I know this sounds strange, but I sometimes take notes at a funeral. It seems it is a time where all that is good, all that is important, all that transcends a life…gets shared by people who care the most. 

Yesterday, we celebrated the life of Carl Carpenter, whose son Rick is a close friend of mine. Rick is the CEO of Central States Manufacturing, the company his father founded. Rick and I have met with several other leaders every two weeks for the last four years in a WorkMatters executive small group. We can all benefit greatly by contemplating some of the powerful lessons from Mr. Carl Carpenter’s life:

• “Carl leveraged his business for Kingdom purposes.” Wow…I could stop right there!
• “My grandfather taught me the lesson of hard work.” From grandson Brock.
• He was a missionary. He was the stimulus behind Honduras and Mexico schools, medical facilities and over 50 churches planted over 25 years.
• He was a “spiritual entrepreneur”. He was passionate about the Word of God, understanding it’s meaning and living it out.
• He loved to laugh and have fun.
• Had had a hobby…fishing…and he “worked it in” to almost everything he did.
• He was a man of action…”just do it” fit him well.
• He was an extremely generous man.
• He lived Matthew 25…he loved God and he loved people.

Jim Hall summarized Mr. Carpenter’s life with “seize the day”! To be intentional; to remember that life is short, but eternity is long; and above all, to remember that what REALLY MATTERS is that we love God and love others.

I know this is an incredibly difficult time for Rick and his family. Let’s honor a life well lived by learning and applying lessons from that very life!

Father, please bring a sense of peace to the Carpenter family. But also Father, use this man’s life to help each of us reading these words to love you and love others more intentionally, especially through our work. Amen