A GREAT MAN
How My Father-in-Law Showed Me Greatness
Gabriel Morgan
Published March 2, 2024
I’ve been thinking about “greatness” for a while now. Since I was young, I wanted to be great. I looked up to the greats of the Bible, history, books and movies. Heroes like Jesus, King David, Paul the Apostle, Alexander the Great, William Wallace, Neo or Aragorn… you get the picture. I think it comes down to the glory that greatness brings forth. It’s appealing and I think everyone in some way desires it.
The Lord may have wired you similarly, but I learn from others really well. Whether it’s what to do or what not to do, both are valuable lessons. The thing about greatness is it doesn’t come easily. You can’t just wake up one day, open your eyes and all of a sudden be great. It’s earned; normally achieved by accomplishing great tasks. Although, the older I get, the more I see how greatness is actually not about achievements, but rather about character. Using this scale, many of these so-called “greats” are actually ones to oppose. Proud, obnoxious, vengeful people. So, suffice it to say, I haven’t come across many individuals I would consider great. But God is good and gives us these glimmers of His goodness through individuals He has done great work in. One of these glimmers of His goodness in my life was my father-in-law, Dale K Meador. If you’re unaware, Dale was diagnosed with ALS in the summer of 2021 and later died on March 2nd, 2023; one year ago from today. Let me share some things I noticed about him that I believe made him great.
He Loved God and
He Loved People
One of the best ways to know if someone who claims Christ truly loves Him is to watch how they live. Jesus says in John 14:21, “’He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.’” And then in Mark 12:30-31 speaking of the greatest commandment, Jesus says, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.’” Knowing this, I think we can tell a lot about how one loves Christ by how they love people.
I first met Dale in the beginning of the year 2018. He was the lead pastor at the church I just started going to. I met him that first Sunday I walked through the doors. He came up to me before service started and introduced himself and proceeded to ask questions about me. Later, he approached me again and at the end of the conversation said he wanted to get coffee with me. And that’s exactly what we did. He engaged with me and genuinely wanted to get to know me and I know many others had similar interactions with him. But I have to say, he was the first Pastor of any church I’ve been to that went to that extent for almost every newcomer.
He was a chaplain for the local police station, supporting individuals at crime scenes, helping officers cope with traumatic experiences, and championing support nights for cops and their spouses as he knew how difficult police marriages can be. The Medford Police Department was so impacted by him that they started a scholarship fund in his name.
He served at Joni and Friends since 2007, assisting families affected by disability, helping in some capacity with fundraising, teaming with buddies with special needs and encouraging others with a loud and joyous voice.
He served his church flock tremendously, building fences and decks and doing various other forms of physical labor for families in need, counseling marriages, mentoring nearly countless men in their walk with Christ as they led their families, partnering with the local Gospel Mission and branching out to find and support missionaries around the world. In conversations, he would listen and then he would ask these wonderful questions in hopes to discover more about the individual which he would also remember later!
He was an incredible father and grandpa who loved his kids and loved his grandkids even more, taking moments captive and finding ways to impart the Gospel, praying before every goodbye.
I find myself extremely blessed because I got to marry his daughter. She’s a wonderful woman who has taught me and convicted me on many levels which is all from God, but I know a large portion of that is because of God’s blessing of how she was raised. I know some people find it weird to call their in-laws mom or dad, but I found immense joy to be able to call Dale dad, because I loved him and I knew he loved me.
Dad loved people well and strove to never waste a moment to share the Gospel of Christ. He was one of the best living examples of Mark 12:30-31 I’ve ever known.
He Portrayed Steadfastness
“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” - 1 Corinthians 15:58
After 2 wonderful years of marriage to Anne and getting to know him more, Dale was diagnosed with ALS. I remember the summer evening he and his wife called a family meeting to break the news to us kids. It was devastating to us all. Through lots of tears, we lamented with them. Though Dale shed some tears too, he reassured us of God’s plans through it all. Over the course of the next year, we were all grieving the loss we knew was coming, praying often for a miracle. Through the course of his disease, Dad never wavered in his faith. In fact, he continued to preach until he could no longer. If it wasn’t at the church podium, it was through short (and not so short) videos he would share on social media, always using his disease as a means to glorify God and prepare others encouragingly for their inevitable death. He admitted his fear of the manner in which he would die, but he was not afraid to die. He was rather excited to finally see his Savior’s face with his own eyes and this excitement became reality on March 2, 2023. In this, Dad portrayed 1 Corinthians 15:58 incredibly. The apostle Paul - the human author of the letters to the Corinthians - suffered beatings, shipwrecks, slander, imprisonments and ultimately death for the Gospel of Christ and even still, he wrote that. If you look closely, we are able to see what steadfastness means:
“Immovable” – to not waver. To be firm and grounded.
“Always…” – never ceasing.
“Abounding…” – being abundant or plentiful in.
“In the work of the Lord,” – word and deeds that bring glory to God.
We are to always, in all things, give glory to God. Do not waste your moments. Do not waste your time. Do not waste your tough situations as though God did not ordain them. Use them! Proclaim His might, His goodness, faithfulness and power. This will bring glory to God.
“Knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain,” – take encouragement from a man who endured so much for the name of Jesus. He didn’t give up and his labor was not in vain. Through this man, the gospel of Christ spread dramatically from nation to nation as he preached to governors, prefects and even Kings all while being falsely imprisoned. He rested in knowing he was Christ’s and all that he was doing was for increase his Savior. I believe Dale understood this too, using all things in his life to glorify our King without waver, even in his dying.
He Was Humble
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
- Ephesians 4:1-3
If a man claims to be great, he isn’t. If someone’s greatness is flaunted and boasted about, the greatness is soured. It just doesn’t seem so great anymore. I think there’s a reason for that. One is only great because a great God was or is at work in them, giving them that ability or moving in their heart to have accomplished that great task or in this case, breaking the selfishness down, revealing the human weaknesses so God, in His perfect will and awesome love, can be exalted through us. We are only great because of God.
Dad was not born a humble man. No, he made mention many times of how his pride got in the way of doing things he should’ve done. But God worked in him. He pastored for many years. He bore with those who scorned him, accused him, and tried tarnishing his name and yet he still kept pastoring. This is of no feat of his own. Jesus was at work in and through him, perfecting His call upon Dale’s life. At the time I met him, Dale was incredibly kind, generous and loving. As I continued getting to know him, the only times I remember him serving himself was when he would soak in his cheap Costco hot tub alone in the evenings for about 30 minutes. Everything else was guided by how he could serve his wife, family, congregation, colleagues, neighbors, police and random people he met in the grocery store. He had a one-of-a-kind sense of humor and didn't take himself too seriously. His master was Christ and his life reflected that.
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Dad wanted everyone he met to know Jesus Christ. If you’ve yet to know Christ, the real Christ, read the Bible. Don’t listen to TikTok. Don’t listen to your peers. Don’t listen to the lies that the enemy so cleverly spreads through the messages the world bombards us with. You’ll never know Jesus before you read His Word for yourself. See for yourself. I’d be more than happy to buy you a Bible.