I was a pastors kid and growing up there was no shortage of people who got up to speak or give a “message” in front of the church. I always ignored them for the most part. They were all pretty much the same to me anyway. Save one. Buck Webb.

I’d seen him at church Sunday mornings plenty of times. Buck was a believer that much I knew. He had a daughter that had caught my eye on more than one occasion, for sure. But outside of that, I didn’t really know much about the man.

Sunday morning started pretty much like it did every Sunday

Brush your teeth, comb your hair, don’t wear the jeans with the holes in them, etc. Sitting in the pew, I had every intention of passing my time there like I always did. By doing my best to avoid that look my Ma would give me when I was too loud or had just done something stupid. But that Sunday, during the song service, my dad called Buck Webb up to the pulpit.

It was an odd thing. Outside of the ordinary. But out of the ordinary was quite a commonplace type of thing in a Pentecostal church. So I just looked up and then was intent on going back to my fervently studying of the baby Jesus, like the good Lord intended. 

Thing is, Buck didn’t look right. He seemed different. Hard to explain really. He was smiling the biggest smile I think I’d ever seen someone smile and his face was beaming.

I watched him intently as he took the mic

His voice was strong and resolute. His eyes seemed to look at everyone individually in the congregation. He even seemed to look right at me. He spoke of some news he’d been given recently and how excited he was to have been given it. I listened intently, curious as to what would have him so excited.

Then he said he had been diagnosed with cancer. That it was inoperable. I didn’t even know what that meant at the time. But I knew what the word cancer meant and I could tell from the reaction of everyone in the church that – Buck Webb was gonna die.

People started crying. People came up to lay their hands on him. Only…Buck didn’t want healed. Buck didn’t want people crying for him.

This guy had just got issued a death sentence and he was standing up in front of everyone saying he was ready and thankful that it was his time to go…and that God was calling him home. So he was excited and had tears of joy. Asking that people celebrate with him…’cause he was going home.

I’ll never forget that moment

For a young boy of about ten years old that was a jaw dropping moment. I ain’t never heard of anyone speak of death that way. But it’s never far from my memory now when I hear people speak of death. I knew of a man that didn’t fear it. That actually embraced it.

And sure, I’m not void of my adult brain in how it attempts to rationalize it now that I’m older…maybe he was faking it for his family?…maybe when he was alone he really was afraid to die?…maybe I was just young and didn’t understand what was being said, etc.

I’ve thought of all those things. Only, I saw into the eyes of that man. I saw Buck Webb…that man believed every word he was saying and he wasn’t afraid. He was going home to see his savior…and roughly two weeks later he did.

In this life, sometimes we really go through some stuff

No denying that. You look at the travesties taking place all over the globe, the pain, suffering, the nations wholly in a perpetual state of distress. Then you dial it down into the circumstances surrounding your own life. It can be kind of hard to see the good in it. Makes it more understandable on why Buck would be so glad to be leaving.

But it was more than that. Buck had a peace about him. He was “ok” and at peace with all of it. Almost like he had seen behind the veil and knew there was a structure or order behind all of it.

Buck knew…so he had no fear of process, procedure, or outcomes. The how was no longer his concern. He simply…he was still alive and yet his soul was at rest.

Standing up on stage in front of a congregation of people with his face beaming, saying have no fear! 

I sincerely pray that we all can do that. I pray we all can face death like Buck Webb. Have the faith that Buck Webb had…to stand tall, with our face towards the sunset and whisper…”I’m ready”.

Read more here: The Resurrection and the Life

Copyright©2021 Jacob C. Larson All Rights Reserved

***If a family member of Buck Webb happens across this blog and recognizes this, I just want to say…Thank you. Whoever the man Buck Webb was to your family, he was a great man to me. I pray this brief mention of him is a marked addition to the legacy of the man he was.