Hal Molloy Memorial
Bob Eckel · Dec 9, 2006
Specials
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926010392186

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

The End you I love you. you you you you you you so so Good morning, everybody. Thanks for being here today. You know why we're all gathered here today is to really celebrate Hal's life. And I would say up front to you that it would be Hal's particular emphasis today for this not to be about Hal. But that's why we're here. Hal would want all of the glory today to go to the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's just kind of lay that as our foundation for the gathering today in terms of all that's said and shared, one with the other, as we consider the life of Hal Malloy.

Hal was born into this earth on May the 21st, 1934, and went home to be with the Lord on November the 16th of this year. My late wife used to have a sign on her refrigerator that said, Earth is just our business address. Heaven is our home. So on behalf of the Malloy family who's seated to my right, I want to welcome everyone here. Many of you have come from really long distances. And that really reflects, I think, the fact that Hal is a very special person. And those who knew Hal and his family really were blessed in so many ways by his presence in our life. And that's what we're here to really recognize today.

So who am I? I'm Bob Eccle, and I'm neither qualified nor experienced in this role that I'm carrying out today. But let me reflect on a sequence of events that occurred a number of years ago that really relates to my presence on the podium today. Shortly after I lost my wife and mother of my five children in the spring of 1994, my family at that point was kind of home-churching and really didn't have a church home.

And Mike Doyle, who you're going to meet and hear from shortly, and Margaret Scarborough at the time, a dear friend of our family, who now is my wife, ultimately encouraged me to go meet Hal Malloy, that there were some neat things happening at Holly Hills Bible, and that Hal was a very special person, and that perhaps in this period of increasing complexity in terms of a family, and Sharon's homegoing, and a complex job situation, that maybe there might be some wisdom there that could be shared.

Well, that wisdom's never ceased. So at the time of my first meeting with Hal Molloy in the fall of 1994, and subsequently, our friendship has become very, very, very, very close. And it's been a very special relationship I've had with Hal Molloy. Now, subsequent to that event, and Doyle and I were reflecting on this a little bit earlier this morning, we had a luncheon. This may have been a year, a year and a half after my initial meeting Hal Molloy. And at that luncheon, we're just kind of fellowshipping around the Lord Jesus Christ, as we so often did.

And we had a lot of things to reflect on that day. And one thing that came up was the fact that ultimately, I think I was talking about Sharon's home going again at that point, which still was a preoccupying part of my life. And I've had a chronic illness that's been with me almost all my life that really would have predicted my not being here. in this body today.

But nevertheless, the Lord sustained me because I think he's got a lot of lessons for me to learn yet. But anyway, reflecting on kind of what was going to be happening down the road, I asked Hal that day whether he'd be willing to honor me by doing my ceremonial service, such as today. And he, of course, agreed. And then apparently, and I don't have any good recollection of this, Hal claims that he, at that point, asked me if I'd be willing to moderate his service.

And I must have had Alzheimer's already setting in at that point because I have no remembrance of this. But let me tell you how this ultimately came to be in terms of my presence up here today. Throughout the last nine months, Hal's really, I think, demonstrated to us so much the great truths of identification.

And the identification truths really reflect, I think, Roman's teaching, but really extends to every passage of New Testament life directly or indirectly in terms of that life that we have here on this earth to live. And the concept there is that we're crucified with Christ, we're buried with him, and resurrected with him in newness of life. And that life is lived from above. in a different person, and that's the new man that we all are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Part of that existence really reflects this idea of the earthly existence being our business address and heaven being our home. And part of the teaching that goes along with that, that's very rightly dividing the word of truth, is the fact through the trials and tribulations that we all face in this life, ultimately as we reflect on our heavenly position, these trials begin to be used as ways to conform us to the image of his son. So Howe reflected that so often in his life, his faith being so strong, and that great grace that extends from the right hand of God being manifested in his life in so many ways that many who knew him could witness on a continuous manner. But here's Howe then.

I remember, Margaret, we were playing bridge with Molloy's, and Howe was complaining about some issues related to what proved to be a viral infection that really wasn't healing. And he was seeking advice from friends and others and ultimately sought out medical, you know, examination and consideration and ultimately very soon thereafter was diagnosed with having leukemia. And leukemia is a disorder in which often viral infections occur and are more long lasting.

And so this began kind of the last eight, nine months of Hal's life. And so here is one of these trials, these tribulations that he taught so often are important in bringing us into a new understanding of what the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ is all about. So Hal, through these series of months in the hospital and out, continued to maintain an atmosphere of rest and peace through a very difficult time. I think repeatedly demonstrated that to his family and to his friends and to the body of believers at Holly Hills Bible Church and beyond. So here we are getting kind of, you know, moving on in time, getting into the last month or so.

And it was clear at that point that there were very few, if any, options left for how medically. And so at that point, I think Hal and Lindy and the family just kind of accepted that this was God's timing. Matt was home and with the family and everyone at that point, I think, was accepting the fact that God had really recognized the weeks ahead to be really the time that ultimately Hal would be saying goodbye to us here for a time. And so Margaret and Lindy and I had really fellowshiped together many times around the bridge table. wanted to make sure we at least got one last game in. So here we're over at the Malloy's house.

This is about 10 days before his homegoing. And after a very lovely dinner, and thank you everybody, some of you provided the food for that evening meal that evening, we went to the bridge table. Here's Hal with about 50 foot of plastic nasal cannula, which was connected to an oxygen tank probably three rooms away. And he's kind of you know, getting through the living room over to the bridge table. And before he sits down at the bridge table, he picks up this written note.

And in his typical scribbling, which really wasn't terribly legible, it had the order of today's service. And he had me here before you right now in the role that I'm currently demonstrating before you. And I said, Hal, what's this all about? He said, well, you don't remember that luncheon very well, do you? And I said, what luncheon? So I recall the luncheon some, but I certainly didn't remember this commitment that I theoretically had made to Hal about being here this evening.

Just to reflect a moment on that last four hands of bridge that we played. Now, I'm not going to teach a bridge here today, but I'm going to tell you that it's a game that ultimately the Malloys always won at. So Margaret and I were the ultimate losers, and we got to a position of accepting that role.

But here, the first, we played Chicago Bridge, which each hand is unto itself. You don't play rubber bridge, but you play each hand unto itself. So the first three hands, Hal and Lindy bid game. And Hal played all three hands, and he made game all three hands. And that's pretty unusual to have three game bids right in a row like this.

But as Hal ultimately probably didn't know, but I think it's just part of his nature, the last hand they bid game again, and Margaret and I set them by one trick. And subconsciously, I think Hal was just trying to reflect that ultimate grace, hospitality, and diplomacy that was all of Hal Beloy in allowing us to get the last trick.

So we continued to communicate over the next week, week and a half. I was out of town much of that time, but yet those were very special phone calls with Hal Malloy. And I think again, during his illness, there were so many opportunities for Hal to be a witness for the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to share with you briefly just one. Hal shared with me a visit from a clinical psychologist who was actually there to ultimately meet some of his his social and spiritual needs in terms of a patient who was maybe not looking forward optimistically to what might follow. And the way he revealed the story, after about an hour in the room with Hal, ultimately, rather than her being the psychologist and the provider of comfort, she left the recipient rather than the provider.

