Walter Payton – A great man!

Before the blog entry about Payton –

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CHRISTIAN AND CHRISTIE PAULTON!

Have a great day guys.

We visited the Walter Payton Roundhouse for lunch. It is where the wedding is tonight. The place is owned and operated by Payton’s family. There is a museum in the roundhouse – a former railway turnabout here in Aurora. The memorabilia is quite interesting. Lots of tributes to a great football player who died much, much too soon. Perhaps the most touching thing is a display regarding organ donation. Payton was a great advocate for donation of organs and it is evidenced in the many notes and articles in the Roundhouse Walter Payton Museum. There is a sign out front that reads – “Don’t take your organs to heaven. Heaven knows we need them here.” That is for sure. A few years back a family friend in Newfoundland – Raymond was given his life back when he received a liver from a young man who died tragically. More recently, those of us at St. Mark’s by-the-Lake have been most grateful for the gift of a heart to our beloved Tom. Our prayers have been with him for several months now and he is recovering. In my prayers I thank God for those who donate their organs. I now have had a couple of people in my life that I would have had to say farewell to far too soon. Unfortunately organ donation was not a possibility for Payton. He needed a liver. Due to bile duct cancer a transplant was not even a possibility. Nonetheless he made an impact on the world not just on the field but off it as well. As I rest tonight in a hotel and complex named in his honour I will say a prayer of thanksgiving for all who are generous enough to offer the gift of life itself. At the same time I will pray in thanksgiving for Tom and Raymond…and to Tom who is still in London recovering, get well soon friend – we all love you and are praying for you as you recover.