Gentle Jack

“Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones”
Psalm 116:15

Years ago, when I first started Bible college, I met a man who left a lasting impression on my soul; his name was Rev. Jack Christensen. Jack was a missionary in Pakistan, a pastor, teacher, and president of New England Bible College. The list of his accomplishments for the kingdom could go on and on. However, in all of these roles he was one of the most godly men I have ever had the honor of knowing. Jack was the type of guy whom you could have a conversation with and feel like you had just listened to 18 sermons, mostly ones on humility because his life was a sermon. A sermon that covered topics such as faithfulness, humility, courage, trust, love, respect, prayer, truth, goodness, kindness and especially gentleness. I say especially gentleness because he could tell you some of the hardest truths you needed to hear without being hard in his expression of those truths. When I reflected on Rev. Jack’s life, this characteristic of his leapt out at me. His gentleness was something I always desired, and still do desire to emulate. It makes sense that gentleness would be such a strong fruit in Jack’s life because this characteristic belongs to Christ. If any of you knew Jack, you knew one thing for sure: he knew Jesus. He knew Him so well that the Lord poured through every aspect of his life. So though we are happy that Jack is now with the Lord, whom he served, we are sad because there is one less man on earth who resembles our Lord so well. Rev. Jack you will be missed by all who knew you, thank you for such a Christlike example!

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