And I think how Malloy, by his well-founded and experienced faith in biblical truth about what these trials and tribulations are all about, I think has reflected that to so many people and really used his terminal illness to allow God's glory and God's great grace to be manifested to many of us. So with this homegoing here, I want to make sure that we recognize that today is celebration. and a celebration to the fact that that knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ is totally complete in Hal Malloy.

And he's really doing much better than any of us here right now. So what I'd like to do at this point is begin a series of passages that I will read, Mike will read, and Vern will read that were some of Hal's favorite verses. So the first passage I'm going to share with you today is one that was, and ultimately has been, a very important series of verses, particularly the last two to me, to Hal, and to many others who have known Hal over the years. I'm reading from the King James Version of 2 Corinthians chapter 4, beginning at verse 14.

Knowing that he who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus. and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes that the abundant grace might, through the thanksgiving of many, redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, which works in as a far more exceeding and eternal way to glory. While we look not at the things which are seen, but the things that are unseen, for the things that are seen are temporal and the things not seen are eternal. Good morning.

I'm Vern Peterman will be standing together to sing a hymn, which you may have either from the words in the overhead, or you can use the hymn book if it's available and you prefer. This is a hymn, hymn number 67 in the hymnal, which Hal would only jokingly volunteer to sing for us, but he did specifically request that we sing it together. And so we're going to ask that we do that here this morning. So stand, if you would, either from the overhead or from the hymnal. And let's sing this together, Looking to the Lord.

The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair bow down with care. Reconciled and pardoned from his sin. O love of God, how rich and pure, How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure The saints' and angels' song. When years of time shall pass away, And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall, When men who hear refuse to pray, On rocks and hills and mountains call, God loves so sure, shall still endure, All measureless and strong. To add a phrase, the saints' and angels' song. The good of God are rich and pure, Are measureless and strong. Nevermore endure the saints' and angels' song.

Could we with ink the ocean spill? And were the skies a parchment made? Were every stalk on earth a quill, and every stride? Time by trade, to ride the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry, nor could the stroke again the whole, or stretch from sky to sky. But the love of God, how rich and pure, How measureless and strong, It shall forevermore endure The saints' and angels' song.

I know that as Hal requested that, and I heard him personally ask for it, I know on a number of occasions he was just simply overwhelmed, as he should be, with the love of God. And so that's why he, as you see the words of the song, if we, with ink, the ocean spilled, if we had from sky to sky a scroll, it would not begin to describe it. My name is Mike Doyle, and I know why Hal remembered that lunch and Bob didn't. Because Hal paid.

My verse is 2 Corinthians 3.18, which is actually, it's almost like Hal would When he designed this home-going celebration, he would give each one of us a verse that happened to be our favorites, too. Mine is my favorite verse, and it goes like this.

But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass or mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And I can remember years ago, one Sunday, how Todd, on this verse, he spent an entire 45 minutes on the word beholding. And I remember him talking about how important it was for believers to recognize that they have not only a privilege, but an opportunity to, even while we're still here, to behold the very glory of the Lord Jesus through his word.

And so it turns out that it kind of is the catalyst that made Hal Malloy the kind of man that he was. So in a few minutes, I'm going to talk about some of the highlights of Hal's life. And I think you'll be able to see visibly the steady change in a man's life who is beholding the glory of the Lord. And we might inquire, how is this change accomplished in a man's life?

And how was it accomplished and how? So I think this verse gives the answer. While on the one hand, the Lord Jesus in glory is the model to which we are to be conformed, beholding him there is, on the other hand, the instrumentality in the power of the Spirit by which it affects us. It's really pretty simple. We behold and are changed, changed into the same image from glory to glory.

Now, as Bob mentioned, Hal was born on May 21st in 1934 in the Bronx in New York, in the middle of a depression to an Irish and Hungarian parents. And what his mother said was a nice day. He played lots of baseball and football and early in his life he had a love for bicycles. He was also pretty ambitious and he'd go to the supermarkets on Saturday and he'd ask people if they needed help with their groceries and he would often get a quarter for his efforts and he saved his money and he bought a Peugeot bicycle and a long-jeans wristwatch which he wore his whole life.

By age 13, he was working in a deli, making sandwiches and putting together deli trays. But he quickly saw that the real money was in delivering deer, door to door. Soon, Harry, and by the way, that's what his name was, everybody knew him as Harry, did the work of four men. He replaced the other three guys that were delivering. worked really hard. And he went to his boss one day, Charlie, and he said, Charlie, I'm doing the work of four guys, and I've cut your overhead by three quarters. You need to give me a raise. And Charlie said, no way. I can't give you a raise. I can't afford it. You know, the freezer's leaking and the pipes are leaking.

And so they went back and forth and finally Hal said, well, if you don't give me a raise, I'm going to have to quit. And he said, well, Charlie insisted that he stay and work, but you know what? Hal quit. And soon enough, Charlie saw the errors of his ways, and he hired him back with a raise. Well, that scenario happened every year. Harry would go ask for a raise, Charlie would say no way. Harry would quit, and Charlie would hire him back with a raise.

Schoolwork, too, was not one of his fortes, but he had a buddy named Kirk. who was really a whiz kid in math, and they would study together. And the high school teacher noticed that this Kirk really had some talent and he had a lot of potential. But he knew that Kirk wouldn't go to college unless his buddy Hal was motivated to go too. So the teacher challenged both of them together saying, look, Why don't you go take the entrance exam at the City College of New York, which has an excellent engineering program?"

And so they did, and both guys passed, and both got in, and both graduated with engineering degrees. Kirk went on to get a PhD from Stanford University, and he was an illustrious career in the aerospace industry. But after he graduated and had a bachelor's degree in engineering, He was hired by IBM as an electrical engineer, and he traveled a lot, and especially to Florida on business trips, and he loved the warm weather.

And he longed to see more of the country and also to get out of New York. Gee, I don't know why you'd want to leave New York. But an opportunity arose where he could take a job with Hughes Aircraft, in California and being involved in the development of the burgeoning space program. And so off to Los Angeles he went and moved into a place near Hollywood.

And kind of a side story, every once in a while Verne Peterman has a great sense of humor. He'd put an overhead up in our church with the head of Hal Malloy in the body of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Well, there's a lot of truth in that because Hal used to work out at Muscle Beach in California and he was a bodybuilder. So, in the 1950s and on the weekends, by the way, this is the part of the story before the transformation into the glory of the Lord.

On the weekends, he'd go to Las Vegas just to hang out. No, he'd go to Las Vegas to gamble and he loved smoking cigars. I ought to tell the cigar story, don't you think? Roger told me that when the Bay of Pigs happened, that Hal decided that, or thought, oh my goodness, my supply of cigars is going to be gone. So he took the afternoon off and went all over Los Angeles and bought every Cuban cigar he could find.

So he was involved in developing aircraft radios and he developed one on his own. And it was injected with a foam substance that made it kind of state of the art for the time so that it wouldn't vibrate. But unfortunately, during the patent process, somebody stole his invention, and he thought he was going to be really clever, and he built this thing so that if you opened it up and got inside and investigated, it would explode or melt down or something. But the competitor managed to do it, get inside of it, reproduce it and put it on the market way before Hal could.

So Hal found himself one day with a whole bunch of radios and no clients. So he went to Mexico on a clandestine mission, met with the Mexican government, and he sold the radios for 40 cents on the dollar to them. And you know what? If you've ever flown on a Mexican airliner, probably one of his radios is in that airplane. And there's still one that works at the Malloy household that Matt used to spend his time listening to air traffic control transmissions in the skies over Parker. So anyway, so Hal had to keep his job at Hughes, but there was something missing in his life.

