We live in a society that relies more on technology than trusting others. It treasures materialism more than people that matter. It revels in gossip over grace. It honors achievement over altruism and celebrates takers over givers. That is why it is refreshing when you meet an incredible human being who goes against the flow of selfishness and  gives her life daily for those less fortunate. Unfortunately, I should have written went against the flow because since this past week she is no longer with us. She is no longer making this world a better place because of her love and sacrifice. She was taken from us as abruptly as an arrow piercing the heart of a people who are mourning the loss of someone they deeply respected and looked up to on an every day basis. She is gone…

Elizabeth Rowan Burke was known as Lisa to her family and friends. She lived in Antioch, Caliifornia, but her influence was felt as far away as Georgia and Texas. Everyone she met remembered and was touched by her. She did not always have the meekness of Mother Theresa or the grace of Princess Diana, but Lisa Burke got her messages across with an unconditional love that burned brightly with toughness and honesty. When she looked at you and said something she meant it. And, she was usually right. Just ask her special education students and her Sunday school classes. Lisa came to work prepared to dispense truth and change. Whether you liked it or not, your life was going to be changed in the moments you were around her.

But, what made Lisa so unique was her undying tenderness when everyone else seemed to give up. Lisa Burke was a fighter but she did it with empathy and persistence. Her husband, Michael Burke, is a pastor and a Christian counselor. He is also blessed to be alive. At a church picnic several years ago, he bent over to pick up a cooler on the beach and as he jerked upright, his back went out. He has had seven surgeries to repair his spine. The first six did not work. He has spent most of his pastoral life in bed trying to recover. That does not make a marriage easy to manage. Unless, you are married to Lisa Burke. She would be there every day and every night whenever Michael needed her. Alternating between softly weeping because of his pain and at other times challenging him to quit feeling sorry for himself, Lisa saw Michael through each post-surgery crisis. He was determined to beat the odds and get better. She was right there with him as his coach and support. Another woman may have divorced him or gotten so frustrated the marriage would have collapsed from within. Not Lisa. She not only took care of her husband, she raised four children who went to college and got their degrees. She also found time to teach the most difficult students in class, the severely disabled special ed kids. In addition, she was a pastor’s wife. I do not have to remind you of the unique challenges that accompanies that role.

This past Wednesday, Lisa was driving home from school and a delivery truck went out of control, side-swiped a car and hurtled through the air landing on top of Lisa’s Camry. She was crushed in the wreckage. As the word spread to hundreds of people who were her family and friends, shock and disbelief resonated throughout the Antioch community at the tragedy of her demise and the freakish way it had happened that day. A few seconds either way and she would have survived the accident. But, if Lisa were alive to respond to that unbelievable occurrence, there is no doubt what she would have said, “That was no accident. It was my Heavenly Father calling me home. The way He did it was so uniquely apparent to me. There are no accidents with God; only blessings. My time on earth was finished. It was time to see Him face to face and enjoy the eternal joy of our relationship!”

Selfishly, all of us who knew her would understand that spiritual truth but the sadness and the grief remains. We were not ready to let her go. She was not only an angel, but an advocate. She fought for what was right and what was Godly. She was not perfect, but she was passionate. She loved with all her heart and she made you examine your heart to make certain it was in the right place. There will be a memorial service this Thursday to honor her life. The mourners will not measured by their quantity, but by their quality. Having known Lisa Burke, we all got an upgrade by her presence.

Michael Burke was my best friend in high school and college. He led me to Jesus Christ at a time in my life when it needed changing. He is one of the most gentle and remarkable men I have ever known. When it came time for God to choose his partner, He guided Michael to Lisa. He needed an extraordinary partner and God gave him Lisa. For over thirty years they have been inseparable. Until this past Wednesday. He now has to carry on without his inspiration, his wife, his love, his soulmate and his best friend. If you have a chance tonight, lift him up in prayer. He and his four children are going to need a lot of those prayers over the next year. They not only lost a wife and a mother, they lost the most important person in their lives.

Today is Mother’s Day. It is also Lisa Burke’s birthday. She would have been honored by her husband and children with a double blessing. Now, they will wait four more days and honor her eternally. At that memorial service, Lisa will be smiling down on them and saying, “I am sorry I never got to say goodbye but you all know I love you. I know you are hurting but I sitting here next to Jesus and waiting for all of you to join me someday. In the meantime, get out there and live the way I taught you. There is much work to do and that is why God created us in the first place. Life is a gift. We need to spend it as though each day is our last. That is what I tried to do. That is what you need to do now.”

Those words are as true today as they were when Lisa lived on this earth. She is not gone. She has just resumed her eternal existence in another place where accidents cannot happen. She taught so many of us how to give and how to love. We can best remember her by continuing those gifts she gave us.

That is why Lisa is smiling right now and saying, “Amen.” I know she is.

She always loved the truth.

Lessons learned…Hug the ones you love daily for you never know if you will see them again…make your peace with God while you can for that day of reckoning may come sooner than later…make your life count because it is the greatest gift God gave you.

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