Remembering Al John
I just learned this morning that one of my closest friends from my young adulthood has been absent from the body and present with the Lord for many years. I had tried tracking him down many times over the years. Last I saw him, he was preparing to move to South Africa (he had been born in Malawi, I believe, and was of half African and half Caucasian descent). Apparently he died in a car accident not too long after his arrival there.
Al John Losacco was probably mid-40s when I met him. Not even sure how we found each other when I started going to Falconridge Full Gospel in Calgary back in 1986. Perhaps someone introduced us. At any rate, we connected from the beginning, perhaps in part because we were both something of “outsiders” in different ways.
I was a newcomer to an established church (as well to Calgary). My dad was an independent itinerant Pentecostal preacher with a strong anti-institutional bias, so while growing up I was largely in house church and revivalist settings. Yet somehow when I moved to Calgary, I decided I should be in a local church. To be a light to all the poor hypocrites, I’m sure. God works in mysterious ways, because that was a significant turning point in my life.
Al John was simply different. He was the guy traversing the neighbourhood, going door to door with the gospel. Not just randomly (though that was likely the case when he began); he seemed particularly adept at establishing relationships among people of other religions. He would then go into their homes repeatedly with the gospel. I went around with him on one occasion and remember talking with some Hindus he had developed friendship with.
Al John was a gentle, thoughtful man who loved people and wanted nothing more than to serve the Lord faithfully. He sought his counsel from Scripture and didn’t keep it to himself.
Well done, good and faithful servant. We miss you here.