A Memorial Celebration for David Clapper

This last few weeks we’ve been working through the death of our friend Dav Clapper; dad, husband and missionary pilot.  I’ve been drawn back to Holly Miller and Jon Barr’s deaths.  In all three cases God seems to take the best.
My brother said that Holly was the most ready to enter heaven of any from that group. Holly loved cross culturally so well, she lived so many of the fruits of the spirit and had committed her life to missions but it all seemed to be cut too short by snake bite in Sumba. 
Of all our students Jon Barr was the one I resonated most with.  A daring MK who loved God like crazy and had a huge heart in a little athletic body.  His compassion for the poor and lost was truly a passion and although I was twice his age I saw much in him that had surpassed me.  My dreams of how God would use him ended in a terribly painful and young death.
Dav Clapper was only a few years older than me, just passed half way it would seem.  One of my first memories of Dav was when he and Beth and the 5 kids came to stay in Pyramid for a break from the sweaty jungle lowlands.  Elisa is a fixture in Pyramid.  Mentally handicapped with a terrible limp and permanent leering smile.  I have never seen him without 2 gnarly green streams of snot on his lip.  His annual bath never seems to really do the trick and his mouth full of rotting teeth produces a constant stream of saliva.  Elisa drove me crazy.  A number of times I renewed my salvation as I would be washing the dishes at night and look up to see his snotty face pressed against the window scaring the sin out of me.  Working on the car or in the shop he shadowed me until I would draw a line and make him stay on one side of it cause his snot/smell combo made me gag.  Every time a plane landed Elisa was there and every guest was his favorite friend.  Many visitors to Pyramid can tell stories of trying to fend Elisa off.  The whole time the Clappers stayed, Elisa was a faithful sentry outside the door waiting for Dav to emerge so that he could get his big bear hug.  Dav wasn’t put off by Elisa’s smell or snot.  Instead he was like Jesus and repeatedly hugged him giving Elisa the love and affection he was starving for, which I, and others who were his neighbors, weren’t providing.
 
