Testimony Of My Brother Mark "By: David Zey"

Mark and I spoke often on the phone "at least 3 or more times a week" and we would share our faith and obstacles each of us may have been experiencing. Mark and I spent time together just a couple weekends earlier. He drove up from Moncks Corner, S.C. to North Carolina to pick up my son and myself, on his way to Chesapeake where he cooked a whole hog for my nephew's going away party. On the return trip, he spent the night at my home "Sunday Jan. 8, 2006". We discussed matters of life, as well as the day the Lord might call us home. Mark told me that when it was his time that he did not want a pastor or priest that did not know him to gather information from family members just so he could say a few words about someone he did not even know. Mark told me that he would rather someone who truly knew him to speak at his funeral when his time here was finished. He asked me if I would be willing to speak on his behalf. I told him "Of course I would brother". I had no idea that time would come so soon.

Looking back I can clearly see how Christ was preparing matters to ease the burden for what was about to come.  For the last few months I have been searching for a suit because I have horizontally outgrew the one's I currently own. About a 1 1/2 weeks ago I finally found a suit and shirt which fit as though taylor made just for me. I had it dry cleaned and on Saturday January 21st I hung the suit in my closet. As I hung it I remember thinking "I hope it will be a long time before I have a need to wear it". The very next day, Mark passed away. 

We buried Mark on Thursday the 26th. I thought that I was to only say a few things regarding Mark during the Eulogy, but I soon realized that I was to be the individual Officiating the entire service. I was stunned while feeling very honored and could only hope I would fill the role my brother desired of me. Knowing I had not prepared to act as a Officiate, I know I had to rely on Christ to give me the words. I held my brother's hand and kissed him goodbye on the forehead. I then whispered in his ear "Brother, you put me in this position so you better help me through it!" I shared a couple of "too many to mention" stories about how Mark lived with truly a Christ like servant's heart, and how his life directly affected the lives of others.

One of the stories was about how early one morning while it was still dark, Mark was pulling his boat on his way to one of his favorite locations for saltwater fishing. The road which he traveled was very dark and thick woods bordered both sides of the road. The road stretched for many miles without any populated areas. Through the darkness he happened to notice what appeared as a flickering flame deep in the woods. After a moment of thinking about it, he felt compelled to turn around and check it out. What he found shocked him. A car had apparently lost control and left the road into the woods where it flipped and hit a tree. There as a woman inside the car with both her legs broken. Mark immediately tended to her while dialing 911 on his cell phone. Where the car was located in the woods, it would not have been visible once it turned daylight. The flame that Mark saw was one of the tires on her car burning.  When I gave this testimony, the woman who Mark saved, had seen his death in the newspaper, and was at his funeral.  Her name is Amanda Kinloch of Huger, S.C., and it was so powerful to actually meet her and see her there. I asked her to stand so all could witness a small part of Mark's oversized heart for helping others. Amanda was too emotionally upset to speak, but just her being there told a thousand words about Mark.   

The other story I told was one morning a man came into Mark's yard. He was filthy, covered in sweat, and very obviously exhausted. He told Mark he went for a jog in the woods and had gotten lost. He explained that he had spent hours trying to find his way out of the woods and finally came out on Hwy 402 and saw a house "Mark's home" and stopped for help. Mark invited him in and gave the stranger water and a chance to get his breath and a towel to wipe himself clean. Mark offered him something to eat. Mark asked him if there was somewhere he could drive him. The stranger gratefully accepted the offer and asked Mark if he could take him to Mepkin Abbey which is a Monastery within Moncks Corner. To Mark's surprise, he learned the gentleman was a Monk

A few days later Mark received a basket of goods from the Monastery. Inside was a card that read:
Matthew 25
35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.

I "David Zey" contacted the Monastery on February 1st. Brother Stan of Mepkin Abbey remembered the incident and informed me that the Monk in this story is Father Benjamin. Father Benjamin was in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease at the time, and was the cause of his getting lost that day. Unfortunately since that time, Father Benjamin has passed away to join the Lord.

Mark's passion for Christ was evident by the way he chose to live. He lived his life with a servant's heart and would always put the needs of others before his own. Mark truly lived the phrase "Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words".

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