Dean Blevins

We are here this evening to remember a husband, father, grandmother, and friend. The word of God says:

Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. (Psalm 116:15)

And so we gather today in the presence of God to both remember Dean and to find comfort from the word of God.

I’ve known Dean for a number of years, but after talking to the family I found out so much more about him. I knew Dean had retired from the Army and afterward had sold real estate. And I knew that Dean was responsible for setting out American flags around town for several years. But this week I learned more.

Dean was a 1953 graduate of Elizabethton High School, and a 1958 graduate of ETSU working in a steel mill in Pennsylvania each summer to pay for school. During his time at ETSU Dean also served in the Tennessee National Guard before enlisting full-time in the Army.

While stationed Fort Sill in Oklahoma, Dean met and married Anita. While in Springfield, Missouri Dean taught ROTC at the university. He also had the duty of notifying local families when they lost a son in action in Vietnam. Cathy says her father would get a call, disappear into their bedroom, come out in his dress blues, leave for a couple of hours come home, change clothes, and then he would be very quiet the rest of the day. That had to have been a difficult assignment notifying family members of the death of their son, husband, and father who had given their lives for their country.

Cathy also recalled how one day her father was going to take his college ROTC class out to learn repelling. They were not looking forward to it (they were scared). So Dean took Cathy and her Camp Fire Girl troop out with them. Then he placed the twelve year-old girls on the cliff and let them repel down first. After that the ROTC guys were ready to go.

Dean went to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas where he attended the Command and General Staff school, a graduate level school for officers, grooming them for higher leadership challenges in the military. It is an honor to be asked to attend.

Dean then served at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Denver, Colorado before going to the Pentagon where he retired as a highly decorated Lt Colonel.

Dean, Anita, and Kurt then moved to Elizabethton where Dean started selling real estate winning the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors Humanitarian Award in 2004. During that time Dean and Anita began attending West Side. And then, after twenty-nine years of marriage, Anita passed away.

It wasn’t long after that Dean married Carol Robinson. They were married for twenty-six years.

In addition to his work, Dean was a member of the Civitan Club where he focused his attention on raising funds to assist local children in need. In the 1980s, Dean worked with the Civitans to raise money by placing flags at participating businesses. He started in the west end of Carter County with about forty or fifty flags. However, in the mid ‘90s, when interest from other members waned, Deans took up the slack and began placing flags for the entire county. The money earned from that work went to fund an annual picnic for children who have special needs. I remember that my daughter helped Dean with the picnics when she was in high school.

Eventually, Dean became known as “The Flag Man” and a couple of articles were written about the work that he did. Concerning his work Dean once said:

The things I do are really small things, but they go along with the idea of lighting a candle instead of doing nothing. We concentrate our work toward disadvantaged children who are not as blessed as the rest of us.

I think that really sums up the example Dean left for all of us. It’s not about us but what we can do for others.

Carol recalled a conversation she and Dean had recently. One of them had asked how God could keep up with all the people on earth. I have enough trouble just keeping up with my two adult children living in Knoxville and Pigeon Forge. But God somehow manages to keep up with everyone in the world – almost eight billion people. She said the answer Dean finally came up with was angels. God has lots of angels that help him.

I think he had a good point. The Bible talks about the many angels that serve God. It also talks about how those angels help us. In the book of Exodus for example, God told Moses:

See, I am sending an angel ahead of you to guard you along the way and to bring you to the place I have prepared. (Exodus 23:20)

After delivering his people from slavery in Egypt, God is leading them to the Promised Land and he promises to send an angel ahead of them to protect them and make sure they arrive safely.

In Matthew 18 some parents are bringing their children to Jesus for him to bless them. The disciples didn’t have time for children. They had too many important things to do. But Jesus tells them:

See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:10)

It sounds like Jesus is saying that every child has an angel interceding before God on its behalf. How does God keep up with so many people? God has angels that help him.

But additionally we need to remember that God doesn’t have the limitation we do.

Astronomers estimate that there is somewhere around a billion trillion stars in the universe. Now I know how they can sell names for stars. There are more stars than we could ever name. Yet in Psalm 147 this is what the Bible says about the stars.

[God] determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name. (Psalm 147:4)

God knows every single star by name and put it where it’s supposed to be. If God knows and keeps up with all the stars, do you think he can keep up with us? Here’s some more of what Psalm 147 says.

3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. (Psalm 147:3)

Just as he knows the stars, God knows us by name. Jesus says God knows us so well that he even knows the number of hairs on our head. So what we learn from this is that no matter what we face God knows it. He is with us to bring us comfort and to give us strength. As David wrote:

1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. 3 He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and staff they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

This psalm doesn’t say God will keep us from difficult and painful things, but it does tell us that even when we do God will be with us. God is there to comfort and sustain us. The Bible tells us that his rod and his staff will bring us comfort.

God is frequently described in the Bible as being like a shepherd who cares for his sheep. Allow the Good Shepherd to lead you down paths of green pastures and beside still waters. Allow him to restore your soul. Allow him to minister to you during your struggle with fear and grief and pain. Allow him to be Emmanuel, God with you.

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Graveside

The death of a loved one is always difficult, but in the Bible we find comfort and hope. Jesus told the disciples:

1 Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 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. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going. (John 14:1-4)

And John wrote in the book of Revelation:

1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:1-5)

In these and other passages from the Bible we learn that:

Death is not the end but the beginning

Death is not a loss but a gain, and

Death is not a defeat but a victory

The promise we have been given is that Dean is now with God who loves him and with Jesus – his Lord and Savior. My prayer today is that you will know this hope the Bible gives and that you will know God who gives comfort.