Don Hill Funeral Service
March 3, 2012 (Died February 26)
Note: Don Hill was perhaps the most gifted layman I ever worked with. He was Elder Chairman and Church Chairman of First Free in Wichita longer than anyone else. He was our church lawyer, my personal lawyer, and a dear friend.
Obituary: Donald E. Hill, 61, attorney with Adams Jones Law Firm, went to be with the Lord on February 26, 2012. A private family burial will be held. Memorial services 3:00 pm, Saturday, at First Evangelical Free Church.
Don was born in Wichita, KS on March 9, 1950. He was raised in a Christian home and accepted Jesus Christ into his life when he was a child. He grew up in a loving family, and had fond memories of their many camping trips together. He attended high school at North High where he was on the Debate Team and involved in student government. This is also where he met the love of his life, Carol, and they started dating before he could drive at 15.
After finishing high school, Don went to Greenville College in Illinois, where he majored in History and Political Sciences, graduating Magna Cum Laude. At Greenvillle, he was student body president and involved in intercollegiate debate. He and Carol were married December 26, 1970 and Carol moved to Greenville, IL. After graduating from Greenville, Don attended law school at Washburn University in Topeka, KS.
Upon completing law school, Don and Carol moved to Wichita, KS. He practiced law at Martin & Churchill for 35 years where he specialized in employment law, business law, and estate planning. In January 2011, Don joined Adams Jones Law Firm. In addition to his law practice, he extended his work into the community helping friends and relatives.
Don always enjoyed his work, but never let it take away from time with his family. He was also heavily involved at First Evangelical Free Church where his family has attended for over 36 years. Don was a deacon, elder, chairman, and regular Sunday school teacher. He was also involved in many aspects of the community, such as the Wichita Prayer Breakfast, Rotary, Christian Legal Society, and the Wichita Art Museum. In his free time, he enjoyed staying current with politics and never missed an opportunity to vote.
Words cannot sum up the kind of man Don Hill was. He put God first, his family second, and others before himself. He set an example to others with his faith in God, integrity, humbleness, and unselfishness. Don instilled in his sons lifelong values of honesty, hard work, living within your means, generosity, and unselfish service towards others. He now resides in heaven praising Jesus eternally. His family looks forward to the day when they are all reunited. Don Hill’s legacy will not be forgotten.
Don was preceded in death by his father, Lawrence Hill. Survivors include his wife, Carol; sons, Brian (Amy) Hill and Brent (Nicole) Hill; grandson, Brody; mother, Evelyn Hill; sister, Marilyn Morlan; and brother, Rodney (Sherry) Hill.
Message: I was Don Hill’s pastor for about half of the past 36 years and his friend the entire time. I met him in 1976 at a Bible study he and Carol attended with four other young couples–the Conklins, the Hannemans, the Albros, and the Martins. Within a short time all of them became active members of our church. Later Don’s parents, Lawrence and Evelyn, joined them, and soon other members of their family made this their church home.
I think back to that meeting in 1976 as a real turning point for First Free. Don’s gifts and abilities were soon recognized, and he became an elder after a few short years. In the decades since, he probably served more terms as an elder than anyone else. He was often Elder Chairman and Church Chairman. He was a rock that so many of us looked to in good times and bad.
During the years I was absent, pastoring in St. Louis, my successor Pastor Tom Macy profited from Don’s wisdom and leadership just as I had. Pastor Macy wrote to me the other day,
“From my arrival in Wichita in 1985, I soon developed the greatest respect for Don Hill as a godly man, effective teacher of the Word of God and balanced and gifted leader, one of the most clear thinking persons I’ve ever known; always a voice of reason and strong faith in the midst of challenging issues.
Certainly a major factor in Don’s excellent leadership was the heritage of his godly parents, Lawrence and Evelyn, and his faithful partner, Carol.”
I’ll share the rest of the letter with the family, but Tom closes with these words: “My tears especially are for Carol, Brian and Brent with this painful separation which seems way too soon; but also rejoicing in the Gospel that guarantees the joyful and eternal reunion of all who are in Christ.” I couldn’t agree more.
I want to speak to you briefly on the subject, “Everyone Needs a Good Lawyer.” Now those of you who know me well, and know my relationship with Don, know that under normal circumstances the term “oxymoron” would almost certainly be uttered soon after uttering the words, “good lawyer.” In fact, when I got to the hospital the morning of Don’s heart attack and realized the grave condition Don was in, I began to feel significant guilt about all the lawyer jokes I had heaped on Don, either from this pulpit or by email, but his brother Rod quickly put me at ease. He’s a renowned physician, you know, and assured me that Don deserved nothing less and actually would want nothing less. I don’t know about you, but I only tease people I love, and I loved Don Hill.
I want you to think about the times and circumstances when a good lawyer is essential, like
when you’re in a bad accident,
when you’re doing estate planning,
when you have a complicated tax situation,
when you get slapped with a frivolous lawsuit,
when you’re buying property,
when you’re selling property,
or when you get a traffic ticket that, of course, you didn’t deserve.
Don was a good lawyer. He was my lawyer. He was our church lawyer. We could always count on the fact that his advice would be legal, moral, wise, and effective.
Maybe your life has been unusually simple and up to this point you’ve never needed the services of a good lawyer. But you will. There is coming a time when every single person will need one. Even lawyers will need a lawyer, maybe especially lawyers. Heb. 9:27 reads, “Man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” Someday every one of us will die and stand before the Judge of all the earth. It’s inevitable. You can’t escape it. That, friends, is when you will need a really good lawyer, and I want to share three specific reasons why.
