My Friend John

Earlier this week my cell phone rang.  It was one of those calls you never want to get.  It was from a good friend of many years Malinda.  Her news wasn’t good, Rick, they’ve given John only 2 weeks to live.  2 Weeks?  John is way too young, he’s only one year older than me, he’s got a wife, 2 beautiful Daughters, and a new grandbaby.  It’s not time for him to go,  too much life yet to live.  Then just a day later, she called back to let me know that John had passed from this life into the next.  But such is life, we never know how long we will have on this earth, but we do know that if a person has a relationship with Jesus Christ, the end of life here means only the beginning of life with Jesus.  2 Corinthians 5:1 (NIV)
¹ 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.
2 Corinthians 5:6-8 (NIV)
⁶ Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷ We live by faith, not by sight. ⁸ We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

John’s earthly life has ended, but he now understands the words of Mercy Me’s hit song, I can only imagine, No longer does he imagine, he knows, knows the face of Jesus, knows what it’s like stand in the very presence of the God who loved him, who called him, and who died to save him.  The apostle Paul wrote in the 5th chapter of 2 Corinthians, that we walk by faith, not by sight – Johns faith has now made it possible to walk by sight.  Amen, Lord, Thank you for the wonderful gift of eternal life through Jesus Chrsit our Lord.