(Read by our son Jordan at Dad's funeral today in Connecticut in our absence).
Greetings from the Jeff Davoll family in Cumbaya,
Ecuador. I want to thank you all for
taking the opportunity to celebrate my Dad’s life. Whether we personally know you or not, you
are a blessing to us.
I also want to thank my sister Lisa and her husband Tom,
Josh, Emma and even Atticus for caring for and loving my Dad in our absence in
his later years. There were so many
times we wished we could be there but we are fulfilling what both Dad and Mom
had prayed for so many years and encouraged us to do. Like Tom and Lisa are serving the Lord there
in Connecticut, we are serving our Lord here in Ecuador.
Deanne & I have been married and serving together in
ministry for almost 24 years now. We have been blessed with four children. Bethany 22, will be graduating college this
May and seeks to serve God in children’s ministry. Jordan 20, is in his third year of college
training and wants to serve with young people here and around the world. Amanda 19 is in her first year of college and
is passionate about serving the Lord in the Spanish speaking world. Lukas 16 is a junior in high school still
seeking where God might use him as a missionary.
I am sure many of you have great memories of my Dad. Dad loved animals and he taught me to
appreciate and care for animals and to treat them with respect. We have 5 rabbits, 2 dogs, a duck and a
chicken who laid her first egg today..woohoo.
Our chocolate lab is ready to have puppies any day. Dad owned and loved horses and looked to ride
any time he could. He loved sailing and
the water. He loved to torture Lisa and
I by driving through Cape Cod, showing us every house on every street of every
town. He enjoyed his flowers and lawn a
trait he learned from his mom. He loved
peanut butter and instant coffee and he loved to dip his peanut butter sandwich
in his instant coffee. He loved the
Adirondack Mountains and everything about it…except the black flies. Dad loved Mountainside Bible Chapel and
everything about it; the people, the cantatas, and the organist (my mom).
I want to share with you just a few key things I learned
from my Dad, some more things that he loved and things that he taught me. Not just anything but very important things
that I will cherish all the days of my life and hopefully pass down to my kids
as well. It was not in formal lessons
but from his daily walk I learned these things.
1. My Dad taught me to love my Lord.
Mark 12:30-31- “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength: this is the first commandment.31 And the second is
like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none
other commandment greater than these.
I was adopted into the Davoll family when I was just 5
months old and we adopted Lisa some 2 years later. I say “we” because I remember the day we
picked her up. I don’t remember much
about formal teachings and lessons on faith from Dad, but I know his example
was one that taught us to love our Lord.
Dad trusted Jesus Christ as his Savior as a young boy of 9
years old and later on made the decision to serve the Lord in full time
ministry. Dad will probably not be remembered as the greatest preacher in the
entire world. In fact, I only remember
one message he preached, the Good Samaritan from Luke 10. It was in that sermon that I remember clearly
Dad making the point that there is no one too far gone to help. We were in church when the doors were open
and often we were the ones that stayed to help close them. It was in church and around people of God
that I learned so much. We had great men
and women of God in our home, missionaries, pastors and other faithful
believers. Dad took us to camp where we
heard the Word and dedicated our lives to serve the Lord. Dad tried to hold family devotions until Lisa
would interrupt them and cause chaos at the kitchen table after dinner. She will try to say it was me but I will
remember it the way I want to.
My Dad taught me to Love my Lord. Secondly
2. My Dad
taught me to love my labor, the ministry
Why wouldn’t we? It
was his example that he set for us. Dad
loved what he did. Why wouldn’t we want
to serve the King of Kings and Lord of Lords?
It was Dad’s example that set that for us.
Growing up we were never rich but we saw God’s blessing and
provision on a daily basis and through Dad’s example we learned also to love or
labor, to love our ministry.
I can only remember hearing one negative word about the
ministry in all my days. I was about 8
years old when Dad left the youth pastorate of a church of 1500 people to
become a missionary and to live on faith.
In the transition he only made a salary of $25/week just so we could be
put on insurance. Dad got poison Ivy all
over his body cleaning the property of a house we lived in rent free for almost
a year. I fell off my bike and got 6
stitches and Dad received his new ministry car…well, “new to him” ministry
car. He had just sold his 2 door cream
Monte Carlo with leather seats and a soft top to receive his 1973 lime green
Plymouth Duster before lime green was in style.
I sat in the car with Dad as he looked over his new “ride” and the seat
unlatched and slid all the way into the back.
Not leather but plaid vinyl. The
door to the glove box had been ripped off and Dad just bobbed his head and
said, “You give your whole life to the ministry and this is what you get.” That’s it, not another negative word that I
can remember from Dad.
Dad taught us to love our labor because he loved what God
had given him to do. Ministry was about people. People who used their gifts, abilities and
resources to serve the Lord. People who
needed Jesus. People who needed prayer
or encouragement. People who made up the
family of God. I was overwhelmed by
reading the impact on people my Dad had as they shared through emails and
Facebook. He has loved, counseled,
encouraged and just been there to lend an ear. There are missionaries serving
around the world because he took time to disciple them. There are children who are learning about God
in churches through discipleship ministry.
No question in my mind he has heard, “Well done, my good and faithful
servant.”
My Dad taught me to Love my Lord, to love my labor, but
also,
3. My dad
taught me to love my lady.
You can’t think of Dad without mom. They served together in ministry side by
side. They each had their respective
roles but it was a team. For richer for
poorer, in sickness and in health till death they did part, though for just a
short 2 year time Dad loved her and was faithful to his Lady. He provided, protected and honored her as the
scriptures say,
Efesios 5:25-27 – “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he
might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That
he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle,
or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
Whether he planned it or not, while he set the example of
loving his lady he was setting the example for me to love my Lord and to Love
my labor. He set this example because
Jesus Christ went to the cross to die in my place as He loved the church and
gave Himself for it. Because Christ did
that for me, how could I not love Him enough to give my life to Him and to
serve Him all the days of my life?
Yes, it is a time of sorrow for us as a family here on
earth. Death is meant to sting because
it is a reminder of the consequence of sin that separates us from God. But it is also a time of rejoicing because we
have the confidence from the Scriptures that we will be together again in
heaven not because of how Dad lived here on earth but because of how Jesus
Christ died and rose again. He did it
for me and he did it for you.
Dad, I love you. I
want to be like you and to teach my boys to love their Lord, to love their
labor and to love their lady. Good
night, I will see you in the morning. In
the meantime:
Philippians 3:14 – “I press toward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
Our Teammates!