Dav had an ability in a land of caste and segregation to treat a mentally retarded highland guy with dignity in the same way he treated the highest government official or westerner. There are so many positive things to say about Dav as a father, a husband, a man of integrity and someone who had a passion to serve. In his 10plus years here he accomplished more than most missionaries will accomplish in a lifetime because of how he lived.  He was one of those people who was both task and people oriented and he got more work done than any 2 men and at the same time connected in a real and meaningful way with those he touched each day.  As we have grieved Dav’s death the thot has come that he had 20 more years to serve that were wasted.
But we have realized we are seeing things differently than God.  Dav dove into everything 120% totally committed and we all worried about him.  A plane that flies dawn to dusk going into the toughest strips hauling live pigs and nasty loading that is the most important to the people will be more banged up and worn out than one that sits in the hanger most of it’s life.  To say this is irresponsible or wasteful has more to do with our western value of hoarding disguised as stewardship than it does with a Biblical truth.  In terms of impact for the Kingdom the waves are continuing to ripple out.  Dav didn’t get worn our from too many coatings of polish while parked in the hanger taking no risks while carefully hoarding his years.  He truly lived and served and impacted in his 40 some years more than most people will ever do in a lifetime. None of us were surprised when he went cause we all saw how he lived.  As Beth said, “he died with his boots on doing what he loved to do.”  
Being honest with my own corrupt heart I have to say that although I am not actively plotting anyone’s death, I’d be real happy for some people that I know to go be with Jesus just as soon as possible.  But Dav was on the top of my list, along with Holly and Jon, of people who I wanted on the team to stay around and change this messed up place. 
So why is it that God seems to take the guy who is running his heart out, scoring goals and playing great defense and pull him out of the game? 
Why would God take a guy like Dav who treated the people he encountered with dignity and equality in a land of status?  Dav laughed, joked, hugged, cared, got mad and then went and apologized cause he was intensely human and viewed other humans as human, kinda like what Jesus did.  So many of us westerners can’t seem to engage those around us as humans, but Dav did.  Dav was a guy whose sleeves where always rolled up cause he was working and he frustrated those of position cause as he raced around serving every day he raised up the poor and the weak and embraced the Elisa’s.  He didn’t have the “poor you compassion” attitude but exuded the “come on man, you are made of the same stuff as me, we can do this thing” equality. But in living this he undermined the elite, he blurred the clearly drawn lines that make everyone feel comfortable and safe.  Why would God take a guy who was threatening the status system when He could have taken someone that was reinforcing the unjust and oppressive structure?
Why would God take a guy like Dav who was an awesome example of a loving husband and dedicated father in a land where the biggest problem is messed up families?  Why would God take a guy who wanted to be part of a national training and discipleship program in a land where almost nobody believes a Papuan can be a pilot and we are in desperate need of a Jackie Robinson, a Ghandi, a Mandela who will break the prejudice barrier that forms the beliefs that hold a whole group of people down?
Why would God take a guy like Dav who had been rejected by many in the mission community but responded in love and forgiveness in a land reeling from tribalism, revenge and divisions?  We all needed his example.
Maybe that is it… maybe God has to take the one who is living closest to His heart in a specific place and time so that the rest of us will wake up?  Maybe that is God’s way to get the rest of us to step up like we should?  Or maybe it is the firstfruits idea… God gets the best and the rest of us get more time to practice?  I know through Holly’s death we had more students commit their lives to missions than any other time.  I know Jon Barr’s death got a whole bunch of people serious about God and serving Him with their lives and I know both had a huge impact on our lives, greater than any other students.  Maybe God works best through death?
I am not saying Dav, Holly and Jon were perfect cause those of us who knew them knew they weren’t… I am simply asking myself why the heck does the coach pull out one of the best players we’ve got and put him on the bench when we’ve got that lazy guy up front and the cocky guy who won’t play defense and the guy who can’t keep his mind of the girls in the stands and then this critical guy who is attacking all the other players…. the list goes on.  If I were coach I’d pull any one of the other 10 players before I’d pull the one God seems to pull out.  God has never seemed very willing to do stuff my way and I am looking forward to an explanation cause His way sure seems messed up to me.  However, I do think He is God for a pretty good reason and I am not running for office. 
I see the impact of a Dav’s life and now His death and most of all I am reminded of 3 short but incredibly powerful years of ministry of God’s own son ending in a terrible death that so many thot was a waste.  If He didn’t extend that visa why should we ask for more time on ours?  How many years we live is probably about as important to God as how much money we have in the bank.  I think it is a whole lot more about how we use what we got than how long we hold onto it, contrary to our western heresy of stewardship which is reinforced with our two greatest pious pillars of self; security and safety.  In the mission aviation world now I see awards, praise and even financial bonuses given for safety but I haven’t yet seen a prize for hugging Elisa and treating people with dignity.  I am not opposed to the emphasis on safety, just wondering about who is really the MVP in God’s eyes?  I haven’t seen a prize given for talking with a local pastor about his marriage problems and being Christ to a tourist.  We easily get focused on the temporal and forget the eternal.  I wonder if Dave didn’t push himself harder and take more risks because he was so aggravated by what he saw as things being way out of balance and us losing our vision and purpose?  Maybe we played a role in pushing him to an extreme instead of embracing him?  Where we really the Body in respecting the strengths, vision and heart that he brought to the table in a era that doesn’t really value those things so much anymore?  Our generation has lost a man who didn’t buy into the self preservation theology of our day but lived the vision of an earlier era where self, safety, and security didn’t hold such a strong place in the game.  Dave was cut from the cloth of Pablo Pontier, Steve saint and the other pioneer pilots.  There is still a role for those with the pioneering gifts in The Body although some of our missions management will only embrace them in death and some of those only as the opportunity for fund raising.  In Papua everyone claims the dead and even fights over the body and gives long speeches about their love for the deceased but what we do while we live is the only thing of importance.
In the Narnia story one of the kids asks about aslan and says “Is he safe?” and the answer is  “Of course he is not safe, but he is good.”  Serving God anywhere in the world will never be safe because God isn’t safe but He is incredibly good.  When our focus shifts from serving a Wild God to our own safety we sideline ourselves from involvement in His world.  are our neighbors and those we encounter experiencing Jesus in us or are they hopeless, drunken, angry, resentful and confirmed in their belief of their worthlessness that the system preaches? 
These are the questions that Heidi and I are asking ourselves as we process Dave’s death.
Heidi and I give our tribute by committing to live fully engaged, fully human and going in 120%.  We realize that this is not our home and if we enter eternity through the door of snakebite, electrocution, planecrash or anything else ole Peter isn’t going to ask us how old we are or how much we’ve got in our bank account. 
Dav got the greatest prize and the second prize will be a whole line of friends who come walking through that gate over the next years.  I know what kind of greeting Elisa is gonna get. 
 
from us 4 in Broke-on-dini.