Les and Bev
Sheppard
Memorial Service for
the Rev. Leslie L. Sheppard
May 18, 2014 ~ The Rev. Ian A. Arnold
J
ust two days after Les’s passing, and at his and Bev’s home in West End, I was
leafing through his Bible. It’s not that I hadn’t held it in my hands before but
this time I felt freer to browse it more closely. In places it is heavily marked and
annotated, and one of those places, marked as heavily as anything else in it, are
the verses from Matthew 16: 24-26:
Then said Jesus unto His disciples, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall
lose it; and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it. For what is a man
profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a
man give in exchange for his soul?”
Les treasured his Bible. I was going to say that next to Bev it was the love of
his life. But no, it was the underground water reservoir and system from which
he drew, not just in his relationship with Bev and his family, but in all things
and people he was involved with.
Born into Methodism, with his mother having particularly strong
Methodist convictions, Les developed an attachment to the Bible from early on.
That attachment was always there and was given scope to come to the surface
and to blossom and flower once he became involved in church leadership and
329