John Martz - In Memoriam

The number of days, or weeks, or months or years can’t calculate the sum of a man’s life. Sadly, many men reach their three score and ten, or more, and never really live. They pass the time; they interact with the physical world – but they never meet Life. Last week my friend, John Martz moved out of the physical world. At 59, he missed the three score and ten by a few years. Make no mistake though – John not only knew Life, but he knew how to live. A number of years ago, John invited me to come and teach in his TEE center in Oshakati, Namibia. John would bring his leaders in for weekend seminars – lasting Friday afternoons and evenings and all day Saturday. For both sessions, he would drive and pickup all the students and take them home afterwards – probably 60 miles at a stretch. The roads he traveled were some of Namibia’s most dangerous and he drove them at their most dangerous, but confident that the Lord would protect him. He told me, laughing sadly as he said it, that between Oshakati and Ondangwa (the next town 20 miles away) were more than 5000 bottle stores. (For the uninitiated, a bottle store is a place to drink alcoholic beverages – usually to excess.) He did this time and again over the course of several years, sacrificially, to give his leaders the grounding in the Word that they need for ministry. We spent time with John, Sarah and family in July at our cluster meeting in South Africa. Just like old times, I found myself talking with John over coffee. Jokes flew. Remembrances of times gone by; nothing earth shattering, but lots of what life (and Life) is about. John knew how to live and helped to make it enjoyable for those who were around him.