My Tribute

Rev. Billy and Mary Wilkins Wedding Picture, originally uploaded by Shirley Buxton.

Today, Jerry and I drove to the small town of Boron to help celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of Billy and Mary Wilkins. We visited with them and with other friends, ate good food, laughed, prayed and cried.

We have known the Wilkins for many years, and though we are not bosom buddies, since the day we met decades ago, we have maintained a friendship. Jerry and Billy both pastored churches here in California, and we often attended conferences, seminars and other church functions together.

On the way to Boron, Jerry and I discussed our friends, remarking of their steadiness, their positive outlooks, their faithfulness, their pleasant and upbeat attitudes. I cannot recall ever seeing either of them without a smile or without a cheerful word.

Life is not fair, let me tell you right now. I have lived long enough to declare myself an authority on the subject, and with all the power vested in me as a self-proclaimed expert, I tell you, LIFE IS NOT FAIR. Silver-spooned, the Wilkins are not, and every particle of ground they ever claimed, required staking in their heels, pulling, pushing, and straining. Knocked backwards, they grappled with failure, reared their heads, staked in their heels, and pushed, pulled and strained anew. They never pastored flourishing, prosperous churches, and both of them in recent years have experienced life-threatening medical situations. Should you give but a cursory glance to this couple, you might pass over them, and, you probably would not mark them as modern-day movers and shakers.

You would be wrong, very wrong.I learned something about them today that I had never known. In the early days of their marriage, a woman once called with these words, "I've turned on the gas jets and my seven children are sleeping in their beds. Shortly, they will be dead."

A stunned and stammering Billy Wilkins somehow persuaded this strange woman to reveal her location. He rushed there, tore into the house, shook the children awake, and led them from that evil place. The seven children had six fathers–all had abandoned their families, and now, the youngsters had no mother. ( I wasn't able to get the complete story today, but understand there was mental illness and just plain wickedness involved.)

Billy and Mary took the seven children into their home, introduced their two biological children, and reared them into adulthood. I never knew that before. I was aware they had been involved in foster care work, but they are so unassuming, so cheerful, so godly and uncomplaining…I did not know they reared those seven children as their own.

Today, two of the seven spoke at their parent's anniversary celebration. The first was a lady, now a pastor's wife herself. I believe she said she was seventeen when she was taken into the Wilkin's home. Overcome with love and emotion, she could hardly speak as she expressed her love and gratitude for her parents–Billy and Mary Wilkins. Her brother spoke then, burly and red-faced, a man who stood helpless before us. He tried to speak, but could not. It hurts to see such a man cry. I could bend over now and weep for love and life as I recall his piteous look and desperate attempt to speak. Finally, he did. "Could I search the world over," he said, looking straight into his parent's faces, "I could never find two other people I would rather have as my mom and dad."

I tucked my head–it was too private and too dear for my intrusive stare. Around me, men and women wept.

Happy anniversary, Billy and Mary Wilkins. You are the salt of the earth.