A Tribute to my Aunt Jean (Robinson)

A Quiet Tribute to Jean Robinson

December 10, 2011

          My own memories of my mother’s sister, Jean Robinson, always create a deep smile in my heart.   Aunt Jean was the kind of aunt that you didn’t see very often (because she lived so far away, almost all the time), but when you did get to see her and spend time with her, you wanted to do it more.

          We all knew that at her heart, she was a “missionary.”  She lived with a mission -- to see the gospel and the person of the gospel, Jesus Christ, become large in people’s lives.  Early on, she gave herself to the Lord to be used any way He desired.   She loved people who were very different from her with the love of the Lord Himself.  She was a servant, a wife and companion, a mother, a grandmother, a writer, teacher, musician and many other things.   But at her heart, she was a missionary.

          For some reason, a slide show of her and Uncle Bob’s ministry, along with the boys, and Aunt Jean singing in the background of that slideshow, continues to play melodically and beautifully in my head.  The song she sang, clearly as a testimony of how she had learned to live and daily  trust her Lord, was “I know Who Holds Tomorrow.”

I don't know about tomorrow;
I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from its sunshine
For its skies may turn to grey.
I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said.
And today I'll walk beside Him,
For He knows what lies ahead.

(Chorus) Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.

Every step is getting brighter
As the golden stairs I climb;
Every burden's getting lighter,
Every cloud is silver-lined.
There the sun is always shining,
There no tear will dim the eye;
At the ending of the rainbow
Where the mountains touch the sky.

                Aunt Jean was a tireless encourager of others, including me,  in the call to ministry.  I cherish the investment she made in a number of our young people several years ago when she visited Ames and we had a “missionary lunch” with as many of our High Schoolers as wanted to come.  I recall how she told stories and cast vision even as the kids leaned into the table to listen more closely.  Many of those kids are in training even now for overseas service.

            Welcome home, Aunt Jean!   You’ve now joined the “cloud of witnesses” awaiting your reward until the rest of us finish (Hebrews 11).   We love you, and will love seeing you again in the presence of the One who holds tomorrow…and our hands, just like He held yours.

David A. Staff

Lead Pastor – First Evangelical Free Church * Ames IA