B-A-L-O-N-E-Y |
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Elder
Phillip N. Conley |
A tribute
to Elder Sonny Plyes 2-22-1938 - 11-3-2019
From the dawn of time, there
have been - I suppose - men whose stature and presence is
deemed "larger than life." Such men were some combination of
powerful, influential, colorful, but most of all impacting
to the piece of the world they occupied. Elder Sonny Pyles
was just such a character, and the "world" that he
influenced will likely never know the full effect of what
the Lord blessed him to do and impact during the course of
his life. This tribute is my personal reflection of the man
that I dearly loved, whose passing makes the world a little
lesser without his presence, and to what I believe I owe him
in helping me in my own journey. These reflections are by no
means exhaustive, for a man as colorful as Bro Sonny was
cannot be encapsulated in one piece of writing. The vessel
of wisdom that he was on earth is broken from us, and the
best tribute we - his friends - can give to such a man is to
carry parts of that wisdom with us that we were blessed to
draw out from that vessel over the years.
Whenever I think of Bro Sonny,
so many things spring to mind, not the least of which is how
he referred to something he found ludicrous. "That's a bunch
of baloney: b-a-l-o-n-e-y. I know some of you are out there
saying, 'Doesn't he know it's b-a-l-o-g-n-a?" You can call
it that if you want, but it's nothing more than
b-a-l-o-n-e-y." Springing from a generation of men who were
not afraid to call a spade a spade, one never doubted where
he stood or what he thought. He taught me the value of
saying what you mean and meaning what you say. One of my own
personal mottos sprang from this: "I would rather people
know what I think and disagree with me than wonder whether
they agreed with me or not." And yet, Bro Sonny's blunt
manner was tempered with a measure of discretion not known
in today's shameless culture.
Many times listening to his preaching, I would see him pause
and say, "And that's as far as I'll go in the presence of
women and children." Bluntness in his book was no excuse for
overt crudeness, and these two things working in tandem made
him even more of an oddity in society as the years went on.
The greatest advice I gleaned
from him was a well-worn saying, "Don't try to exercise
influence where you have none." Though I bear the scars of
not heeding that advice over the years, it has saved me on
multiple occasions from bringing undue hardship and pain on
myself. Though not short on giving his opinion, Bro Sonny
was not one to go around the country and indiscriminately
give unsolicited advice. He certainly had built up a great
bit of influence among my family, and his stays in our home
were everything from instructional to riotously hilarious.
He could vacillate between giving you gold nuggets from the
Scriptures mixed with some of the funniest anecdotes about
his times among our people. So many "ditties" were brought
to the table of conversation in our home, and I still
cherish the memories of listening to him and my father talk
about the "Hell Bound Order", "Hell Blown Out", and "Hell
Boiling Over" of HBO, along with the "dope operas" of "Who
Are My Children?" while we search for some "Guiding Light"
drowning in the sands of time waiting for the day "As the
World Burns."
As mentioned earlier, the
reach and influence of this man will likely never be fully
known as his life touched a great many either directly or
tangentially. His ministry positively affected so many, and
the lessons others learned from him were in turn passed down
to others coming after. Much like Paul instructed Timothy,
Bro Sonny took what he knew, committed it to faithful men,
who in turn taught others also. (II Timothy 2:2) My natural
father taught my brother and I much that has blessed us in
the ministry. Many of those teachings came from people like
Bro Sonny. As a young minister, dad said, "Elder Bill Walden
was a father to me in guiding my direction in labor and
pastoral care. Bro Sonny gave me the keys that unlocked
doors of Scripture that I didn't even know existed." Many
ministers have said as much in that systematic study was
encouraged to them by Bro Sonny. I still employ his 4 rules
today: "When trying to figure out what a verse means, you
have to consider 4 things. 1. What do the words mean? If a
verse has words like 'purloining' or 'lasciviousness' in it,
you'll never know what the verse is talking about without
those definitions. 2. What tense is it? It makes a world of
difference if the thought is in the past tense, currently
happening, or yet to come. 3. What is the immediate context?
What is said directly before, directly after, who said it,
and who did they say it to? and 4. How does this fit within
the overall framework of Scripture? Whatever conclusion you
reach from the first three, it can't fly in the face of some
clear teaching somewhere else as the Bible harmonizes
completely. Now, the first 3 can be done in 5 minutes, but
adding the fourth will create a lifetime of study seeing how
things fit together."
One bit of personal influence
that he gave me - likely without ever knowing it - occurred
when I was a teenager. During that period of my life, I
would have been termed a "worry wart." Though many might
think me very cavalier now, I was consumed by worry then. He
delivered a sermon on human emotions that talked of the good
and bad of different emotions and what happened when we
failed to temper them like we should. When dealing with
emotions of anger, fear, and sadness, he talked about what
happened when they led down the path to worry: "Everything
people worry about fits into one of two categories. It is
either something over which they have no control, or it is
something over which they have some control. Don't kid
yourselves folks. Ain't none of ya got full control over
nothin'! Why worry over something you can't control? It's
out of your hands. But, if you worry about things over which
you have some control, the worry will keep you from doing
what you can in that situation. So, in both cases, why
worry? Do what you can when you can, and leave the rest to
the Lord. Just shred your credentials as Master of the
Universe, and bow in submission to Him who is the Master of
the Universe." Those thoughts started me on the path that
freed me from much of the bondage I was being driven to by
worry.
It would be unjust, however,
to say that the man didn't have his foibles. Some of those
foibles made his "color" even more resonant. He was a real
man. Not a demigod with superhuman ability. Through the
years, youngsters - like me at one point - expected that he
put his spurs on everyday, rode his horse to town like John
Wayne, was a quicker draw than anyone in Texas, and could
throw a lasso as far as he could spit his tobacco; the truth
is that for all his "presence" he was a shy person. A dear
sister that I currently pastor told him years ago, "You may
be the most misunderstood person I've ever known." As I grew
from being a youngster, much of the myth I had built about
him dissolved as I understood him better, being a shy person
myself. He put on the clothes of an extrovert, though anyone
that saw him on the farm where he "dwelt among his own
people" could quickly see that he loved solitude, learning,
and walking in the quiet with his God. Because of many of
the myths built around the man that have over time grown
into legend, his hidden talents would surprise you. Being
very compassionate at his core about the Lord's bride, his
grace in individual interaction flew counter to the public
face of the western curmudgeon. Seen often to get up during
song service or absent himself entirely from it, some - like
me - were stunned to learn that he not only could sing but
do it very well. Many kind and personal remarks were given
through the years from him to me, and I will always treasure
the rendition I witnessed him lead of "Rest for the Weary"
coupled with his made-up "Little Bo Peep" to the tune of
"Weeping Sinners" in our living room. His color was as
permanent as the indelible print of a tattoo, while his
spiritual fire was as edifying as any I've had the pleasure
to meet.
Any who heard him preach a
measurable amount will testify that no subject delighted him
more than the resurrection and the 2nd coming of Jesus.
Though not all of his predictions came true, he lived his
life fully expecting to be standing on the earth when the
Lord returned. "I'm not looking for an undertaker but to the
great Uppertaker. Haven't made any arrangements to make a
hole in the ground as I expect to make a hole in the sky."
Regrettably for us, that prediction did not hold, but
delightfully for him, he experiences great gain as his soul
and spirit have made a hole in the sky on the wings of the
great Uppertaker. Soon, his body will be committed to the
ground, and like Job, though skin worms will destroy the
body, yet in his flesh he will see God beholding him with
his own eyes and not another's. (Job 19:26)
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