Well Done

Last Monday, August 13^th, a dear Saint went home to heaven to be with her Heavenly Father.  I am sure the first words that Jean Schabinger heard when she passed from this life into eternity were, “Well done good and faithful servant.”  She lived an extraordinary life.  She was born, along with her twin sister Joan, in 1932 and grew up in Wichita, Kansas.  When she was at Friends University she received salvation through a relationship with Jesus Christ and continued to grow in her faith while being involved with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship during Grad School at Penn State.  Jean finished her undergrad in 3 years and her grad work in 1 year.  Her career started by teaching at Taylor University when she was only 21 years old.  She later taught P.E. in Michigan, Arizona and for her last 22 years at Hemet High School in California.  She was an active lady fixing things, building boats, planting gardens, painting pictures, reading books, playing games, doing puzzles, hosting guests, travelling, kayaking, camping and so many other things.  She took P.E. classes in Norway on hiking glaciers and then led a class hike on a glacier in Washington State.  She kayaked on the Inside Passage of Alaska and British Columbia.  When she was 50 she built her own cedar strip canoe and christened it with chocolate syrup. 

But her biggest joy came in serving the Lord.  She loved teaching Sunday School, helping with the midweek Awana program in her church and discipling new believers.  And she loved missions.  She encouraged many missionaries on the field with her letters.  She visited some of them all the way to Africa and Ecuador.  She also supported several missionaries, but didn’t want them to know it was coming from her.  That was the kind of lady she was, humble to the core, but yet very competitive.  She loved to play Scrabble, card games, board games or anything that would give her a chance to “trash talk” to her competitors.  One night after losing a new card game she had introduced to my dad, she presented him with a certificated score card, but wrote on the back: “The only reason you won was because you had the best teacher!”

The last years of her life were filled with much physical pain.  It started in her back in the year 2005.  In March 2006 the doctors finally confirmed it was multiple myeloma, cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow.  For six years she dealt with much pain, night sweats, fractures and harsh treatments for this incurable disease.  This strong, active woman lost 8 inches of height in those years. 

That is when I had the pleasure of getting to know this incredible woman.  When I was back at home, we would go and visit her.  She would tell us stories of yesteryear and would ask questions about our work in Kenya, especially when it came to our football girls.  The true test of a person’s character is how they deal with the challenges of life.  Jean handled her trials like a warrior.  Even during her sickness, she served the Lord with gladness, with enthusiasm, with humility and with her whole heart.  Jean often inspired others to work harder, love God more, serve him better, travel farther and longer, or take a trip they thought they never could.  She had a deep knowledge and understanding of her identity in Christ.  And she continued to use the short time she had remaining to help advance God’s kingdom here in Hemet and throughout the world.  It is sad to lose a true saint like Jean, but I know God is rising up others like me and you to fill in the huge gap that she left behind.

Before passing away she had planned her Memorial Service.  One song she had requested was “When We All Get to Heaven.”  The words are pretty fitting, “Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, sing his mercy and his grace, In the mansions bright and blessed, He’ll prepare for us a place.  When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.  When we all see Jesus, we’ll sing and shout the victory.”  I know that now Jean is rejoicing in the place Jesus prepared for her.  And I bet when I get to heaven, she will be waiting with a game of Scrabble (and maybe a little heavenly “trash talk”)!

“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord…they rest from their labors and their works do follow them.” Revelation 14:13,14