10/17/2018
Yesterday, I lost two good friends. One of my high school friends passed away and a good friend from Texas, also. I knew the Texas friend for a shorter period of time, but he and his wife had just been in Texas a few years before we left. They lived 190 miles from the church I preached at, yet for the last couple of years before we moved to Alabama, they drove over every Sunday to fellowship with us and the group of bible believing people in New Braunfels. Bill had an undiagnosed illness that caused other residual things in his body and he left us too early. He and Carol learned about “rightly dividing the word of truth” (a dispensational bible study) from another friend of mine in Mobile, AL, and until recently, he taught a bible class in their home by way of telephone. They loved to study and understand God’s will.
My high school friend was just one of the good guys, ya know? He was always a friend to me in school and even though we were not close after school, we got back together about 45 years after graduation and enjoyed one another’s company, I think (at least I enjoyed his.) Last year, when I heard how ill he was, I made a point to stop and see him on my way to our home town. I asked him to tell me about being a Christian. He gave me his testimony of knowing when he had trusted Christ as his Savior. He never had any doubts about his salvation. His wife said he went out of this life peacefully, amen. The way a saved person should go.
Merle Haggard came to mind this morning and his song, “Momma Tried.” Merle wrote most of his songs and since this one was a microcosm of how he could have ended up, I think he must have written it, too.. He was in prison when he decided he didn’t have to be an outlaw. So, he came out and was a country music outlaw, instead. Sharing space as the SIMH was this great hit.
One of my first bosses in the retail business was a very nice guy deep down. But, on the surface, he had a persona which was as though he was a rogue, of sorts. (You know, every boss I ever had taught me things unique to them. Their own “thing” or part of what stayed with me from them.) This particular man put me in training to be a store manager in a small jewelry chain across central Indiana. The 10th store was in Danville, IL. He needed me in Danville. He bluntly told me that he and I were the only two people in the world who thought I could do that job! That startled me. Till then I thought the others in the company looked at me as an up and comer! They didn’t. But, he prevailed and later told me he would have lost his job if he had been wrong about me. Oh, his only other memorable words that come to mind were, “You know, it’s always darkest just before it gets pitch black!”
I wasn’t a very good store manager and, of course, he knew that. But, on his last visit to the store before I left the company he told me how he convinced them I should be there: he convinced them I wouldn’t steal from them. He was right, I didn’t.
Another ungodly man in that company gave me 3 tips when I left the training. He said, “Get involved with the retail community (join stuff), don’t steal from the company and go join a church or a synagogue!” He may be part of the reason I got saved when I did. I knew the difference between saved and lost and I knew if I just “joined” a church unsaved, it was as hypocritical a thing as could be done. And that was the low ebb that caused me to trust Christ as my Savior on that Thursday night in October, 1964.
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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