A 5 Star is remembered
Today friends and family came together in Olney, Maryland United States to bury a friend, colleague, Aunty, mentor and a believer in the saving grace of God, Khalea Queen. Khalea Queen passed away July 11th 2022 after a period of hospitalization.
My wife and I met Khalea at the Bethel World Outreach (now Harvest International) church where Khalea and I served on a Church committee called the 5 Star team. The team was setup by the founder of the Church Bishop Darlingston Johnson to review and make recommendations to provide a more excellent member experience. While Sister Khalea volunteered at the Church, she was a teacher with the District of Columbia public school system.
In that capacity, we came to know Sister Khalea (as we fondly called her) as a hardworking, loving and delightful human being. Sister Khalea made significant contributions to the team especially in the area establishing a program management office (PMO) for managing all church projects. And it was no surprise, that Sister Khalea left her teaching job in the District of Columbia (DC) to lead the first PMO at the Church.
We remember Sister Khalea as a family friend who made time to do lunch or dinner with us each time we were in the DC area. Sister Khalea was not too busy to invest in relationships. And as the daughter of Sister Khalea’s long family friend Yvette, read from a poem by Maya Angelou;
When great souls die,
the air around us becomes
light, rare, sterile.
We breathe, briefly.
Our eyes, briefly,
see with
a hurtful clarity.
Our memory, suddenly sharpened,
examines,
gnaws on kind words
unsaid,
promised walks
never taken.
Yes today brought the hurtful clarity needed to remember our most important relationship-the free gift of salvation by Our Lord Jesus Christ. The blessed assurance that to be absent in the body is to be present in eternity. While we mourn Sister Khalea, we are comforted that Sister Khalea gave her life to our Lord Jesus Christ and is a better place that we are today.
As my wife and I drove by the burial site, a few hours after the repass, I reflected firstly on the what is the ultimate purpose of life? when all is said and done is life truly vapor as the Teacher in the book of Ecclesiastes opined 'Life is fleeting, like a passing mist. It is like trying to catch hold of a breath; All vanishes like vapor; everything is great vanity. What good does it do anyone to work so hard again and again, sun up to sundown? All his labor to gain but a little?'
Secondly, what should the focus of my daily life be? all of a sudden the daily grind of tasks, appointments, gossip and the number of Facebook likes look so small compared to the significance of a freshly filled grave.
Thirdly, my commitments to my most important earthly relationships - what do I need to do ensure that I invest in my most important relationships, to make and keep commitments today and not allow the spirit of procrastination to take hold.
We will miss Sister Khalea who taught us to live for Christ and focus on our relationships. To make a contribution through our daily commitments to one another. And to do so knowing that life maybe vapor and every vapor has a unique purpose.
