What Do You Do When...

What do you do when a friend suddenly dies and you haven't spoken to them in awhile?  Not that you didn't want to talk with them, it just worked out that way.

I had two friends who passed within the last 2 or 3 years. 

One was a gentleman I knew for many years.  When we first met, I was already a Christian and he winced every time I spoke of JESUS or GOD or anything from Scripture.  He took down my poster I put up and I dug it out of the trash and put it back in the same spot.  This happened several times.  The last time it was crumpled.  I dug it out of the trash, straightened it, laminated it and put it back in the same spot.  It was never removed again.  Now, I never actually saw him do it, but he was the only one with enough brass to do such a thing. 

In spite of his harshness toward anything GOD, we developed a peculiar kind of friendship.  I never pushed JESUS on him and he quit being antagonistic (at least in front of me) toward the Gospel.  A soft answer turns away wrath.

He died at a young age - less than 60.  I don't know where in Eternity he is now.  I can only hope than in those last few moments, like the thief on the Cross, he gave himself over to THE LORD.  While I don't think people should wait for a death-bed conversion, they do occur or HE would not have said so in Scripture (the thief on the Cross). 

My other friend was a lady I had known for many more years.  We had attended Church together.  We went places together.  Then we just stopped.  There was no falling out, no argument.  I hadn't seen her in more than a year when I saw her name in a post on Facebook.  It told of her passing.  She was in Eternity and suddenly there would be no more visits.  I found out too late to attend her funeral.  I would have at least liked to have paid my respects to her family.

Do I have regrets?  That should probably be a statement, an emphatic statement.  Yes, I have regrets.  I wonder if I followed THE LORD'S  Will each time I spoke with each of them.  I wonder if I should have done anything differently but most of all I regret NOT doing.  That email or phone call I should have made.  That visit I had on my mind to do and never got around to.  That tract that maybe I should have given to someone and didn't.

So, "what do you do when?"  You have regrets and you go forward and you really do try to do better.  With THE LORD'S help we can do better.

That is all that we can do.

Shalom!  Pray for the PEACE of Jerusalem!