Horrie and Win Smith had one light globe for 40 years. Not only one, but one that lasted for the whole 40 years they lived in that house. It lit the alcove next to the fireplace in the place that Horrie had built for them when they moved to Swan View back in the 50s.
The light globe is still there, though because of age and health Horrie and Win moved suddenly on the weekend to live with family two hours south of Perth in Bunbury (”bunburying”, Oscar Wilde would have called it). At 90 and 83 respectively Horrie and Win have been fine Christian servants at a variety of WA churches, most recently Parkerville, where they were foundation members.
Now the house is empty. I noticed the neatly stacked recyclable collection stacked next to it as I went for a rather chilly walk this morning. And it struck me that with Horrie no longer living in Swan View, another light globe has gone out in our suburb. Horrie is an intercessor. Not a day has gone by since Jill and I moved to Parkerville in 1999 that he has not prayed for the McAlpine family, and countless others down the years. You talk to Horrie about someone who is in trouble. or who doesn’t know Jesus, or is seeking God’s wisdom on something, and he is praying. The stories he can tell of people who have become Christians and who have thanked him when they met him because they found out that a worried parent, partner or friend had asked Horrie to pray.
When I last visited Horrie three or so weeks ago he was in a lot of pain and Win was in hospital. His biggest complaint? By the time he had been bandaged and medicated in the morning, his morning prayer time had been used up!
Who will pray for Swan View now? As I walk early in the morning around my suburb I pray for people and situations that The Local has connections with, but I see the inadequacy of my own prayer life more starkly in the light of Horrie leaving the area. Not that he will not be praying, but his years are short. Who is coming through to fill the gap left by a great intercessor like Horrie?
“Lord, be with Horrie and Win in their final years. Usher them into your presence in your time, and raise up pray-ers to continue the ministry. Amen.”
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