He went over to a friend's apartment one day, and he saw this beautiful girl sitting by the pool, reading a book and sunning herself, and he thought, she must be a starlet, because only Hollywood starlets can be sitting by the pool during the day. What he didn't know that Mavis Linfors was a nurse that just showed up sometime earlier from South Dakota, North Dakota. North Dakota nursing school, and she worked at nights on the surgery staff at UCLA Hospital.

He was smitten. But now, he didn't really know what to do and how to approach such a beautiful girl, so a buddy of his was invited to her birthday party, and so he tagged along. Lindy, their first meeting wasn't all that terrific because Lindy wanted to know what he was doing there. He wasn't invited. She didn't know him, you know.

But you know, Hal wasn't a quitter, so he stayed with it and began to win her heart. But she wasn't so sure about him because he was from New York, you know. Once, at Valentine's Day, he bought her a gift and had it wrapped nicely and had it, I think, visible in the car. And she didn't want to have anything to do with it because she thought it might be an engagement ring. And she wasn't going there.

Turned out that it wasn't, that it was a necklace of some earrings. But eventually, you know, he won her heart. And he called her by her nickname, Lindy. And they were married on April 28th in 1962, 44 and a half years ago. And they have four children and seven grandchildren. I'm going to name them. There's Lisa, Matthew, Andrew, and Daniel. There's Brandon, Trevor, Ellery Bain, Rachel, Rebecca, Hannah, and Sarah Malloy.

Now, HAL did well at Hughes Aircraft. They had answered the call from John Kennedy to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. And he was on the team that built the TV cameras for the Surveyor spacecraft, which was to be the first soft landing on the moon.

And he was involved in the development of what was known as end-to-end testing. which was a procedure where they went through and tested the entire spacecraft before they would launch it just to make sure everything worked. It was a simulation kind of a thing. And one, they tested the rocket engines for three days and discovered that if they hadn't have done that, the spacecraft would have run out of fuel before it got to the moon. And he was involved in developing that testing. Their original calculations would have been faulty. And then he met a man there who actually didn't meet him.

It turned out this man was his boss, a man named Lyle Stokes. And he was a man that really bothered Hal. And the reason he bothered him was because this guy kept giving the credit to everything that happened positive in his life to the Lord. And Hal was nervous about that.

And he brought his Bible to work every day. Can you imagine that? He was a scientist, Hal was a scientist and an atheist at the same time, and he didn't see anything scientific about believing in God. He'd been a churchgoer while he was growing up, but he didn't believe God was real.

And when the generals and the higher-ups would come from Washington to look at the progress that Hughes Aircraft was making, he noticed that Lyle Stokes would stand in the background, even though he was the project manager, And he would let all the other workers take credit for the magnificent piece of work that they were doing.

Now, and Hal probably, this next story, Hal told a lot, and it was indicative of does science coincide with what the Word of God says. Scientists had been measuring the dust falling from the earth from micrometeors and knew that the surface of the moon would be a good laboratory for testing that because there weren't any winds, there wasn't any climate changes, and so they thought that over the, if the earth or the creation was millions of years old, there should be about 30 feet of dust on the moon. And when the surveyor successfully landed on the moon on June 2nd, 1966, it only measured about three inches, which from Hal's perspective now would say, well, maybe creation or the earth and the moon are only around 10,000 years old, based on this scientific formula. But the cameras that Hal developed, or helped develop, was used to measure this dust. And Hal would use this example many times in his life.

One morning, while working in the testing lab, he began to think and marvel about this spacecraft that they had developed that was going to go to the moon. And it was really a wonder. And it was going to go there and it was going to transmit back to the earth all this data. And every detail of it was designed, fastened together, calibrated to the nth degree. But then his thoughts came upon him. Well, we assembled the quartz and the aluminum and the copper and the other elements that went into it. And other men went and mined the materials that came out of the ground. And all the materials came from the earth. And all they really did was reconstitute everything to build it. Where did all this come from? And who put all of those minerals and all those materials in there?

Well, back to our friend Lyle Stokes. He was a really smart guy, and he believed that the Bible could be scientific, and that was really baffling to Hal. And this man was a genuine person. who had moral character and he wasn't a hypocrite. That also baffled Hal. He wasn't ashamed to say he was a Christian.

So after years of subtle prodding, Hal finally went to hear J. Vernon McGee at the Church of the Open Door in downtown Los Angeles. And he was impressed, and he began to listen to the Through the Bible radio program every day going to and from work. And one day, some years later, driving down the Santa Monica freeway, Hal put his faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Not an event that you'd ever imagine would bring about so many life-changing events as it did, but the power behind that decision was awesome. His faith deepened and he searched for answers to his many questions, which eventually led him to take seminary classes, study the scriptures in their own original languages of Greek and Hebrew. At this time, he also began to teach youth groups in California. And then he took a position with Hughes Aircraft that moved him to Denver.

And he one day attended Holly Hills Bible Church. He was so impressed with the teaching there that he immediately drove home, ran in the house and said, Lindy, I have, and Lindy was home with the baby, Lindy, I have found a church that teaches the truth.

And Lindy said, where are the children? He was so enthralled by what he said, he left the kids a church. So thankfully the kids were given lunch by a family at the church, the Kennedys. They lived nearby and Hal was off the hook for forgetting the kids at church.

He developed a love for dissecting Bible verses to find the answers to all of his biblical questions and by this time questions that other people were asking him. And he began to do things like sentence diagramming the original language in Greek. And he began to teach Bible studies and counsel people. Then in 1993, he retired from Hughes Aircraft, and he was asked at that time to become the pastor of Holly Hills Bible Church. He accepted with honor and pastored the church for seven years. After retiring as pastor, he continued to teach and counsel people until his death from leukemia.

Now, his favorite sports were racquetball and road bike riding. And he rode the Rag Bride, which is a ride across Iowa. He did the Ride the Rockies 12 times. He rode through parts of France on three different occasions. He rode the Natchez Trail the length of Florida and through the San Juan Islands in Washington State. He really loved Colorado, and he loved skiing and backpacking. He led a lot of youth groups from church into the wilderness and backpacking to share his love for the wilderness and for the Lord.

As a matter of fact, in the early 90s, when Bob talked about my talking to him about some neat things happening in Holly Hills Bible Church, I was getting to know how. And I was helping him teach once in a while, and you know, all of this street savvy that he learned in New York served him well later, because he sort of wooed me along.

And then one day he said, I need you to help me. I said, sure, whatever you need, Hal. I'd be glad. He said, well, I've got to go on this Ride the Rockies bike ride, and it starts on a Sunday and ends on a Saturday, and I need somebody to preach for me. That's, you know, you talk about getting weak in the knees in a hurry. I said, you don't mean me, do you? He said, yeah, I do. I said, OK. So he was that kind of a man. He can invite you to do something that was very scary, but he'd give you the confidence to continue on with it and to grow in it because he had to go ride his bike.

