In Memoriam

Author, writer, and preacher John Ortberg has said,

“Everybody has a story. Nobody gets the story they want. Everybody’s story matters to God.”
John Ortberg

After 64 years of life and 46 years as an apprentice of Jesus, I am convinced that John is correct. Everybody has a story. Nobody gets the story they want. Everybody’s story matters to God. I’d like to take a few minutes and using John Ortberg’s three insights on story, to celebrate the life of my dad and to share the Good News amid our sorrows.

“Everybody has a story.” Hector Demetrio Acevedo was born to Agustin and Mercedes Acevedo on November 29, 1926, in Tao Baja, Puerto Rico. He was the eldest son of their six children. They were raised on a mountainous farm outside San Sebastian, Puerto Rico. His mom and dad were hardworking, salt of the earth people. On the first day of high school during our mother’s freshman year, she was walking down the steps of school when dad spotted her. I want you to imagine the Puerto Rican gang, the Jets, from the movie “West Side Story.” Dad declared to his friends, “She’s mine!” Within a few years, they were dating, but Mom wasn’t an easy catch. One day, they were walking together and dad tried to hold her hand. Mom was not interested in romance. She was into her books and education. As dad told it when he tried to hold her hand, she slapped him. Mom says she didn’t recall it that way. She simply pushed his hand away and “may” have grazed his face. This was the beginning of their story.

Even as a child, dad was enamored with airplanes so when he was in school, he was a part of all the military clubs. When he was old enough, he joined what was the Puerto Rican version of the National Guard and after marrying mom in 1947, he enlisted what was then the Army Air Corp and later became the United States Air Force. They eventually moved to the States with my older brother Hector in tow. For nearly 25 years, dad served our country doing tours of duty in Korea and Viet Nam. Dad was a master jet engine mechanic, but he learned he could earn an extra $100 a month by being a Flight Engineer, so he trained and was deployed. This meant dad was the only enlisted man in the cockpit of large cargo planes like the B52 and C141. It also meant that dad was away for weeks at a time from his family. This was some of his military story.

In 1972, dad was honorably discharged from the Air Force and our family moved to Orlando and it became our home. After decades of living around the States, we settled into our beautiful St. Michael Avenue paradise. Part 2 of dad’s career began with employment at Sears, the US Post Office, Harm’s Air Conditioning, and stints in Iran and Saudia Arabia, Bell Helicopter and eventually full retirement. This is just some of dad’s story. There is so much more he had in his 97 years of life.

Everybody has a story, but “Nobody gets the story they want.” And this was true of our sweet Papi. Life as a child on the farm in Puerto Rico was hard. I remember one day we were sitting in our pool in North Fort Myers while my lawn service was mowing the lawn. He said to me, “Do you know why I had you and your brother mow the lawn when you were so young?” Hector and I agree that we were about ten when we got lawn mowing responsibilities. “It’s because I had to do back breaking labor on our farm as a boy.” Then Papi went on to tell me about rising before sunrise and working until breakfast then going to school and coming home to work the farm until sundown. That was also the day that dad told me his greatest fear was being poor again. Nobody gets the story they want.

Dad’s time in the military was honorable. You’ve already heard about his commendations, but they also came at a cost. Though Papi seldom talked about it, he lost many a comrade in battle. He told me stories of his barracks being bombed in Viet Nam and of an Iranian worker being shot right in front of him. I remember that after returning home from his tour of duty in Viet Nam, I snuck up on him one day and touched him and his response was PTSD-like. Nobody gets the story they want.

One of dad’s greatest achievements was purchasing Harm’s Air, a central heat and air conditioning business. He was the “President” and owner. The first few years were fantastic. Dad won free trips to Europe which, by the way, Sylvia got to go on but not Hector and me. Nobody gets the story they want for sure! Then the recession hit, and dad kept the business open using his own money until he had to basically give the business away. Nobody, and I mean nobody gets the story they want.

This happened in the heyday of my high school partying years. I recall one night when my crew and I were out carousing that we drove past the Cumberland Farms store that used to sit a few hundred yards from this Sanctuary on the corner of Hoffner and Orange Avenues. To make ends meet in our home, my dad had taken a job there as an evening cashier and as we drove by, he was mopping the floor. That’s the kind of father and provider dad was. Whatever it took! But when I caught sight of him, sadly, I was embarrassed and didn’t say a thing to my friends. I wish I could go back because knowing what I do now, I’d boldly and proudly point at dad as he mopped that floor and say for the whole world to hear, “That’s my Daddy!” But nobody, not me and not you and not dad, gets the story they want.

