Unexpected Sharing at Funeral

Last week one of my neighbors died. A man who professed faith in Jesus and who has struggled with emphysema for the past 12 years. His health was terrible the last year of his life. I’ve known him and his wife for the past 17 years. I mowed their lawn back when I was young and had a lawn mowing business.

In the morning (last week) the EMS/fire/police had been at the house and he was transported to the hospital. On the police scanner his condition was reported as “code yellow” (which is urgent, but not as critical as a “code red”). Later in the day we were surprised to see that he returned home from the hospital in a taxi cab.

That evening I was walking across the street and saw his wife returning from an errand. I went over to talk with her and let her know that we were praying for them. We spoke for a minute or two and then she went inside. I was working on a work project that was across the street from their house.

Shortly thereafter I heard sirens. The sirens became very loud and I looked over and noticed her standing at her front door. A moment later the trucks began arriving. The firemen hurried inside (which I thought was a good thing: I’ve seen a number of times when emergency personnel arrive at a location and seem to take their time gathering gear before walking into the house/apartment). The ambulance arrived and the stretcher was taken up to the door, but never inside. A few minutes later the stretcher was returned to the ambulance. By that time three police cars had arrived.

The stretcher and the three police cars indicated (to me) that he had passed away – and soon after that neighbors confirmed that he had died.

Up and down the street neighbors were outside on their front porch or were gathered in little clumps talking. The sidewalk across the street became busy as a number of people suddenly decided to take walks.

I wondered if that is how it would be when I die: the neighbors out talking and watching the “excitement.” How short our time on earth is.

The visitation was last night. Only a few people were there because the newspaper had a computer malfunction and didn’t print the obituary in time.

We talked with his widow. Through the pain you could see the Lord was strengthening and supporting her. She said he had been ready to go and knew exactly where he was headed. He had chosen to go home from the hospital because he didn’t want to die in the hospital. Her errand had actually been to a nearby church to play the piano for a time of worship.

Today was the funeral. It was actually held at a theater as this gentleman was very involved with the technical aspects of theater (lights/sound/staging).

About a 150 people attended. Mostly older people, and I believe most of them were affiliated with the theater.

I don’t know if it was a Methodist or Presbyterian funeral, but my heart was very, very, heavy as I witnessed the service. The pastor read the opening prayer and the opening comments from a little book. As the service progressed I couldn’t help but wonder if it was all just “words” as they talked so much about God – but only one or two references to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.

Asking all-loving God to welcome this man into His eternal rest? In the same way that we ask God to accept ourselves?

I don’t recall hearing anything about the blood of Jesus – OR, more importantly, how one can have His blood applied to their own life. Nothing about the cross or repentance. Nothing about believing in Jesus. Nothing about being born again.

An open time of tributes was next. One gentleman shared some heartfelt and humorous anecdotes. No one else got up to share so the pastor moved on to the next special music.

I noticed in the bulletin that there would be another time for “open sharing” after the special music.

I began to wonder if I should get up and share what I remember of our neighbor, and at the same time share the gospel.

But I didn’t want to get up and share. During the special music I prayed and it was very obvious the Lord had spoken to my heart and wanted me to share. I didn’t want that service to pass without someone giving honor to the Lord Jesus Christ – it’s just that I wasn’t excited about being the one to get up and do it… It was out of my comfort zone.

After the song the officiant asked if anyone else had something to share. I got up and went forward.

I don’t recall exactly what I shared. I couldn’t see past the stage lights so I really don’t know how my words were received. Considering more humorous theater testimonies were shared after me I figure my time of sharing probably stuck out like a sore thumb.

It was difficult to know how to share because I truly wanted to respect this man and his dear wife. I was 100% confident that my sharing would not in any way offend her, and I didn’t want to cause any unnecessary offense to those attending, but I did want to uplift the Lord Jesus Christ and directly share the gospel.

After sharing some of the memories I had of this man from the past 17 years of living near him, I shared that the one thing I knew from talking with him and his wife: he was ready to go and knew without a doubt where he was headed. He had placed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said that we MUST be born again if we are to enter heaven. While this man had dealt with his sin at the foot of the cross, I said what was important was that WE know where we are headed when we die. If so, this time of separation and heartache is temporary. If we don’t repent and follow Jesus now, this time of separation and loss will be forever.

If this man were alive today I shared that I was confident he would encourage each one to surrender their life to the Lord Jesus Christ, for, in the end, that is all that really matters.

One day it’ll be us that will have passed on. What kind of a life are we living right now? Will people gather and share about the good works that we have done – in the same way that we are gathering and sharing about this man’s good works? Will we know as we face death where we are headed – in the same way that this man knew where he was headed?

