Friday we attended the memorial service for Miles Haugan held in Sylvan Lake, AB, his home for the last 20 years.
The loss of Miles Haugan has been greater than I thought. Certainly there were the memories of Miles, who had been my father’s hired man in the early 1950’s. And there was the laughter of a life well lived and a family joyfully celebrating. Add to that the coveted Nanaimo bars that were served at the luncheon.
Let me take you to the celebration. Central to all of the themes shared was Jesus. Miles was a coffee guy who loved people, and loved for people to know about Jesus. Described as a blue collar man, his influence was wide wherever he lived (and apparently, after his marriage he lived in 26 different abodes). He loved music – and music about Jesus. He loved his family – they knew it! He loved life – and never played the victim although he had his share of sufferings.
The weeping was with joy!
As the service progressed my weeping went deeper – touching another chord in my life. Both of our families have run somewhat parallel tracks. Miles loved the harmony of music – as did our family. Miles had six children, one of whom was adopted in his later years – as did our family (OK, my parents had seven kids running around). And other parallels could be found.
Where my tears began to really flow was where Miles excelled and I merely survive or perhaps even fail. As the attributes of Miles were carefully delineated, I began to look to my own life – and how I would aspire to be like Miles.
To which I’m sure Miles would have stated, “Not me. Jesus”.
And that is enough said.