You know, he never stopped praising and talking about his Lord and Savior. And you might be a recipient if you happen to be a seatmate of his on an airplane, or if you happen to be sitting next to him at an event, or if you were a doctor or a nurse on his floor in the hospital, and you heard about the complete acceptance and thankfulness for his trial of leukemia, and you knew that he knew where he was going. His legacy is embodied in how he lived his life abiding in Christ. so fully and letting Christ live his life through him to such a degree, complete degree, that his family and his friends and strangers could see the grace and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ really clear in him. If Hal comforted people in their trials and sufferings, if he gave wise advice, if he gave hope and encouragement to others, if he taught others well, it was only God working in him that accomplished those things. He liked to say often in the last months that he was only an ambassador representing his home country. Heaven, as he slipped into unconsciousness and breathed his last breaths, he began to walk under the sheets. And we imagine, his family imagine who were there, that his Savior had come to him and to walk with him side by side home.

My name is Roger Henderson and I want to share a few things with you about Hal and actually I'd also like to share I think Mike mentioned the fact that Hal liked to dissect Bible verses, and we're going to do a little dissection here. Hopefully not too laborious, but just a little bit to give you a flavor for what Hal would do with the Bible verse, and it was so instructive to me in the time I spent with Hal.

But let's kind of go back to the 1970s. I came out from Los Angeles with Hughes Aircraft Company, and so did Hal. But at that time, I wasn't a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. And Hal was kind of, he was kind of a person I wanted to kind of keep a distance from because he had, he had Bible studies at work and he had them in this conference room. And we went to that conference room. They actually opened these Bibles up and they read from them and they prayed in there.

And that was, that was, that was almost offensive to me because I didn't, I didn't know about Jesus Christ. I didn't know the wonderful love that he had for me. So for those many years, the 1970s, I, arm's length, don't get too close to that conference room, and don't get too close to Hal, because he might tell me about God. I didn't want to know about that.

But my life changed dramatically. And actually, not because of Hal, because of the Lord. I had an opportunity to go overseas to England in the 1980s. I met the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior. And when I returned in about 1984, Here was Hal Malloy, this enemy, so to speak. Now he was a brother in the Lord. Now he was a counselor, a wise teacher. And I learned so much in the years since 1984 with Hal in many different scenarios, at work, in church, at home Bible studies, in just a variety of ways. And it always was just incredible. And one thing I'd like to share, we met with Hal a couple of weeks before the Lord took him home, and he talked with Mike and with Vern and myself, and he said, I want you to read some verses for me.

And he gave us each a verse, and I have Galatians 2.20, which I want to read here shortly.

And he said, but just don't read it. He said, just don't read that verse. Tell him about that verse. Tell him what that means. You know, it's just reading the verse is part of it, but tell him what it means. part of what Hal's passion was to precisely and accurately and God-honorably to dissect God's Word and to show us the truths that are there. So I'd like to read the verse that he gave to me a couple weeks ago.

And it's one of my favorite verses, Galatians 2.20. And I'll read for the King James. It says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." So this is a tremendous verse.

And actually, I think Hal spent, and I wasn't there at the time period of Holly Hills, he spent months, maybe four, five, six months on this one verse. And he just went through and dissected every part and connected it with just tons of other scriptures. So I'm just going to take the very first part. And I went back and looked at a study he did in the mid-90s. And I'm going to share some of those observations. Well, the first part, I am crucified with Christ. That's the first statement in that verse.

And so you're saying, well, what does that mean, I'm crucified with Christ? And Howe would share, he would say, you know, God isn't asking you to be crucified, to go up on a cross. He's telling you something about who you are, what you have in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's telling you that you are crucified with him. When Christ was crucified, you were crucified.

So that raises a bunch of questions. And Hal just loved this. Well, here's some questions that he would ask. Who is crucified? How was I crucified? Why was I crucified? So I'd like to answer some of those questions or answer them as Hal would do it. The first one, who is crucified?

Well, if you think about it, we're all related to Adam. We have one thing in common. Every one of us here is related to Adam, whether we like to or not. And we have a nature from Adam, a fallen nature. And that person that was crucified was our old Adamic nature in Adam. That's what was crucified.

And we didn't ask to be crucified. We didn't seek to be crucified. God did it. He did it. He crucified every single person that's put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're not to seek to be crucified. We're to believe it. It's a wonderful fact. And then how were we crucified? This is a wonderful word, and Hal spent much time on this word in many Bible studies. The how of it, how we were crucified, we were baptized into Christ's death and into his burial.

And Hal would use an example. And he loved to use illustrations. He'd have a cup of water and he'd take a handkerchief and the water would be like blue dye. He'd take the handkerchief, if you've seen this before, he'd take the handkerchief and he would baptize the handkerchief into this dye. And he pulled the handkerchief out, and it would be immersed, or it would have blue dye in it. And he would illustrate how we were baptized into Christ.

And there's a fact that we were baptized and we died with Christ, and we're separated from the sinful nature. And there's going to be the wonderful news now that I live, and I'm going to get to that shortly. So when Christ died, we died. And that's a fact that the Lord wants us to know. And then, why were we crucified? To be separated. To be separated from that Adamic nature that we all have. To be separated so that we could walk in newness of life. And he had three points to be cut loose from that sin nature. to be rendered inoperative, to put it in idle.

And there's really so much more that I would share, and we only have a short time here. And not to be slaves to sin. The Bible says that every person that does not know the Lord Jesus as their Savior is a slave to sin. That's a pretty condemning statement, that we're slaves to sin. But as we are baptized into Christ, we can now walk in newness of life.

And that kind of gets to the second part of the second phrase, nevertheless I live. And three questions here again. Who is living? How was I made alive? And what is the purpose of my living? Who is living? Basically, Christ liveth in me, as the verse says. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.

Christ is now living in every person that knows the Lord Jesus as their Savior. And Hal just loved to share that to show us that it was not I, but Christ. And that's what we saw when we saw Hal, when he shared Bible verses with us. We saw the Lord Jesus.

The Bible says that Christ is in me and I am in Him. And there's many aspects that are wonderful about that. And how was I made alive? Back to baptism, to be immersed into Christ, immersed into Him and never removed, never to change. And when Christ rose, I rose. So I now live a life that can be pleasing to God because Christ lives in me.

And the purpose for my living is really to glorify God. And that was one of his favorite things to focus on, that we can glorify God because Christ lives in me and can live his life through me. And there's a verse I'd like to share that Hal would like to point out. If you focus on Hal, you focus on the wrong person, even though that's who we see bodily.

But what he would say is, as 1 Thessalonians 2.13 says, for this reason we also constantly thank God that when we receive the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as a word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." So when Hal shared God's word, it wasn't Hal, it was God, and the Lord Jesus Christ sharing his word with us. And that's what made Hal attractive, because we saw our Savior in him, living out through his life.

When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, Though trial should come, that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and hath shed his own blood for my soul. My sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought, My sin, not in part, but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more.

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul, it is well. with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight, the clouds be a scroll. The trumpet shall sound, and the Lord shall descend, even so it is well with my soul. It is well with my It is well, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul. Thank you, Aaron. That was nice.

I'm Andrew Malloy. Roger was saying how my dad gave good advice, good counsel, and his examples, his illustrations were magnificent. But when I was a kid one time, when we were living out in Aurora, he took me to the garage. and he put super glue here and here and then he held them together, my fingers, for about five minutes and he just held that together and then he let it go and then I tried to get my fingers apart and I was thinking that commercial was going on television at that time where that man had super glue on his his construction hat and he was attached to a beam and then a crane lifted him up and he would wiggle and the beam would, he wouldn't fall down from the beam because the super glue was holding him up. So I thought this, these two fingers would never ever, ever come apart.

