.
It was a bittersweet prospect. I know my friend is rejoicing above, but we sure do miss him.
Glenn Hendrix meant a lot to our family.
He was a close friend and a brother. His zeal for God was infectious. He made everyone around him feel good.
He could always make you laugh and smile. No doubt, he was a unique individual. There is only one Glenn Hendrix. Nobody could ever replace him.
His Southern lingo and jokes were hilarious. He was a faithful man of God, as well. Glenn pastored The Church of God in Goodwater for more than five years. He was pastoring there at the time of his recent death.
A few years back, a massive timber rattler was spotted in the church parking lot. Glenn’s son, Eric, took out the snake in the manner he did others. His strategy is to throw a heavy object on the back of the snake to immobilize it, and then take its head off.
Several days later, a night church service ended and some were heading to the parking lot to their vehicles in the dark. Being the practical jokester that he was, Glenn hid himself behind a vehicle. When one of the church members approached the vehicle, Glenn reached out and grabbed an ankle.
The church member hollered like there was no tomorrow.
Glenn was one of those who served the Lord for a time, but had strayed from his relationship with God earlier in his life.
During that time, he was not living for God, but for this world and the sinful pleasures it offers.
But God never gave up on Glenn. God’s arm extended to Glenn when Glenn called out to Him.
Think of Peter, who walked on the water to go out to Jesus, but when the storm appeared, Peter took his eyes off the Lord and began to sink.
But Peter had enough wherewithal to cry out to Jesus before he sank in the depths for good. Jesus was right there to immediately extend his arm to Peter and prevent him from sinking all the way down.
My family visited Brother Glenn a couple of weeks ago. We visited and laughed. The Lord met us there in our final prayer together.
As we were praying, my heart and mind went to God’s mercy and grace that was extended to Glenn in his backslidden state. He said he was reaching a point that he couldn’t feel God’s conviction, which is an extremely dangerous place to be.
But God set up an opportunity for Glenn. His father, Raymond, had an ailment that prevented him from driving to the Alabama state convention in Bessemer in 2011.
That resulted in Glenn driving his father to the convention. Once Glenn entered The Church of God event, he heard the singing and felt God’s presence beckoning to him.
In other words, the conviction settled in once again. Glenn later said that he felt God told him it was Glenn’s final opportunity.
It was one of those now or never scenarios. The devil had been winning in Glenn’s life, but that quickly and resoundingly ended.
Glenn ran through God’s open door with all of his strength, and never looked back. He chose God over this world.
Brother Glenn gave up the things of this life that had hindered him and served God wholeheartedly. It was an about face turn toward the Lord.
The old things passed away, and behold, all things were renewed. From there, Brother Glenn was faithful to God’s calling in the Church of God with preaching and pastoring.
He had an infectious zeal for The Church of God that touched all he came in contact with. Because of his faith and faithfulness, he is what we call a “no doubter.” There was no doubt when he took that last breath about where his soul went!
