11/22/2000, a few days after the passing of my Uncle Wayne Weigel

    In 1963 my family moved to Oregon, and we built the house I grew up in with the help of my Uncle Wayne Weigel, on land he gave us for that purpose.  Through the years our families were close and I enjoyed seeing my Dad and his brother work together, and joke around a lot.  Whether it was a problem with our well, or working on a vehicle, my Uncle Wayne would be there.  He just enjoyed being helpful, and because he'd dedicated his life to being a craftsman of excellence, he often had some very good ideas.
     He also had a great sense of humor, and I can still think about things he said over the years and burst out laughing.    Sometimes I know people felt offended when he ribbed them.  And that's too bad because I really don't believe he meant it to hurt anyone.  I know this because I always just talked to Wayne if I was concerned about something, and he was always a man who would take the time to talk with you and figure things out.  I think many people could learn from that example as well.  Perhaps if we learned to talk things out we wouldn't have so many disagreements that separate people.
     I can't begin to say how much this man's good nature impacted my life.  Whether fishing for trout and playing around in the beautiful creek that ran between our places, running through the endless woods, eating the berries and apples, or getting to drive the old tractor, it was all so special.  Because it was a gift of love from a man who knew how to give without expecting anything in return.  Well, I shouldn't say anything.  I think Wayne expected that people would show fruits of appreciating, rather than squandering his gifts.
     Often people take advantage of a giving nature.  In speaking with Wayne many times, he'd be working to repair some damage left by a renter or something and explain the situation to me.  There are times when we have to decide "that's enough" and leave a person to their ways of destruction.  We live in a world full of people who seem dedicated to their own destruction.  In that world, I've seen Wayne Weigel as a man who, like all of us has faults, but whose dedication was not in exalting those faults, but overcoming them through a relationship with the only source of true love.  The only source of true wisdom.  The only source of true discernment.
     Wayne Weigel committed his life to Jesus Christ many years ago; A man who was the spirit of the living God, come to earth to show us not only how to live, but that without his spirit living in us we simply cannot do it.  And so he died at the hands of ignorant men who mocked him; a perfect sacrifice taking on the sins of all who would cast them on him.  And he rose again so that those who would be hidden in him can also have life after this temporal one with him.
 If you look at the life of Wayne Weigel today and you evaluate it you will see imperfections as with any life.  If you look at it in a different way though, you will see the spirit of God at work in relationship with Wayne.  And it will tell you that an equally imperfect person like yourself has hope.  Hope of living a life without regret, knowing that your life is new in Christ Jesus.  Hope of living your remaining days in a way that will show people the work that is going on in your spirit.  And hope that a few people might be changed and say things like "I thank God for the way the life of Wayne Weigel touched my life"

         Robert A. Weigel.