But unfortunately, that was an illustration he gave me, but unfortunately to this day I have no idea why he did that. I wanted to ask him recently, but it was too late, so something will come to me, I suppose. But I'm just going to read a letter I wrote to him a couple of days ago. of a couple of days before he died on the 13th of November, 2006. I refer to Abba, but I'm not talking about the Swedish super group. I'm talking about the Greek word for daddy or dad, right? My dearest father, whom God in heaven has gave to me to be my earthly father, my Abba, for these short 39 years.

Dad, I cannot write you the way I ought. the way that I can so easily do when it comes to lesser sublime relations in my life. So here I will not try. Like Mary in the book of Luke, just know that I have stored up years and years of wisdom, truth, and guidance from you in my heart, and I treasure them in secret, and I need not recite it all here for you.

You know what's in my heart, Dad. For it was you who, receiving it from your Father in heaven, dispensed it in tiny little spoonfuls to your middle-born son. And I ate and I grew, grew to bear not only your image, but much more than that, Dad. I've grown into my Father in heaven's image. and that of his son, who will carry me when the time comes, and you are with him and no longer with me, and you are beholding him no longer as in a mirror, but with open face. Thank you, Dad, for being my epistle here on earth. All that I've learned of Christ, I've learned from reading you. It is, as the scripture says, etched forever on my heart. and not being written with ink, it shall remain. I've read you. I've memorized all that you've conveyed to me. But now soon, even against my desires and human reasoning, I'll be a good, strong, and wise son and let you return to sender. Thanks, Andrew.

I'm Lisa. I also wrote a letter to Dad the day before he died or went home as he referred to it. He looked at me after I was finished and said, will you read that at my homegoing celebration? Here I am. I'm going to try and get through it. Dear Dad, I'm writing this through tears as I will miss you so much.

But you've always quoted the Apostle Paul saying, to be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord. And that's the thought that comforts me so much. I know where you will be, and I'm excited for you when the time comes. I must admit, you are and will always be an incredible father.

I hear you say Timothy's words, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a soundness of mind. And it gives me the strength I need. Not my strength, but his strength. You wrote me these words from 1 Timothy in a letter I found just the other day.

It was dated on the 13th of November in 1983, 23 years ago. I was at Westmont College, and I was on the cross-country long-distance running team. And I was on my way to run the cross-country national championships. I was nervous. And you told me that as I ran, just keep in mind what God has given me, his power and his love and his soundness of mind, and not to dwell on the things that the sin nature has given me, which is fear, anxiety, and cowardice. This is just one example of all the great words of encouragement you always gave. You encouraged us to follow our bend. You often said, an archer knows that a bent arrow would curve in flight or follow its bend.

And this is referring to Proverbs 22.6. which says, train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it. You encouraged each one of us kids to follow our interests and pursue our natural abilities. For me, it was encouraging me in my love of animals and especially horses. How many Saturday afternoons did you give up to spend them riding ponies at the stable near the Cherry Creek Reservoir? I saw it on my drive here. It's still there. All those little paint horses are still doing that same nose-to-tail trail ride.

I could have never guessed back then, by your enthusiasm, that there were probably better ways for you to spend a Saturday, like football or something. And being a city guy from the Bronx, you certainly hadn't grown up with a love for trail rides. And then with Matt, how many times did you take him to the runway to watch the planes land or to air shows to be inspired by other pilots?

Andrew's bend wasn't as obvious as his older siblings. It was more complex, Dad. You had to search for that one. So as a little boy, you asked Andrew, what do you see yourself doing when you grow up? And Andrew says, I see myself sitting behind a big desk with my feet up. You encouraged Andrew in music, and you often sat in those cold bleachers watching and cheering on Drum and Bugle Corps.

And in business, you cheered him on. And guess what? He ended up doing studies in music business and got a master's in finance. And for Dan, you took him golfing and skiing and encouraged him and his interest in learning the muscles of the body, and he studied kinesiology. And now he's using those talents and has a dream job, ski patrolling, in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

You inspired me to keep going in school and continue into vet school. You were eager to help me succeed in running a veterinary clinic. You even came down to help me put together my first clinic. And as we laid down the fresh cement on the new walkway, a huge German shepherd stepped onto our fresh cement, and we both looked at each other and then deviously laughed as this idea popped up. We got this dog to continue in his tracks with some bologna in our hands. all the way up to the front door so that there were large dog tracks for all to follow that led right into my vet clinic.

You were there to back me not only financially but emotionally, as well as through college and life's road, call after phone call. And call you I did, we all did, over and over and you never tired. About the only issue you didn't give me encouragement in was dating. You were You were silent, hoping that all those years of moral guidance and biblical teaching would help steer me. I think you were probably praying a lot, too.

You did tell me once or twice to make a list, put a line down a sheet of paper, and put a man's positives on one side and his negatives on the other, and then add them up and see which side was greater. Thank God for me and for Andy that all those lists had been top-heavy on the negative side. You never said a thing about anyone I dated until I said yes to Andy. And then to have you approve of my choice and accept the invitation to marry Andy and I was an incredible gift.

We went through many months of premarital counseling with you, and you gave us an awesome Christian platform for our marriage. You loved Brandon and Trevor as your own grandsons. And then to top it off, the day I put my daughter in your arms has been a crowning joy in my life.

Your legacy will be that we saw Christ through you. The letters others wrote to you are a testimony to that. as a pastor and as a person, you exemplified Christ. But I also want to let you know that you were a man of God and of his word, as a father, too. See, Dad, you always told me that you had this vision of yourself, the little guy that keeps the window clean, that looks out onto the cross. And now I understand what you meant by that. You've done a great job polishing clean that window, allowing us a clear view of the old wooden cross. standing empty, empty of its former occupier, who you will be with shortly.

Thank you, Dad. I love you, Lisa. As I read in this letter, that little tear welled up in his eyelids. My favorite memory of him will always be that twinkle of a teardrop in his generous eyelids and that crack in his voice when he talked about how near and dear the Lord was to him and about the riches he had experienced in Christ. Thanks.

I think Matt wants to come up now. Well, I'm Matt, and I, too, wrote a letter. Mine didn't make the cut. So he was pretty deliberate as to what he wanted said and done. But I did see a very good opportunity to do a little payback, which is to tell stories on dad. Because I can't tell you, as you earlier heard, we were very comfortable in the church, as we were left there quite a bit. But to be on the receiving end of stories. But I don't know how it was in your house growing up when you were just about so tall, maybe no higher than your parents' hips.

But in mine, I was convinced that my dad was a bona fide, certified superhero. Now, he didn't have a cape. That would be flaunting, and it would be a complete statement of the obvious. But he was the bravest man I knew. He kept the burglars away from mom and us kids. And he was certainly the strongest man I knew.

In fact, he could throw a ball so high, it'd almost go out of sight. In fact, he'd take me out to the front yard and say, watch this. And he'd toss up a tennis ball. And I'd marvel, because effortlessly he could get that to go as high as the treetops. And then he'd get that twinkle in his eye that we've been talking about, and he'd say, now watch this. And he'd wind up, and he'd get me looking, leading with my eyes, because I knew this was going to happen fast, so I had to be ready. up there, poised and ready to go. But in my peripheral vision, I could see him doing the wind-up and the hypersonic release and off went the ball, so I thought. And he'd say, do you see it?

