This was read at Jacob DeShazer's funeral by his granddaughter Laura Dixon.
Being Jacob DeShazer's granddaughter and Carol's daughter, I have countless memories of my wonderful grandpa as I remember him.
It's easy for all of us grandchildren to remember swing rides with Grandpa on the back porch. He sure had fun being our grandpa! He planted raspberry and blackberry bushes and always helped us sneak a few to eat. All of us grandchildren really enjoyed spending time with him.
Sure, we had heard his stories while we were growing up—stories of bombing Japan, of prison and of later returning to share his own newly discovered love of Jesus in Japan--but to us he was simply "Grandpa," and he made visits to Grandpa and Grandma's house a lot of fun for us!
Grandpa always spoke to us about Jesus. He kept life very simple: love Jesus and share that love with people. He always talked about Jesus.
As the season of his earthly life has passed, his life message has not. It is an invitation to get to know Jesus and an invitation to follow Jesus' life of love. It is easy to picture Grandpa now, as he has entered heaven's pearly gates and is dancing on its golden streets—but he is also passing the baton on to each one of us.
He would long to see each one of us accept his baton with joy and live as he did for the remainder of our lives: to get to know the person of Jesus through the Bible as Grandpa did and dedicate our lives to live in love just as Grandpa did.
~Laura Dixon