Monday Morning Manna: Living and Not

Last spring I received a phone call from a friend from teen-age years asking me to pray for him because the doctors had given him only a few weeks to live. I was out of the country when I received the call, but assured him that as soon as I returned home, I would be there to visit with him. He died before I could make that trip. Three months ago, I received word that a colleague of many years, was suffering from cancer. I planned a trip to visit with him as soon as he felt strong enough for a visit. He died before that visit was ever made. Recently, I drove a couple of hours, and spent an hour with another long-time friend who has been given only months to live. It was a wonderful hour and we parted with him saying, “Thanks! You made my day.” I was just about to say the same thing to him. So what is my message of today? When you receive word of a friend who is nearing the end of life’s journey, drop everything, rearrange your schedule, adjust your priorities, make contact, communicate, visit if possible. They need you. You need them. The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote, “However many years anyone may live, let them enjoy them all” (Ecclesiastes 11:8, NIV). It is both the privilege, and responsibility of those of us who are living, to assist those who are dying, in the fulfillment of this passage.

Dr. Dan Crawford, Senior Professor at Southwestern Baptist Seminary, is the WestCoast Baptist Association’s Spiritual Life & Leadership Mentor. Follow Dan on Twitter @DrDanRC and Facebook www.facebook.com/dan.crawford.