It's going past the clouds. I think this one's going to go into orbit. No, it's scratching, though. Here it comes. Little did I know, he never released that tennis ball, of course. It was behind his back, and I'm up there just knowing I could see it. I think I can see it. And of course, when he got me looking the other way, he would toss it up and say, it's coming down behind you, son. And I'd swing around, and there it was. with an unusually small bounce.

Boy, it was impressive. He was the smartest man in the world. Not only could he launch tennis balls into orbit, but he could put spacecraft there too. He was a rocket scientist. No better for you Hughes people here. He was a spacecraft engineer, more practical and useful. We marveled going down to the Cape and watching those rockets lift off. go to the moon and gently set down there a pond, paving the way for Neil and the boys.

Ladies and gentlemen, as I exited kindergarten, I was convinced that my dad could beat up your dad. But more appropriately, more importantly, I have vivid remembrances, like I said when I was a tiny tot, of dad gently leading me to the Lord with Lisa And shortly thereafter, seeing Andrew and then seeing Daniel be led to the Lord. And he had such a gentle and wonderful way to do that. And he was a relatively new Christian back then when he led us to the Lord.

And he was so on fire and excited. He bought a huge box of Bibles, Good News Bibles. I remember them in a box about that big, just chock full of them. And he'd park them in the backseat of his Toyota with Lisa and I, just in case, just in case another opportunity came about.

Well, you know how it goes when you enter the teenage years. You're supposed to distance yourself from your mom and your dad. And I found that hard to do because I ran around with a pack of kids and when they came over to my house, dad would pick off the herd. and they'd be over in the corner absolutely enraptured in one of his stories like only he could tell. In fact, I'm convinced if he had the eyes, he would have probably been a fighter pilot because he lived by our creed and mano in our honor, which is if you're going to tell a story, at least 10% of it has to be complete truth and veracity, and the rest can be a little bit of Well, embellishment, if you will. It's truthful, but it's in the realm of spectacular. And those were his stories. But my friends, I just would watch them there wide-eyed and just amazed.

And there he was planting seeds, giving them something of eternal value. Sometimes they would unload on him. And I'm sure many of you here today feel this way. But he was just like a second dad to so many people, whether it be an earthly father or a spiritual father. That was dad.

He'd plant that. a little seed, and then he'd rest, as we've heard. Somebody else would come by and water. Somebody else would come by and harvest later on. And he lived his faith that way, resting and abiding in the Lord. His faith that he lived was never work, far be it. It was completely the opposite. It was a rest.

And the more that life spun out of control, the more he would just give it up to the Lord. And he walked that talk till he drew his last breath. So now the story, of course, to illustrate as Dad would. If it's going to be one of these stories, it's got to start out like all good stories.

It was a dark and stormy night. And I was about 17 years old. And Dad and I, just the two of us, were at the high school for some evening function. And we had taken my car, which was a little Fiat. And it sat about that high off the ground, about six inches. And literally, when we walked out into the dark, it was snowing to beat the band.

And the first thing Dad surprised me with is, you want to drive home? I'm sure. We wisely elected to not take the back way, but stick to I-25 and then over what is now Lincoln Avenue. And as we're on the road, Dad really amazed me. Because as we're going through the Star Wars effect of this blizzard, which it clearly is, and the edging of the road is tough to find, and I'm just, it's a challenge just to stay at 30, 35 miles an hour with the car, Dad reaches down and reclines the seat. Now it's a Fiat, so it only goes back about four inches, but he reclines the seat, He tips back his head, and he begins to snooze. And I'm like, wow. And about that time, my right wheels edged off the road.

I brought it back on, and it set up this just graceful spin. You just wouldn't believe how pretty the spin was of the car going down the road. But as it goes, when you're in kind of those crisis situations and time dilation, and you see things, we're about a quarter way through the spin, and his little peepers open up. He doesn't flinch, just his eyes open up and they blink and he gets his focus about the time we're 180 degrees through the spin. And there had been a car behind us, well now it's in front of us and we're moving in concert with it.

And you can see him puzzling, because he goes, this is a head-on, but it's not a head-on. And then he kind of figures out that we're going backwards. And I had one of those neurons fire of a random dad quote, which we've already heard today, which was, pray to the Lord not to change the circumstances, but that hearts would change. And I'm thinking, oh, Lord, we're going to be changing more than just hearts after this circumstance.

But dad is just resting with this one. And the car continues its spin at that point. And it writes itself on the road. I drop it into third, release the clutch, the car starts, and we accelerate away. I don't think we got ever slower than 20 miles an hour on that one. So now it's time for the lecture. And I'm waiting.

I purse my lips, and Dad folds his hands. He tips back his head, and he sleeps and snores. And I thought, oh, Lord, I just pray that he passes those genetics down to me. But I want to tell you that story because I think it speaks volumes of what kind of guy my dad was, and the trust that he placed in his son, and that's the son with a small S, and the trust that he placed in his son with a big S in all his circumstances. Well, after spinning cars, it was time for me to go and move away, but it was only after I left home, I think, that I really got to appreciate dad's wonderful spiritual gift that he was given, that gift of ministry and teaching, and the men so well said today about how dad could just launch into scripture and tear into it, and that gift of mining the deepest spiritual truths in God's Word, and then unpack it in such a way that he could feed the flock, but yet teach teachers. And Holly Hills has a wonderful ministry in teaching teachers.

But he had a wonderful approach to the scriptures, and it was pretty simple. He would pick this up and this up, a blank piece of paper, and he would attack. And he had a sentence diagram, and he'd work and he'd struggle. And just about three weeks ago, he said, you know, son, when I got into those challenging passages, I just did two things.

One, what interpretation would best glorify God, man's eternal purpose? Number two, what is the simplest answer to it? And usually you'll find the truth therein. And that's how he did it. And only after he'd diagrammed and wrestled would he maybe peek at a commentary or read another theologian's work. But because he did it that way, he was always putting a fresh lens on God's word and bringing out a new perspective and, like I said, mining new truths. It was a gift that he left to us all and we should not forget.

I had an opportunity about two years ago during a promotion ceremony to stand in front of a crowd like this and to publicly say what Dad meant to me. And I would encourage the sons and daughters that are out there today, if you have a moment to tell your mom and your dad what they mean to you, do it soon, because you just never know. And you don't want to be at this microphone with words unsaid. But I'll tell you the simple thing I told him was, Dad, thank you. for being a model of what God wanted men to be, and teaching me and showing me how to produce fruit in your life, and the kind of fruit that you would find in Galatians chapter 5.

I was sad about one thing, and I told him I remembered all the people, all the people that would come to the house and get counsel and seek his wisdom and his teaching. And I said, Dad, I just wish I sat in that chair a little bit more myself. I'm a fighter pilot, and sometimes I think of myself as the invincible and invisible warrior in my stealthy F-22. But my dad, he was a warrior's warrior.

He was arrayed in the fullest armor of God. His feet were shod with the preparation of the gospel. His loins were girded with truth. He wore a breastplate of righteousness and a shield of faith, and on his head was the Helmet of Salvation, and my, did he wield the mightiest two-edged sword, which is the Spirit of God found in God's Word. A couple of weeks ago, this junior warrior, actually it was about three weeks ago, on a Thursday evening, took to the skies on a training sortie in the F-22.

