Harvey Scarper: Ordinary Hero

One of the pet peaves that I have with churches is that they often profile people who are extraordinary in some way. Whether it is the famous local or national athlete who is openly a Christian and willing to talk publicly about it, the wealthy, successful businessman who loves Jesus and gives to various causes and gets his name put on buildings he helps to buy, or the person who lived a very dark life of crime, sexual promiscuity, drug addiction, or gang violence whose life was drammatically turned around by an encounter with Jesus.

One of the problems I have with this, as wonderful as it is, and though it may really move the audience, there is very little identification or personal application for the hearer. For this reason I have been recently inspired by the stories of ordinary people who have decided to invest their lives in significant ways because of their love for an extraordinary God. These are ordinary heroes. They are the sort of people that when you hear their story you respond by saying to yourself and to others, "I could do something like this."

Harvey Scarper was an ordinary hero of this kind. He truly was a reflection of the Encore Generation. Harvey's encore began shortly after he lost his wife, Loretta in 1989. Up until that time Harvey didn't do much other than attend on Sundays. He was very lonely after Loretta died, so he went to Dave McElheran, the director of the older adult ministry at the church and asked Dave why the Lord didn't heal Loretta from her illness when he had prayed regularly for her. Dave told him that Loretta had been healed completely, and that she was rejoicing in the presence of God who loved her.

Harvey asked Dave how he might be more connected to the church, and Dave asked him to volunteer watching the 5 and 6 year old children at the church one night a week so that their parents could attend a marriage class. Harvey's first response was to say to Dave that he didn't really like kids that much, but "what the heck, I'll give it a try." He showed videos to the kids and entertained them a bit, and he really enjoyed it. Sometime after that he was asked to work with 3 and 4 year olds, and had a good time doing that.

Harvey had a part-time job at a popular local market where he let the customers sample cheeses they were selling at the Deli. He befriended hundreds of regular shoppers who would always stop by, sample some cheese and receive a warm greeting from Harvey. He was greatly loved by all the shoppers of all ages.

Harvey developed a taste for doing significant things to help others. He was a World War II Veteran, and he asked Dave on year if he could organize an event to appreciate other WWII Veterans in the area. He called up all his buddies and asked him to bring their stuff to the church on Memorial Day Weekend where they were recognized and honored for their service.

Shortly after Katrina hit the gulf coast, the church organized a relief team to go to Slidell, Louisiana. Harvey joined the team and had the time of his life cooking for the team, and connecting with many of the high school kids on the trip. While in Slidell he began to experience a lot of pain in his arms and shoulders. When he returned home he saw a doctor and learned that he had cancer in his bones. Harvey was so thrilled to know that even though he had cancer, he was able to experience the mission trip to Slidell.

Even though Harvey knew that he had only a few months to live, he made the most of it. The high school pastor did an interview with Harvey for about 150 high school kids who had fallen in love with him. When he could no longer work at the store, people began asking about how Harvey was doing. Dave arranged for Harvey to go back to work at the store for two hours one Saturday. They announced that he would be there the week prior to that. On that Saturday morning, people were lined up out into the parking lot of the store. Hundreds of people came to see Harvey, and 240 cards with notes were given to him. It took the entire 2 hours for everybody to have the chance to see him.

When he experienced moments of pain, he would ask people to read the cards to him. After Harvey could no longer leave his home, he asked Dave if there was anything he could do to minister to the folks at Cedar Mill Bible Church. Dave told him that he could pray. Harvey was ready for his final encore, his command performance if you will. He organized a prayer book and made a list of people and their needs and arranged it by people he prayed for daily, weekly, and monthly.

During the last few weeks of Harvey's life he needed people at his bedside around the clock. People signed up for two hour watches. Most of the people who volunteered to be with Harvey through the nights were the high school kids who were so dearly loved by Harvey. It was their simple way to love him back.

Harvey would have been the first to say that apart from losing his dear wife, Loretta, the best years of his life were the last 7 of them. These were the years that he finally decided to get serious about his relationship with Jesus and about living to impact and influence the lives of others for His sake. Harvey was an Ordinary Hero. May millions of others follow his example with the same sort of encores.