Walking with God: The Life of Ray Pondell

Note: A few days ago, while looking through old files, I discovered the sermon I preached at the memorial service for Ray Pondell. The sermon was preached on August 7, 2004. Ray was a faithful member of Trinity Baptist Church in Chicago, where I had the honor of serving as pastor for 20 years. Ray served as a deacon and teacher and was one of my greatest supporters. I loved him as a brother in Christ and as a dear friend. I have decided to post this sermon to honor the memory of someone I greatly admired.

“Then the king said to his men, ‘Do you not realize that a prince and a great man has fallen in Israel this day?’” (2 Samuel 3:38).

Ray Pondell was a man of uncommon character and deep faith. He was a devoted husband who cared for his wife with tenderness and commitment, even during the seasons when her own strength diminished. As a father, he carried his children constantly in his prayers and in his heart, manifesting his pride in them to all who would listen. His love extended to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, whom he cherished and celebrated throughout his life.

But Ray’s significance was not limited to his immediate family. He was a man who lived out his Christian faith with consistency and conviction. He was a deacon at Trinity Baptist Church, but more than this institutional role, Ray was a teacher, a friend, and a living example of what it means to follow Christ seriously. He studied Scripture with genuine devotion, attending Sunday School class faithfully. He was a devoted reader of the Bible itself, studying God’s Word with the dedication of a true scholar, and sharing what he learned with everyone who would listen. Ray often expressed to his pastor his wish that more people would obtain a good study Bible—particularly the NIV Life Application Bible with its helpful notes—because he believed that serious engagement with Scripture would transform lives and deepen faith.

Ray’s most noticeable trait, however, was his evangelistic heart. He was never afraid to talk about how Jesus Christ was central to his life, and he was always eager to share his faith with others. Whether sitting next to a complete stranger or kneeling by a hospital bed, Ray saw every encounter as a chance to speak of Christ’s importance to salvation and life itself. This was not just a superficial concern but a burning passion that defined everything he did.

The Witness of Ray’s Ministry

Ray’s devotion to sharing his faith was demonstrated most vividly in his visitation ministry with his pastor. Together we visited Trinity Baptist Church members and visitors alike, the saved and the lost, in homes and in hospitals. During one particular hospital visit to see John Callihan, Ray noticed elderly patients in the hallway. When he asked permission to pray for them, he then went from person to person, offering a prayer to each. This was Ray’s way: alert to human need, attentive to spiritual hunger, and ready to respond with intercession and witness.

Ray’s concern was not parochial or self-focused. Even when he himself was gravely ill, approaching the end of his earthly life, his first question to his pastor was not about his own condition but about another patient: “How is Rebecca doing?” Rebecca McInturff lay in a hospital bed, seriously ill, and Ray’s heart was with her even as his body was failing. This remarkable empathy, this refusal to allow personal suffering to eclipse concern for others, reveals the depth of his spiritual maturity and the power of faith to transform human nature.

Ray was also a man who prayed without ceasing for those he loved and those he served. Ray always called people to pray—for his pastor, for the church, for others in need. Prayer was not a formal duty to Ray but the very substance of his spiritual life. He lived before God with an openness and persistence that made prayer as natural as breathing.

The Pattern of Scripture

Two biblical figures illuminate Ray’s life and bring comfort to those of us left behind. These men lived in different eras and faced distinct challenges, yet their lives bore a striking resemblance to Ray’s own journey of faith.

The first was Enoch, of whom the Genesis account records simply: “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him away” (Genesis 5:24). Here is the most concise description of a well-lived life found anywhere in Scripture. Enoch walked with God. This was the totality of what mattered about his existence. Like Enoch, Ray Pondell had walked with God, and like Enoch, when his time came, God took him away. He did not disappear mysteriously as Enoch did, but he did depart from this earth to be with the Lord he had served so faithfully.

The second figure was Abner, David’s general, who was described at his death by King David himself: “Do you not realize that a prince and a great man has fallen in Israel this day?” (2 Samuel 3:38). Though Ray Pondell held no position of earthly power or political authority, he was indeed a prince and a great man in the kingdom of God. His greatness lay not in rank but in righteousness, not in power but in piety. Israel, and all the people of God, mourned for this great man of God who had been taken from their midst.

The Promise and the Way

When Ray’s heart grew troubled—as surely it did as death approached—he turned to the words of Jesus recorded in John 14. These verses had become one of Ray’s most cherished passages, and their truth had sustained him throughout his life. Jesus addressed his disciples with these words during his final hours before his crucifixion: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me” (John 14:1).

Jesus went on to promise: “In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:2). Ray had believed this promise. He was certain that Jesus was preparing a place for him, that Jesus had gone ahead as the forerunner to make ready a dwelling where Ray could dwell with him forever.

But there is a deeper truth hidden in Jesus’s words. He does not just promise comfort; he promises companionship. He promises a relationship. When Jesus said, “I will come back and take you to be with me” (John 14:3), he was referring to an eternal union, a lasting communion with God that no death could break. Ray understood this. He had lived with this promise in mind, and when the time to die came, he could face death peacefully because he knew who he was going to.

The Comfort of Truth

The day came when Ray himself was called to leave this earthly residence and to go to the place that Jesus had prepared. August 1st was the day Ray had to go. Death came, as it comes to all humanity. It is, after all, part of the human condition. We live and we live fully only when we understand that we also die. We die every day in a sense—time passes, opportunities expire, moments are lost—and we will die one final time.

The problem is that many people do not know how to live, and as a result, they do not know how to die. They have not prepared for death because they are unaware of what awaits them beyond it. They have not accepted their own finiteness, nor have they secured their place before God.

But Ray knew. He knew because he knew Jesus. He had walked with God. He had traveled the path of Christ. He had made the same choice Thomas eventually made—to recognize in Jesus the only way to the Father. So when death came, Ray could accept it not as a thief in the night or as a terror in the darkness, but as the completion of his journey and the start of his eternal home in the Father’s house.

Those of us mourning Ray’s passing do not mourn as those without hope. Yes, our hearts are heavy. We miss the tangible presence of a good man, a faithful friend, a living example of following Christ. But we are not troubled at the deepest level. We can say with the psalmist that we sorrow, but we do not sorrow as those who have no hope. Ray has gone before us. He walked with God. And those of us who follow that same path will one day join him in the Father’s house, where Jesus has prepared a place for us all.

The Legacy of Walking with God

Ray Pondell’s life stands as a testament to what it means to walk with God in this world. It means studying Scripture seriously and sharing what we learn. It means praying without ceasing and carrying others in our hearts. It means speaking the truth about Jesus Christ without fear or shame. It means allowing our faith to manifest itself in acts of love and concern for others, even when we ourselves are weak and weary. It means facing death not with despair but with confidence, knowing that we go to meet our Lord and to dwell in the house prepared for us.

In walking with God, as Ray did, we find not only the answer to the question Thomas asked, but the fulfillment of the promise Jesus gave. We discover that we do indeed know the way, because we know the Way himself. And we can face life and death, present and future, with the peace that comes from trusting in God and trusting also in him.

zt”l – “May the memory of the righteous be a blessing”

Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary

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