A few years back I visited my wife's uncle in the hospital. He was dying of lung cancer and only had a short time to live. I immediately began to explain to him the importance of, not this life, but the next. During my first visit, he was not receptive, but with time and the grace of God, he finally listened. I prayed with him and he repented. He died a few days later. Only God knows his sincerity of his prayer that day.
Many of the relatives came down to Louisville from Chicago for the funeral. I had the chance to witness to many of them in the past and was given another at the funeral. Minutes before the funeral began, my mother-in-law asked me to say a few words during the funeral. After the service started, the Catholic priest called me to the front.
I began to speak about my talks with him in the hospital room and his eventual repentance and faith in God. I then began to talk about the reality of death and that it could be any of us any day. I expounded upon God's Law and the guilt of all humanity and the need for repentance. I urged them to please heed my warning.
Afterwards, at my wife's grandmother's house I overheard a few barbed comments in regards to my statements at the funeral. I didn't let it bother me because these things obviously come with the territory. I talked further with one of my wife's cousins, Adam. He wasn't very receptive to the Gospel, but I decided to come at another angle (after sharing the Gospel, of course). He mentioned earlier that he liked rap music. I decided to make him a Christian rap mix CD for him to listen to on the drive back up to Chicago. I spoke with him a few weeks later on the phone. He said that he enjoyed the CD, but was still skirting the whole topic of Christianity when I brought it up.
Again, that was a few years ago...
This evening I went to the mall with my family and mother-in-law, Judy after doing some door-to-door witnessing with the some of the team of The Jude 23 Network. After parking the car, we walked across the main intersection and headed towards the mall entrance. I noticed five or six 16-20 year olds standing on the curb in front of the mall entrance. I quickly handed all of them a tract and headed on into the mall. On the way in, I heard a faint sound of a mobile phone ringing and looked over my shoulder to notice that Judy had answered her phone. She did not come in the mall, but stood on the sidewalk near the front entrance.
My wife asked me where Judy was and I told her that she had gotten a phone call and was still outside. My wife went out to check on her. The phone call was from Chicago.
The incident was related to me like this: Adam had gotten drunk. He gotten a weapon out and was playing "Russian Roulette" about three o'clock in the morning. He shot himself in the head. The round entered behind his left ear and exited through an eye socket. He died a few hours later leaving a girlfriend and four-year old daughter behind. Yes, he went forward...into eternity to stand before the Creator of the heavens and earth.
