PawPaw Rusty

When I think of my grandpa, I think of him just as he is in the first pictures below. He loved sitting in his chair at home, and he usually had at least one (and most likely both) of his dogs (Beau & Zack) sitting on his lap and beside him. He wasn't one to show a lot of affection, but we all knew how much he loved us. He especially loved his great-grandkids. His eyes would shine when we dropped by for a visit. He loved giving them candy or a snack to eat. And he would literally follow us out to the car as we were leaving still carrying on a conversation and hoping to draw out the visit a few more minutes. I love the memories I have of him feeding Micah a bottle for the first time (I don't think I'll ever forget that mental picture).

For most of his life he had pretty good health. In the last couple of years we could see that he was going down hill quite rapidly. He had been living at Liberty Commons for around 8 months before his death because of many health problems including issues with his heart, lungs, and kidneys. The biggest one was his kidneys, and he had been taking dialysis for several months. His quality of life was horrible. He lived to take dialysis so he could live for a little bit longer. He knew his time on earth was coming to and end, and he made the decision to stop the dialysis and hospice was called in.

Rewind a little to speak about his spiritual life. My grandpa "attended" a Mehodist church (or so said his obituary). I can't remember him ever stepping foot in a church unless it was for the wedding of me or my sister. There was no consideration of spiritual things in anyway and we had been praying for him for many, many years. We have two faithful men at our church that go out weekly and visit people. They visited my grandfather many times during his life and had built a relationship with him. Never did Pawpaw want to consider his spiritual needs, but he listened to them none the less. After he moved into Liberty Commons, these two men still visited him and told him of his need of salvation & my grandpa could of cared less. When he stopped dialysis, the doctors told him he would have a week to 6 weeks to live. I think this made him stop and reconsider his whole life...thinking on the many things that he had heard about him being a sinner & in such need of a Saviour. Long story short, Pawpaw came to see his need of Christ, and the Lord drew him near. Praise the Lord! We were so thankful for this news. Our fears of him dying now turned to rejoicing that he could end his suffering and begin his life with our Lord in heaven.

Pawpaw Rusty & Trinity shared a birthday...which was very special. Last year we took him out to eat with us when we celebrated Trin's birthday. This year was a bittersweet time. We kind of postponed Trinity's celebration to bring Pawpaw back to his house for his last birthday party. We knew this would probably be the last time we saw him, and we wanted to make the most of it. He told my Uncle Steve after we all left that this was the best birthday ever. He so loved having all his kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids all together. That makes me feel all warm inside. He knew it was Trin's birthday too, and he was so worried that she not miss out. He wanted to split his birthday cake with her (which of course we thought was so sweet). His mind was still all there and it was a nice time to say goodbye to a man we all loved dearly. He only lived 3 more days after his birthday.

Dewey Thomas Councilman (PawPaw Rusty) will be sorely missed, but we are rejoicing that he now has a brand new body, is no longer in pain and will spend eternity praising our Lord for the gift of salvation that was given to him. We know God's timing is perfect, but I do wonder why the Lord waited so long to save him. I guess it was a reminder that God's timeline is not the same as ours. And although it seemed hopeless to still pray for his salvation, we don't know what the Lord's plan is. We are to pray and leave it in His hands.

The following pictures were taken at his 85th birthday on Friday, February 25. Knowing these would be the last pictures we'd have with him make them all the more special.