The first reason you will need a good lawyer is that you are guilty. I hope you don’t take offense at that, but it’s true. I don’t need to know your personal history; I don’t need to know any extenuating circumstances; I don’t need to know what religious faith you belong to. You’re guilty, and so am I. The Bible tells us without equivocation that all have sinned (Romans 3:23). Not one of us has lived up to even our own standards, much less the righteous standards of God’s law and God’s character. That’s the first reason you will need a good attorney.
The second reason is that there is a really sharp prosecutor working on your case. His name is Satan. You may not take the Devil seriously, but I assure you he’s alive and well on planet earth. He wreaks havoc in people’s lives, in relationships, and probably even in international affairs. But some of us may be unaware that he also has access to God’s courtroom, and he’s also trying to wreak havoc there.
In the 12th chapter of the book of Revelation Satan is called “the accuser of the brothers.” In fact, we are told he “accuses them before our God day and night.” He doesn’t even have the decency to wait until we’re dead before leveling his accusations. He is busy right now, pointing out every thought, word and deed that is contrary to God’s law. Unfortunately, he doesn’t even have to make up a lot of the stuff, because most of us have given him plenty of ammunition. Friends, we’re all going to need a really good lawyer to respond to Satan’s attacks.
The third reason is that you can’t represent yourself. Oh, you can try, but as they say, “The one who serves as his own attorney has a fool for a client.” That’s true in any courtroom; how much more when we are standing before the creator of the universe! You may be tempted to think you can successfully plead your case by claiming before God that you’ve done your best, your good deeds outweigh the bad, you stayed active in your faith community, or at least kept your name on the rolls. You may be tempted to plead all the charitable work you have done down through the years, the way you have provided for your family, the strong work ethic you demonstrated.
But I’m sorry, none of that will cut it in God’s courtroom. Why not? Because some of it is a lie and even what’s true is irrelevant. It’s a lie, for example, that you’ve done your best. It just is. And it’s irrelevant if your good deeds happen to outweigh the bad. God doesn’t grade on the curve. He is a holy God who demands absolute righteousness. He can’t tolerate sin in his presence.
Furthermore, even a lot of the good deeds we have done are tainted by the selfish motives behind them. For example, when we give time or money to the needy, is it really because we love the needy or is it because we love the satisfaction we get from helping the needy, or worse yet, because we love being known as someone who helps the needy? I think that’s why God tells us that even our righteous deeds are like filthy rags in His sight.
Well, friend, if you desperately need a lawyer, where are you going to find one good enough to represent you before God’s bar of justice? Even a person of Don’s splendid character and competence couldn’t fulfill that requirement. There’s only One who was good enough and is both able and willing to serve as our attorney. His name is Jesus. Listen to the NT book of 1 John 2:2: “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
Now when it says Jesus will speak to the Father in our defense, it doesn’t mean He will deny the charges Satan levels against us. He won’t even argue that there were extenuating circumstances. In fact, He will agree with the prosecutor that we are guilty, that the wages of sin is death, and that we deserve to be punished. But then He will say to the Judge, “Father,” (and who wouldn’t want an attorney that is related to the Judge?!?), “I died for this defendant. I had no sin of my own, so I took his place. I died on the cross so that this person might have eternal life. He has accepted Me as his Savior, so he is Mine. His name is written in the book of life. This person is not to be given justice, but rather mercy.” And the Judge will strike the desk with His gavel and say, “Not guilty. Case dismissed.”
That same passage in 1 John says in the very next verse, “Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” That almost sounds like everyone is to be forgiven, and that’s what some people seem to think. The German skeptic, Heinrich Heine said on his deathbed, “God will forgive me, that’s His job.” No, it’s not His job, but it is His desire. But He has promised to forgive only those who have retained Jesus as their attorney. Jesus’ sacrifice is sufficient for everyone, but sadly, not everyone has put their faith and trust in Him and received Him as Lord and Savior.
I know it is out of place in this age of tolerance (which so often seems to be tolerant of the wrong things and intolerant of the right things), to claim that Jesus is the key to eternal life, but friends, that’s exactly what the Bible teaches. The greatest teacher of all said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)
You see, Christianity is at the very same time both the most inclusive and the most exclusive faith there is. John 3:36 says, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” –and whoever means whoever. Talk about inclusive! It doesn’t matter who you are, where you came from, what you’ve done, or what you’ve left undone–“whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.” But at the same time it also says, “but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath, His judgment, remains on him.”
Don Hill, in addition to all the other wonderful things said about him today, was a really good Bible teacher. He believed and taught and lived what I am sharing with you today. And the reason his dear wife and sons and family have a peace that passes understanding is because they too believe that Jesus is the source of eternal life. They will miss Don terribly, but they believe beyond the shadow of a doubt that they will see him again. It’s not wishful thinking; it’s trust in the promises of God.
I urge you, too, to place your faith in Jesus Christ. I firmly believe that all who do will spend eternity with Don, and more importantly, with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Prayer. Father, thank you for loving us enough to send your One and Only Son to die for us. Thank you that He is willing to speak in our defense. Thank you for the hope of eternal life that ameliorates the grief this family is experiencing. Thank you for the memories of a dear husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, and friend. In the strong name of Jesus we pray, Amen.