After sharing I didn’t have a wonderful sense of elation or euphoria. But I felt I had done the right thing and I knew that I had sought to stand up for the Lord Jesus Christ – the One Whom this man was trusting in for his salvation.

My prayer is that the Lord will somehow use my faltering words for His glory.

You Should Join our Evangelism Team!

I received a bank statement in the mail today – from a bank which was supposed to have closed my account. The account has $0 in it!

I called the 800# and pressed the option to “close an account”. Almost immediately a very helpful lady came on the line and asked what she could do to assist me. I made a comment about this being the queue for closing accounts and that she probably had an idea what I was wanting to do; she laughed and agreed.

I answered what seemed like 21 questions to confirm my identity and then we talked about closing the account. That process only took a few minutes.

Afterwards she asked me the typical question, “Is there anything else I can do to help you?”

My answer was this, “Actually, you’ve taken care of all the banking issues. But, if you have a minute before the next call comes in I’d like to ask you another, different, question.”

She said, “Absolutely, go ahead.”

She had never heard of or taken the Good Person test – so we started into it. She said she was a good person. She readily admitted to having lied in the past but wouldn’t admit to having ever stolen anything (perhaps because she’s working at a bank and the call may have been recorded??).

At one point she interjected that we aren’t supposed to judge – I said Matthew 7 says we are not to judge lest we be judged, but that Jesus clearly said, “Judge righteous judgment.” I also said that was a bit off topic and we needed to get back to the test…

She admitted to blasphemy. I briefly touched on murder and adultery of the heart – and moved on to summarize everything because I wasn’t sure how open she was to the gospel (especially after the "judge" comment).

When I asked her if she were to die and God judged her based on His 10 commandments if she would be innocent or guilty, she said she would be guilty – but that he is a loving and forgiving God.

I asked if she would spend an eternity in heaven or hell and she said that she asks God to forgive her every day and she’ll spend an eternity with Him.

I started sharing the gospel with her and sought to clarify that asking forgiveness is not what the Bible says results in a person “being born again”. I drew some analogies with our legal system.

I asked if she had a Bible and she said she had one right by her on her desk, and that she reads it all the time.

She then said, “You should be on our evangelism team!”

That caught me off guard and said, “Oh, really, so what do you do on your evangelism team?”

Her response was that they go around and share the gospel with people.

My prayer is that she is clearly presenting the true gospel and that she has been Biblically born again!

"Discover" Credit Cards

It’s been awhile since I’ve taken time to post… Lately I’ve been able to share the gospel on the phone with a number of people.

At 8:30 p.m. on Friday night my business phone line rang. Caller ID showed an unidentified toll-free number. I suspected it was a telemarketer and was surprised they were calling a business so late in the day. I went ahead and answered the phone.

It was a lady with Discover Credit Card calling to see if they could get us signed up for a credit card. I asked some questions about the credit cards (a few of which she didn’t really know the answer to).

We only talked about credit cards for about two minutes and I said I would save the information in a file and, if we ever were interested in a Discover card, I would call back.

I then said I had asked a lot of questions about the credit cards but I now had a slightly different question for her – if she had a minute before she needed to make her next call. She was available and wondered what I wanted to know.

I asked if she had ever heard of or taken the Good Person test before. She hadn’t heard of it and hadn’t ever taken it.

I said that it only took a few minutes, that everyone should take it at some point in their life, and that there is a “moral” at the end…

She felt she was a good person, despite the fact that I found out she was a lying, thieving, blasphemer. When I said we could look at one more commandment and let her choose between murder and adultery, she chose adultery (most people choose “murder”). While she hadn’t outright broken the commandment, when I shared what Jesus said in Matthew 5:
27 Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: 28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

She said “I figured that was where you were headed” – and she readily acknowledged having broken the commandment in spirit.

When I asked her if God were to judge her (once she dies) based on His 10 commandments whether she would be innocent or guilty, she said “guilty”. When I asked where she thought she would spend an eternity, she said “Hell”.

I then had some time to share the gospel with her.

She had interacted with great interest up until a few minutes of sharing the gospel when she seemed to suddenly become very cold.

The entire time I had been sharing with her (and even before that when we were talking about credit cards!) I had been praying the Holy Spirit would be working in her heart/life – and it seemed she was very open. I wonder if perhaps her manager had walked by or was listening in on the call?

Either way I encouraged her to be reading her Bible in the book of John, where we learn more of what Jesus did for her so that she doesn’t have to spend an eternity suffering in hell for her sin.

I’m continuing to pray for her -- that she will come to place her faith in Jesus as her Savior.