A lot of us had a pretty good ideaHe was a better man than any of us thought.
Yep. He just called it like it was - whether you liked it or not - but in love. That's what I'm most going to miss about him being gone. It's easy to be a jerk, but someone who tells you the honest truth and still cares about you, is rare.A lot of us had a pretty good idea
I bet this was just the very tip of the iceberg. It’s just so sad that this man’s family has to forge it’s path in his world without him.After I talked to David, the director of the Kids Outdoor Zone church group that Sterling supported, he sent me this text, the transcript of a tribute to Sterling and chock full of insight into what sort of man he was.
In the next post, I'll put the pictures that go with this narrative.
----------------------------------------
Brother Sterling Johnson passed away 7/7/22 in the morning. My uncle Pat passed away the same day at 10:30 AM.
Brother Sterling Johnson was a grandfather to a boy he brought to KOZ at the church. He told me he was not in good health and wanted Gavin to have good Godly mentors that would teach him about Jesus and how to become a man and how Gavin did not have a father in his life.
The first day he brought Gavin was in November 2021. It was a day that we were going to address a problem that happened in October on a deer hunt. There was a boy visiting us for the first time that was causing some of the boys to make fun of Olumide. He admitted to one of our boys that he was a racist.
Olumide was troubled on the ride home and he told Josh about it when they got to church. Olumide’s mom called me and was upset telling me that she thought KOZ was a safe place for her son and how they had experienced this kind of persecution in Africa. She told me Olumide would not be back.
I was so sick at this and I started praying. I told Richard we needed to address this at the next outing but we can not fix it with words or actions we will need the Holy Spirit to do it. So at November 21 meeting in a circle around the campfire with new visitors Sterling and Gavin Johnson brother Richard started to address the issue with the boys. The Holy Spirit took over and brother Richard was pleading and crying with the boys not to look at the differences in how others look but that each boy was made in Gods image Richard got overwhelmed with tears and could hardly speak the boys were listing intently to this powerful leader being broken in front of their eyes.
As all eyes were on him and hearts were opening to this truth and Richard was overwhelmed brother Sterling Johnson got up and walked straight to Richard and gave him a big hug and patted him on the back!
This was so powerful a older black man hugging a 54 year old white man both in tears, in front of our boys.
I video taped this and I ended up sending it to Olumide’s mom. Holy Spirit moved and his mom sent me a message thanking me for addressing this issue and that Olumide would be back to the next meeting ! Praise God He used Brother Sterling and Gavin to help heal a big wound in our group that had never happened before or since !
Only God could send someone to do that and change the course of our KOZ group !
Thank you Brother Sterling for allowing the Holy Spirit to use you !
Olumide had been with us for 2 1/2 years and I am so glad he has been with us now for 3 years. The next month in December we did a homeless serve day and I made Olumide the leader and director of the outing ! I wanted to honor him and his family and I told his mom he is a leader. At this years fundraiser gala at the Hyatt downtown Austin I picked up Olumide from home and took him with me to sit at the Christian Life Austin Kids Outdoor Zone table. He was the only KOZ invited and he set at the table full of leaders. He is definitely a Junior leader in our group And I told him he’s going to do great things in his life. He told me he’s going to law school to Harvard for Texas he wants to become a judge.
So thank you brother Sterling Johnson for what you did bringing Gavin to us and for what you did for Olumide and his family and for what you did for our group’s spiritual and mental health.
Thank you for always wanting to help and do all you could physically do and I know you would of done more if you could.
But what you did in the spiritual realm for Gavin , Olumide and our group was far more than you knew.
Kids Outdoor Zone Christian Life Austin owes you a great debt of gratitude and we honor you life and legacy today !
I think that's a wonderful story to remember about the type of person Sterling was.After I talked to David, the director of the Kids Outdoor Zone church group that Sterling supported, he sent me this text, the transcript of a tribute to Sterling and chock full of insight into what sort of man he was.
In the next post, I'll put the pictures that go with this narrative.
----------------------------------------
Brother Sterling Johnson passed away 7/7/22 in the morning. My uncle Pat passed away the same day at 10:30 AM.
Brother Sterling Johnson was a grandfather to a boy he brought to KOZ at the church. He told me he was not in good health and wanted Gavin to have good Godly mentors that would teach him about Jesus and how to become a man and how Gavin did not have a father in his life.
The first day he brought Gavin was in November 2021. It was a day that we were going to address a problem that happened in October on a deer hunt. There was a boy visiting us for the first time that was causing some of the boys to make fun of Olumide. He admitted to one of our boys that he was a racist.
Olumide was troubled on the ride home and he told Josh about it when they got to church. Olumide’s mom called me and was upset telling me that she thought KOZ was a safe place for her son and how they had experienced this kind of persecution in Africa. She told me Olumide would not be back.
I was so sick at this and I started praying. I told Richard we needed to address this at the next outing but we can not fix it with words or actions we will need the Holy Spirit to do it. So at November 21 meeting in a circle around the campfire with new visitors Sterling and Gavin Johnson brother Richard started to address the issue with the boys. The Holy Spirit took over and brother Richard was pleading and crying with the boys not to look at the differences in how others look but that each boy was made in Gods image Richard got overwhelmed with tears and could hardly speak the boys were listing intently to this powerful leader being broken in front of their eyes.
As all eyes were on him and hearts were opening to this truth and Richard was overwhelmed brother Sterling Johnson got up and walked straight to Richard and gave him a big hug and patted him on the back!
This was so powerful a older black man hugging a 54 year old white man both in tears, in front of our boys.
I video taped this and I ended up sending it to Olumide’s mom. Holy Spirit moved and his mom sent me a message thanking me for addressing this issue and that Olumide would be back to the next meeting ! Praise God He used Brother Sterling and Gavin to help heal a big wound in our group that had never happened before or since !
Only God could send someone to do that and change the course of our KOZ group !
Thank you Brother Sterling for allowing the Holy Spirit to use you !
Olumide had been with us for 2 1/2 years and I am so glad he has been with us now for 3 years. The next month in December we did a homeless serve day and I made Olumide the leader and director of the outing ! I wanted to honor him and his family and I told his mom he is a leader. At this years fundraiser gala at the Hyatt downtown Austin I picked up Olumide from home and took him with me to sit at the Christian Life Austin Kids Outdoor Zone table. He was the only KOZ invited and he set at the table full of leaders. He is definitely a Junior leader in our group And I told him he’s going to do great things in his life. He told me he’s going to law school to Harvard for Texas he wants to become a judge.
So thank you brother Sterling Johnson for what you did bringing Gavin to us and for what you did for Olumide and his family and for what you did for our group’s spiritual and mental health.
Thank you for always wanting to help and do all you could physically do and I know you would of done more if you could.
But what you did in the spiritual realm for Gavin , Olumide and our group was far more than you knew.
Kids Outdoor Zone Christian Life Austin owes you a great debt of gratitude and we honor you life and legacy today !
And his family will have one on display.I'll be wearing a TGT shirt in his honor
Thanks for the anecdote. If I make it, I'll bring a .32 auto and a .32 revolver or two, too.Sitting here thinking about Sterling and what toys to take to the meet.