Dayle Scott Celebration of Life Service, Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church, Oakland, CA, November 20, 2021, 1:00 PM
Dayle and I were colleagues in ABC Educational Ministries in Valley Forge for a number of years. When it was lunch time, it was like the Pied Piper. The first one from the end of the section of offices would start walking down the hall and inviting colleagues to join going downstairs for lunch in the cafeteria.
Some purchased a hot lunch from the counter. I usually bought chocolate milk to accompany my peanut butter and jelly sandwich from home. But everyday all of us would turn our eyes first to what was in Dayle’s lunch box. We knew it would be good like in all previous lunch events. We knew that it was going to be hot unlike my cold sandwich. We knew that it would be gourmet and that we all wished, at least, I did that it was my lunch that day or for that matter all the days that Dayle came to work with his lunch box.
Since Darlene is a good cook, Dayle informed us that his lunch was not leftovers but “plan-overs” because Darlene always planned to have a delicious and healthy lunch for Dayle to have the next day in the cafeteria.
Dayle was a planner who taught us that if something is worthy to happen, you would have to plan for it to happen. He planned the Leaders Faire in Northern California. He planned for pastors in the denomination to receive continuing education and for each person to reach their God-given potential.
For Dayle with his constant smile and infectious optimism, nothing was impossible. He was forever seeing possibilities and trying new ways to solve a challenge. Dayle’s cup was always half full, never half empty. Dayle’s plan-over meals were always half full.
Half full means that Dayle knew he was loved by God and that he was Christ’s disciple and servant. Loving his backyard garden in San Leandro, Dayle recognized that it’s God who brings life and he was the servant gardener to harvest the fruits and nurse the flowers. Like the way his partnership is with God, Dayle was an unrelenting team player who believed that when we get to the finish line together, we all win.
The Feeding of the 5000 reveals to us that we are often worried about not having enough like the disciples did. But when we believe in Christ as Dayle did, miracles happen, good things surround you, and a half-full abundance of 12 baskets of bread and fish were collected after everyone has eaten their fill. It is like Christ saying to us, that leftovers will now become plan-overs for more to enjoy and come to believe.
One of the most memorable events I had with Dayle and Darlene is when they renewed their wedding vows at the Church at Cana on a 2010 Holy Land trip. When one renews their vows, it’s giving witness to sacrifice one’s own joy for the joy and happiness of the other. Dayle was committed to Darlene as Darlene is committed to Dayle. This unselfish love filled their lives, overflowing with blessings to their children and grandchildren.
Dayle’s servant leadership was never full of himself. Dayle’s plan-overs always half full reminds us that the abundance and blessings that we have and continue to receive, all come from God who watches over us today as God watched over Dayle’s life on earth and now in heaven. God will continue to watch over us for the rest of our lives in the many days to come.
I miss Dayle’s positive outlook in life. And I thank God that when we have a “plan-over” outlook in life that is always half-full, we will be blessed by God’s miracles over and over again.