Everybody has a story, and nobody gets the story they want, but thankfully “Everybody’s story matters to God.” Sylvia and I have a quarrel about who became a follower of Jesus first in our family, but sometime in the 1978 through the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ at Oak Ridge High School, we both made a faith commitment to Jesus. We heard our Rabbi call to us, “Come and follow Me.” And we did. Hector was out of the house by then and quickly, mom became very interested in God. She had always had a heart for God, but assumed as many do that you have to “get your act together” to walk with Jesus. Can I just say that’s like trying to get clean before you get into the shower? At the women’s retreat of this church in January of 1982, mom at the age of 55 became a Christian. Seldom have I seen a person transform so quickly. You see, everybody’s story…Carmen Acevedo’s story…matters to God.

Mom discovered that her gift was intercessory prayer. I am privileged to have her prayer journal where she put the outline of one of her loved one’s hands on one page and a picture of that loved one on another. Every day, mom would lay her hands on the outline of her loved one’s hands, look at their picture and pray for that person. God would give mom scriptures and words that she would write all over the pages. Here’s the deal. My dad was page 1! And a few years later at this church’s men’s retreat, I am sure because of mom’s prayers and influence, my dad became a follower of Jesus and was baptized by Pastor Smokey Stover in the lake at Leesburg. Again, everybody’s story matters to God.

A few years earlier in the Spring of 1980, I came home to tell my mom and dad that I had been called to the ministry and was moving 850 miles away to Wilmore, Kentucky to attend Asbury College. Now remember at this time neither were mom nor dad were Christ followers. Mom looked puzzled and appropriately concerned. She did not seem to have a frame of reference for her son being a Pastor. But dad was angry. As a military man to the core, he wanted me to join the military. Roll the tape ahead to the Spring of 1986, six years later. Dad is now following Jesus and I’m attending a spiritual retreat called The Walk to Emmaus where you received letters from your loved ones. One of the first letters I opened and read was from dad. As I read this remember that everybody has a story and that nobody gets the story they want but that everybody’s story matters to God:

Orlando, Florida
April 14, 1986

My dear son,

I always remember you with that smiling face you have had since childhood – the good times we had working under the old Buic (Buick) – you with the greasy smiling face and the old G.I. hat on. I remember your football games and wrestling matches. But above all I remember when you had your call from the Lord, left home, and abandoned your promising studies of architectural engineering to go to Asbury. Not being a Christian at that time, I felt deceived and angry. Since then, I have asked the Lord for forgiveness for acting in such a manner.

By dedicating your life to your ministry and your work to the Lord, you have been an inspiration to our whole family and friends. We answered the call to the Lord and enlisted our services in His Army. As the Bible says in Matthew 3:17, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.”

With all my love,

Dad

Jim Mellado runs Compassion International, a ministry that cares for children stuck in poverty around the world. In an interview with John Ortberg recently talking about our story’s said,

“Sometimes the story you don’t want becomes the story you wouldn’t want to change.”
Jim Mellado

Hector Acevedo had a story that like yours and mine had both amazing opportunities and huge challenges. He didn’t get the story he always wanted. But he found out in his late 50’s that his story mattered to God. And I’d just bet, Dad would agree with Jimmy. “Sometimes the story you don’t want becomes the story you wouldn’t want to change.”

So, one more thing that I want to say. Hector’s story has ended on earth on Saturday, August 17, 2024 and continues into eternity with Jesus. He is healed and whole at last. The war has been won, and Jesus has given him victory. But I do want to say to you, my dear, dear family and friends…YOU have a story, and that story matters a great deal to God and to me. Yet just like Hector, none of us get the story that we want.

I don’t know where you are today or what is going on in your life. I know I have grief over losing my dad and you must deal with your grief as well. And so, I want to remind you that there is another story at work even now. That is that Jesus came not only to help us when we die, but also help us as we live!

So today, some of us find ourselves in grief. The loss of any person, even somebody who lived a full life like Hector, can touch us deeply in our soul. Losses awaken grief inside of us that may have been hidden for a long time. And I want you to know that the story of Jesus is also for you. Just as mom, dad, Sylvia, Hector and I have discovered, the story of Jesus is a story that can impact each of us today. I want to remind you today that Jesus is close to the brokenhearted. The scriptures say that a bruised reed he will not bend. A barely flickering candle, he will not snuff out. These are poetic ways of saying that Jesus is tender, full of compassion, full of love for you, and is a reliable guide through the journey of grief.

Today, the best way to honor Hector’s legacy and his impact on our family is to welcome Jesus into your life too. You see friends, it is true that:

Everybody has a story. Nobody gets the story they want. Everybody’s story matters to God. And sometimes the story you don’t want becomes the story you wouldn’t want to change.

Only Jesus can do that for you. Let’s pray together…

This was the message I preached at my father’s memorial service.
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Belle Isle Community Church
Orlando, Florida

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