The giants mentioned in the Bible are never on the side of the good guys.

Take Goliath for example. I can only imagine what it was like to be an Israelite soldier when the giant Philistine from Gath, stepped out and began trash talking the entire army. This huge soldier steps forth and challenges a one-on-one battle with any Israelite warrior. There is fear all around.

It was quite apparent Goliath was not leading the group in singing the camp and fellowship songs, In a Cabin in the Woods or Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree. I don’t think Goliath was gathering the armies together to lead a fellowship drama of Spasm in Three Speeds or The King with the Terrible Temper.  I do know, had Goliath been leading fun activities, he wouldn’t have “lost his head” with his ultimate foe, David.

When the twelve spies made a report to Moses and the Israelites on the Promised Land exploration trip, ten of the spies said the people were giants. They felt the Israelites were like grasshoppers in comparison. Only Joshua and Caleb thought God could deliver the giants to the Israelites. The people listened to the ten and once again, fear spread throughout the nation.

I wonder what response the ten spies might have had if they had seen the giants setting up numerous basketball camps to help children learn about God. The response would have been different had the giants given a portion of their lives to organize craft classes, puppet teams, banquets, league sports, and senior-adult trips to help others use their gifts to glorify God. The spies might have felt more welcome if the giants had greeted them as if they were rookies at their first church recreation conference. Can you imagine how a new recreation minister or Israelite would feel if the giants had treated them like a peer rather than a rookie?

King Og of Bashan and King Sihon of Heshbon may have been some of the giants the spies observed. In Deuteronomy 3 Moses points out that Og’s bed was long enough for a thirteen-foot tall man. Both of those giant kings tried to slow down the Israelites on their pursuit of the Promised Land only to fall “short.”

It would have made an interesting story if those kings had been putting teams of teenagers together to teach people about God on a variety of mission endeavors. How would the story change if those giants had organized day camps for young children and overnight camps for older children, middle school kids, and high school students? Biblical history would have had an entirely different outlook.

I mention all those alternatives for the giants to perform because I knew a giant that did all of those things. I met this giant during my sophomore year of high school. The following summer he took our youth group to an encampment in Glorieta, New Mexico for “Rec Week.” It was during this experience that I first felt like God wanted me to pursue a career in ministry leadership. That same summer this giant recruited me to work in the first of four day camps and the first of two children’s camps as a counselor. The following summer the giant took the youth group on our first mission trip where we performed as a choir and led a children’s camp for children in northern Nevada.

Two years later, I joined the giant’s staff in operating a recreation center he led the church in building. I worked with the giant through the remainder of my college years. The giant’s leadership took me to my first three “Rec Lab” workshops held by the Southern Baptist Convention for recreation ministers. I observed other rookie recreators at these workshops being sought out by this giant to the point they felt like they were a peer of this giant. Even after beginning my seminary years and the first few years as a minister on a church staff, I tied my identity in being one of the giant’s kids.

Throughout my career, the giant remained my mentor and friend. When my ministry leadership career ended with the revelation of hidden sin, the giant was still as loving as ever and continued to believe in me, and in how God could still use me. When God restored me to a level of leadership with a teaching position at the University of Mississippi, the giant rejoiced. Although, being a Mississippi State Bulldog during his college days, he lamented a bit that I had to teach at, as Bulldogs refer to it, “that school up north.”

During a trip through Missouri a couple of weeks ago, I took the opportunity to visit the giant while he was in the hospital. His heart was wearing out due to seventy-five years of pumping blood through what he called his five-foot nineteen-inch body. Even though he was hurting physically and emotionally facing near death, his concern was for how I was doing. Even to the end, the giant was serving God in serving those that served him. I believed Bobby was not going into hospice care because he needed their services, but that God placed him there because hospice personnel needed to see Jesus in him. I have no doubt he influenced and loved them until God called him home.

The morning of September 3, the giant, Bobby Shows, passed away and is now enjoying the glory of heaven. I have no doubt, Moses, Joshua, Caleb, and David was glad to see a giant that didn’t want to kill them. I also imagine that several people, influenced by Bobby in their life, and preceded him in death were at the gates of Heaven to welcome him to an eternity with Jesus.

Those of us that have been influenced by this great giant continue to minister and influence others in our lives. Bobby used to talk about how one life reached for Christ would touch others causing a ripple effect of ministry. The Israelites said King Saul slew his thousands and David, the giant-killer, his tens of thousands. Forever we can declare that Bobby Shows, with the ripple effects of his ministry, has ministered to his hundreds of thousands.

Goodbye, for now, my giant friend. I will see you later.