And as we climbed up into the darkening seas over the Gulf of Mexico, we leveled off at 30,000 feet, and I looked to the west, and the sun had set. There was a beautiful orange-ember afterglow. And then we donned our night vision devices, and we call them our goggles, and I put the goggles on and flipped them on and I looked over to the east, to the peninsula of Florida there over Tampa. The goggles were picking up lightning flashes. It was spectacular. And as we crested through 40,000 on our way up, Up to 50, I looked up into the sky. The stars were uncountable, like the sands of the sea.

And there I could see very easily with the goggles the track of a satellite, and I thought of dad. And then I looked down underneath the goggles in the cockpit at the brilliant multicolor array of sensor technology all right there at my fingertips. It was just the most Phenomenal thing and I thought again of dad's work at Hughes Aircraft Company and the legwork that many of you here to put into making all this happen. I thought Dad if I could just trade places with you right now just for a little bit It was a quarter to six on a Thursday evening a quarter to five here in Colorado and My final thought before I got busy with the mission was dad. You would love to be here right now He would just love to be here, but I was wrong.

I At that time, Dad was struggling with his last breaths as his soul and spirit began to separate from his body. Mom was holding his hand, and Daniel was holding his hand and encouraging him to go be with the Lord that it was okay to go. And Lisa was massaging his feet, and she, as we heard, he began to walk. Beautifully articulated steps, and he walked right past me. into the kingdom of God, to behold face to face our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and to hear, well done, good and faithful servant, well done.

Thank you for being here today. I want to tell you that if Dad were here, there would be no story. He would be speechless. Rick Holman, if you would come up and talk, a perspective from a second son. I guess what a privilege it is for me to be called son of Al. I want to thank Lindy for sharing your husband with me and my family. And I want to thank these kids for sharing your dad with me.

My dad had unexpectedly passed away in March of 1990 by the hands of another man, and we had moved to the neighborhood in Parker. I was handed a name at our closing at our house, and on the pad of paper it had Hal Malloy. At the time, our subdivision was going through a natural gas conversion. Who better to take charge of a task of that nature than an engineer? I called up Hal Malloy and I said, my name is Rick Holman and I'm new to the neighborhood and I'm interested in learning more about this.

He gave me this detailed explanation of what was going to go on in the subdivision that was way beyond anything I could fathom. But as I would learn later, Hal gave a lot of detailed discussions about anything as simple as applesauce all the way to a natural gas conversion.

And little did I know that God was placing into my life a father who really had all the attributes that I so desperately needed. As a new believer, I had not witnessed a father who had the love of Christ that was so visibly apparent in him daily. And we were fortunate enough to live just one street over, and you had to experience our kids being born. And my wife's father had passed away earlier, too, so they really never had a grandpa. So it was just a natural transition for them to call grandma and grandpa, grandma and grandpa. And they knew no different.

And I got to see these truths not only come to me, because it's funny, when Matt talks about sitting in that stool, my wife and I have sat in that stool at the kitchen nook there, where I'm so glad he finished your countertops. He had talked about that granite for years, and I'm glad he did it. But we would sit at that table, and we would be talking about something as simple as teaching children math or something like that. And as only Hal could do, he would lead us gently down a path of faith.

And before we know it, we would look at our watches, and it would be two o'clock in the morning. And we knew we had something going on first thing in the morning and would have to go. And one of us would have left earlier and were already in bed, and the other one would come into bed and kind of wake up the other one. I'd say, you got with Hal again, didn't you?

And those were cherished times. But now I got to see him pass these truths along to my children. And I think it's kind of ironic, or maybe it's just Hal, or maybe it's our Lord. that some of the verses, I know he loved Corinthians, and the verse that I had selected really stems out of a story that he told in the hospital when one of the social workers had come in to try and help him with his transition.

And he said, you know, really it's quite simple. I prayed all night last night, and there's really only two things that are going to happen. I will either be healed in all its glory, and God will receive that, or I'll be in the presence of the Lord. So everything else is just kind of nonsense. But I thought I'd read out of 2 Corinthians chapter 5.

Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile, we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan in our burden because we do not wish to be unclothed, but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who made us for this very purpose and has given us the spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore, we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it. He called us about, oh, a week and a half before he died. And it was maybe two weeks.

And he had said, I'm calling all of my kids to let them know that there's really not much more that they can do for me. And I just felt, wow, again, he's making me just one of the family. And I can speak for probably all of those kids that hung out with all of you guys. He was a dad to a lot of people. And right up to the end there, he had, I think there was still a little thought that, you know, I'm going to fight this thing. And he didn't want anybody to touch him because of the germs and such.

And so I remember I got this call, and I looked at my schedule, and I said, I'm crossing out Monday and Tuesday, and I'm going to fly up there and just spend as much time with him as possible. So I got there about a week before he died. And I came in there, and I'm a hugger. I love hugging. And I just wanted to hug him something awful. And he kind of gave me that look like, OK, back off. I don't want to get any germs. And so I just reached up and grabbed his ankle as hard as I could and just held it.

And then we spent some lovely time together, and I, too, wrote a letter that didn't get published today. But this is Hal's day, and more importantly, the Lord's day. Actually, I couldn't read the letter. I was a mess. And Lindy read the letter to him.

And that little glimmering tear that Lisa spoke so fondly about, that was always there at the right time, was there. And part of the letter, it said, I think every son's dream is to have his dad say that they're proud of him. And he had told me he was proud of me.

And he got up from his chair, and he stuck his arms out and hugged me. We walked him to the stairs, and he walked to the stairs, and he took one last look back at me and just smiled. And I just said, I'll see you soon. And that was the last time I saw Hal Molloy. And so it is my honor to be here and to be asked to come up and share just a little bit of what that man did for me and my family. And I thank you guys from the bottom of my heart for that. Okay, I'm just getting advice from the Molloy family.

The intent was to have the service last until about noon, and we're closing in on noon. But we had planned a time of open microphone sharing, which was anticipated to be a little bit longer than just a few minutes. But what I think the family would desire would maybe be 10 minutes or so for people to come to the microphone And there'll be mics available on each of the aisles that men will be carrying. Identify yourself very briefly, make your comment brief, and we'll sustain this for about 10 minutes and then close the service. So anyone in the audience who'd like to say something about their relationship to Hal Malloy, please raise your hand and proceed to one of the microphones. Is there anyone who'd like to have anything to share? Yes.

My name is Karen Blankenship now, but it was Karen Porter when I first met the Molloys. And I think I speak for all of the Porter children about this story. Our mother passed away last November. She actually passed away two days, about a year before Hal died.

And speaking about Hal's connection to things outside of the earth and on the earth, Mom and Dad, more than once, they'd get a phone call, horrible news, and Mom would say, God, I really wish Hal and Lindy were here. And I swear to God, the doorbell would ring. It happened three, four, five times. Countless times. Hal had the honor of being in the room when my mother passed away, and it was... He was our spiritual advisor and he gave to us a gift that is irreplaceable. Others.

My name is Paul Johnson, a neighbor of the Molloy's for many, many years. I remember when they first moved into the area. Howell and I were brothers in the faith and were told to love our neighbors. It wasn't hard to love because of light, precious faith. The kids, our kids grew up, Matthew and Andrew and I remember when Lisa was in the horses Morgan Horse is right, Lisa. Daniel, I remember when he was a little fellow. Anyway, for over 30 years we have been neighbors. I always rely on Hal to take care of my kids, to provide spiritual counsel, to make me marvel at the way he treated scripture.

