Carrying torch of faith in a fallen world

Thursday, Feb. 21, 1946. Milo, Maine. A little boy is born into the world. Thomas Russell Poole.

At 3 years of age Tom meets his wise neighbor, Roy Monroe. He later describes Roy as his spiritual father and mentor. “Some people enlighten you, because they open your eyes to things that really matter in life,” Tom says. “Roy Monroe was that for me.”

Tom initially aspired to be a professional baseball player. Then he decided to seek a career in the military. Archaeology held a certain allure. But in the end, it was none of the above. “The Lord, though uninvited, entered my life and opened my eyes with regenerating light. [People] said, ‘Tom’s got religion,’ as if I had caught a mere case of the measles. But the fire still glows,” he wrote years later. “The song yet continues.”

The influence and prayers of Roy Monroe bore significant fruit. Tom determined to serve God. After graduating from the University of Maine, he attended Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He earned a master’s degree in theological studies. He did graduate work in Jerusalem. He became a missionary.

Along the way, to pay the bills, Tom played entrepreneur. He published a Maine basketball guide. He developed several senior citizen directories. One day in my living room he proudly displayed a vial of yellow coyote urine, part of a line of products that he was peddling to Maine trappers.

Tom traveled widely. He taught school in Maine, New Jersey, Florida, England, Venezuela and Taiwan. He helped to found Bangor’s Penobscot Christian Schools. He loved to write poetry and prose. In 1999 he published “Out of My Mind: Musings of a Maineiac.”

Tom was well into his 30s when he met the love of his life. He and Barbara were married on April 17, 1981. They soon welcomed three sons into their home. Sixteen years later the family began serving God in Japan. For many years he taught at Kansai Christian School in Ikoma. In 2001 he was appointed principal of the school.

Tom loved Jesus Christ. He loved life. He loved people. He loved his work. He loved his wife. He loved his three sons – Matthew, Timothy and Jesse. Once he penned the following poem to his boys: “What’ll I do when you go off to school and I’m alone, what’ll I do? What’ll I do when you are far away and I can’t say, ‘Son, I love you?’ When I am old and gray and there’s no son to say, ‘Daddy, please hold me.’ What’ll I do?”

No one, including Tom, ever supposed that the actual story would unravel in reverse. Yet that’s exactly what happened.

Late in the evening of Sept. 9, 2004, at his home in Japan, Tom began to choke on a piece of food caught in his airway. Emergency personnel responded, but were unable to help. Suddenly he was gone, and a wife and three teenage sons were asking, “What’ll we do?”

Weeks before his death Tom was sitting at my dining room table in Monson, Maine. Days before his death we had e-mailed. Now he was gone. “What’ll I do? What’ll his family do? Why not me rather than him – my three sons are grown. What sense is there in this? God is good, omniscient, all-powerful. Tom was doing God’s work. How is this to be explained?”

More than 100,000 people worldwide choke to death every year when food or foreign objects become lodged in their windpipe. Missionaries are not immune from tragedy, pain, disease and death. Christians also live in a flawed and fallen universe.

“This world is not the best of all possible worlds, but it may be the best way to such a world. An eternity that enjoys victory over evil is apparently better than an eternity that never knew evil,” writes Dr. Rick Cornish.

Does understanding that help? Maybe. A little bit. Sometimes.

Today, July 9, 2005, I am to officiate at a memorial service for Tom Poole in the very church where he himself preached the memorial service for Roy Monroe less than one year ago. We will then proceed to the cemetery, commit Tom’s ashes to the ground, and await the resurrection.

“Lord, bless this one who sleeps tonight, and let him know that all is right. May he know that You are near, and that there’s nothing he need fear. When he awakes, please let him see the beauty that is found in Thee.”

My friend, Tom Poole, wrote those words.

The Rev. Daryl E. Witmer is founder and director of the AIIA Institute, a national apologetics ministry, and associate pastor of the Monson Community Church. He may be reached via AIIAInstitute@aol.com or through ChristianAnswers.Net/AIIA. Voices is a weekly commentary by Maine people who explore issues affecting spirituality and religious life.