“Reserved for Marilyn Keehn”
As you approach the front door of our meeting house, to the right of those doors, that parking place has been used for many years by Marilyn Keehn. A few years ago, when her health began to deteriorate, she still drove four or five blocks to the meeting house. We delighted in having a sign made and erected at that place which read, “Reserved for Marilyn Keehn.” Soon thereafter, others had to drive for Marilyn, but they gladly used that spot to park. After all, it was “reserved for Marilyn Keehn.” Our dear, sweet, oldest member departed this life on Thursday, February 19, at about 4:45 in the morning. That time also had been “reserved for Marilyn Keehn.” (Hebrews 9:27)
Marilyn had been a child of God for many years. She and her husband, Lawrence, were akin to Priscilla and Aquilla, who would willingly teach souls the way of the Lord more perfectly. (Acts 18:26) To visit Marilyn in her cottage home was to visit with a soul whose chief interest was that of every member of the Lord’s church at Orleans. She was especially concerned for those souls who once expressed a faithful interest in truth and righteousness but had left the faith and no longer attended any worship service. “How can they do that?” she would ask with some disgust in her voice. “That’s just not right,” she would explain! To Marilyn, it simply made no sense that any soul would ever depart from Christ.
We could have placed a sign on the third-row pew, south side of the building, center aisle. That seat was “reserved for Marilyn Keehn.” Oh, sure, you were welcome to sit with her, but not in that seat – that was Marilyn’s! Some of us laughed with delight as she would be seated, and waiting for services to begin, and we’d hear her saying spritely, “Sit down, Nancy!” She loved to tease, but she loved to have everyone stop by and talk to her more! I’d tease her by saying she was my girlfriend, and we received cards from her saying, “to my boyfriend and his wife.” Those special greetings were reserved for Marilyn Keehn!
Everyone who knew Marilyn knew her top priority! Nothing was more important than Christ and His church! Few, if anyone, who visited her home left without engaging in a scripture-based conversation. Next on her list would be the health of those she missed, and last and least would be her own concerns. Those were reserved for Marilyn Keehn and God! (1 Peter 5:7)
Now, those of us at Orleans will be reminded of Jonathan’s statement to David, “Thou shalt be missed, for thine seat will be empty.” (1 Samuel 10:18) Until they are rightly returned to her family, her cushion, her tray, her magnifier, her footstool, and a few other items will be found in her seat as if waiting for her return. Our tears will flow because we know those items cannot express the emotional loss we feel. However …
There is joy in knowing things are “reserved for Marilyn Keehn.” We are not judges of souls’ eternity; that’s our Lord’s job (Acts 17:31; John 5:22). But we can and must judge righteous judgment (John 7:24), meaning we can and must determine the righteousness of one’s soul by their conduct (Matthew 7:20). From that observation, we submit that as Paul said, “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:8) Peter gives us abundant comfort as well, when he wrote, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5) Did you see the statement applicable to Marilyn and all others who are obedient to God? “Reserved in heaven for you,” could easily read, “Reserved for Marilyn Keehn.
Oh, the lessons we should learn from this matriarch! Yes, there are many others of equal quality and virtue (Proverbs 31:10-31), and their examples of righteousness are no less impressive. But it is Marilyn we remember just now. She, being dead, yet speaks (Hebrews 11:4). We loved her, and still do! Therefore, this space is also reserved for Marilyn Keehn!