I grew up in a very spiritual family. We have generations of preachers and teachers. My mother graduated from, I guess you'd say, a Christian college in 1920. So I've been around many people who are students of the Bible. But here's an engineer who became a pastor. No school of theology, one of the best interpreters of the faith that I have ever seen.

And I'm quite old, and I've been around a lot of spiritual people. So I appreciate Hal, and the fact that he's gone to a place where one day we will be neighbors again, and we can discuss our kids, horses, rockets, and above all, the Lord. Thank you very much. Are there others? Go ahead. My name is Don Marridge.

It was 44 and a half years ago that a group of us got together to form an organization to figure out how to test this Surveyor spacecraft and get it launched. One of the first to join our group was this young engineer, Al Malloy. He was dating a good-looking nurse at that time, and she was working nights, so we got a lot of night work out of him. We figured out the problems together, and we built seven spacecraft. Five of them were successful. Two of them went awry, and the TPRs, for you non-technical types, that's Technical Problem Reports, are still open on those two, and I have no doubt that Hal has found those spacecraft, and he'll be closing those TPRs.

He was a good friend for many, many years. We worked together for probably 30. And I just want to thank God for loaning hell to us. We're all better for it. Thank you. Others. My name is Patricia Spence, and one of the greatest blessings in my life is that Hal Malloy hired me in 1974 at Hughes Aircraft. And I think just the summation of his life is to see what his family means to him and what he's meant to them. And I think the biggest thing that I can say about Hal is that he's not only a family man, Hal was a friend to man. And my husband and I will love him forever. Thank you. This is for my father, Art Lowther, from Philippians chapter one.

For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you. for your furtherance and joy of faith that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ."

In my dad's words, as I have pondered the life and memory of our dear Hal Molloy since his homegoing, these verses are far more fitting than anything I could say about him. This was the life of Harold Malloy throughout his many days here among us. Our hearts go out to his mother, Mary Malloy, his widow Mavis, his sons Matthew, Andrew, Daniel, his daughter Lisa, and his granddaughters. Hi, my name is Vicki Daniels, and I just wanted to share on behalf of my husband, David, who couldn't be here today.

David went to school not far from here at Colorado Christian University, and he was not walking with the Lord when he was in college. He left and he had to come back and finish his degree. He then knew the Lord and started going to the Tuesday morning Bible study with Hal and Mike and some of the other guys. Hal just had such an impact on David's life through that Bible study. Just going through scripture with him, challenging him to walk with the Lord, challenging him to be the man that God had created him to be. David just wanted me to share how much Hal means to him and I'm so thankful for the impact that Hal had on his life as I now see David truly seeking after the Lord with all his heart and wanting to share that love with others and I know that Hal had a huge part in that, so thank you.

Thank you, Vicki. Yes, on the back, go ahead. I'm Mike Eckstead and I want to say how sorry I am to the family and how I was a good friend to everybody. Thank you. I don't really have much to say but one thing I wanted to say was that Genesis 1 won and in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth and that was the first verse I really like learned and Well, that's a good verse to remember that's that's very good.

Okay. Is there someone else? My name is William Brinkerhoff. And for those of you that played racquetball with Hal, did anyone ever beat him? I never could beat him and he was he was a fantastic athlete and he was just a wonderful spiritual leader for our family and even today I And recently, when anything would go a little bit awry, we'd think, boy, let's call Hal. And when Renee's mother had problems years ago, Hal was so gracious to counsel her and just a wonderful individual.

And as we all are here to celebrate today. And Hal and I had these wonderful conversations early on after I had been introduced to Miles Stanford about these truths of identification and what it meant to focus on Christ. And we'd say, well, what does that mean that we're trying to visualize Christ somehow and focus on him that way? And we had many years of discussions as that grew and became the real more increased understanding of identification. And I just want to also say how wonderful it is to see all of the Malloy family and how Everything has, as you said, Matt, how he really, who he was and the Christ that he loved came through and is expressed in you all. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

Thank you. Thank you, Bill. And there is someone else who'd like to share. I'm Bill Browning and I worked with Hal for about 35 or 40 years. I kind of lost count. And I wanted to just say how grateful I am to the wonderful blessing was on my life. Hal was the first one that got me involved in Bible study.

And his Bible studies were just so interesting. And he would stand up there with a view graph and a marker pen, and he would just lead you down the path. And when you came out of that, you said, gee whiz, I can understand that now. And then Hal got me involved in creation ministry. He was the first one to explain to me the importance of the book of Genesis and its relevance to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And as I began to grow in ministry, he was the one who was always there when I needed him to explain some difficult point in the Bible.

He was the expert that you could call, and he always had the answer, and he always had the time. And then we formed the Rocky Mountain Creation Fellowship and Hal became our pastor and mentor and provided a church free of charge where we could meet monthly. And recently we started a project called Creation Weekend and I needed some help from Hal and I knew he was sick, but I sent him an email and within a millisecond there was the answer. Thank you.

I should acknowledge the fact that Hal's mother, Mary, would very much like to be here today. And she's clearly with us spiritually. And she really, I think, would have benefited so much. And we're taping this, so she'll have an opportunity to listen to all the great words of admiration that the Lord has provided through her son's life. And I know Mary says hello to all and wishes she could be here, but unfortunately could not travel to be with us today.

I can relate to Bill Brinkerhoff's racquetball comment. After a while, I learned to just reduce the loss. One of the things that we've enjoyed here today is to get together and share amongst ourselves kind of the earthly side of life and the times that we've shared and the insights that we've had.

I'd like to have us sing a song where in fact it's beyond what I would like, it's specifically what Hal asked for. We're going to be singing Face to Face, and the precious value of this is that whereas we've been talking about, we did this and I remember that, and those are all really good things. This is what Hal is enjoying now, the Face to Face. It's hymn number 549 in the hymnal, Please Stand.

You can also take it on the screen if you'd prefer. Face to face with Christ my Savior Lonely day now I see him With the dark and weary dream But the blessed day is coming Face to face I shall behold Him, far beyond the starry sky. What rejoice in His presence, When our banished grief and pain, When the crooked ways are straightened, And the dark things shall be plain, Face to face I shall behold Place to face in all His glory, I shall see Him by and by. Place to face, O blissful moment, Place to face, O blissful moment, This is my Redeemer, in Jesus Christ He loves me so. Face to face I shall behold Him, far beyond the starry sky. Face to face in all His glory, you you Let's bow our heads, please.

Our Father, it's been a special day, and that special day is based on your great grace, mercy, and love. And we're thankful for your servant, Hal, who many of us have known and experienced his life, and that life lived through him to bring glory to you. It was Hal's desire today that the Lord Jesus Christ receive the glory and not Hal himself. And those of us who have known him over the years believe that it's your life that ultimately does get the glory. But yet Hal has been a man who's lived by faith, and that faith has been exemplified to so many of us in a way that we think would be difficult for us to put on. But each of us, by your great love, your great mercy, and your great spirit-led opportunity, we have an opportunity to know the Lord Jesus Christ and see him live through each and every one of us. I thank you for those who have come today, and we're thankful that Hal and his family have been ultimately honored in the way we pray that Hal would have been satisfied. To the Lord Jesus Christ, we give the glory. Amen. you you you