I heard Pastor Bob describe Brother Robert as the “nicest person” and “everybody liked him” but I love him. I love Brother Robert and his dear wife, Sister Mary! I first met him 25+ years ago, when I became an usher at our Church in La Vernia, and he and his brother Carlos trained me up in the way I should go. Though he had obvious physical challenges and worked as a full-time Barber, he made the 70-mile roundtrip and showed up every time the Church doors opened. GOD had touched his heart and changed his life, and he “loved GOD with his all” and “loved his neighbor as himself” (Mat 22:37 and 39).
Brother Robert had a wonderful sense of humor and that became our connection. Each of us had our problems, and the world was falling apart right before our eyes, but we always found something to laugh about. I needed a way to reach out to him, because he and Sister Mary treated me like someone special, like they were thankful I paid attention to them. I tried to let them know they were the special ones, and I was so thankful to be their friend! I missed them after they could no longer make the long trip to La Vernia. Brother Robert asked me to write his “story” so he could read it while he is alive, but that would have been too painful. I regularly called them and got to spend 2 hours with them, over lunch, right after Christmas. I was joking with Brother Robert on the phone a few days before he passed away.
He and his dear wife were so close, you rarely heard their names mentioned separately. You could tell they both realized GOD blessed them with one another. They became even closer after Sister Mary lost strength in her arms and Brother Robert became her full-time caregiver. It broke my heart to hear him sweetly trying to find out if she was alright when she fell one night in the Church parking lot. His voice sounded like a lost puppy. He was all smiles after she recovered, and he had her back again.
Brother Robert had it tough right from the beginning. Diagnosed with polio at the age of 11 months, he spent a lot of time in the hospital and endured many operations so he could live a normal life. He had a steel rod in his back, that caused him pain and many sleepless nights. I’m sure he was teased as a child, and as a Hispanic in South Texas, he suffered discrimination. He said he was full of hatred and bitterness, but GOD changed all that. Did GOD miraculously heal Brother Robert’s body? No, but JESUS who forgave his sins, and said, “father forgive them” (Luke 23:34) as he hung on the cross and endured the taunts, made Brother Robert a “new creature” and he forgave those who spitefully used him. Brother Robert went on to “train up his children in the way they should go” (Prov 22:6) and when they were old, they “didn’t depart. He was always telling how his children took care of them. They became even closer to their son and grandchildren after his daughter-in-law passed away. He and Sister Mary were bright candles on the Southside of San Antonio, where they let the light of JESUS shine through their lives!
This all happened because “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 KJV). Brother Robert believed, was made new and is now enjoying everlasting life!
Wayne Lance (2022) – That’s Good News to Share!