More Agape’

In the early ‘80’s, I was serving on a three man church staff near St. Louis. Early one morning I received a call from the senior pastor asking me to go to the local hospital to be with a family that had just called. Their father was dying and they wanted a pastor from our church. Neither of us knew the name of the family. (By the way, he was headed to be with a family from the church whose mom was also dying at another hospital.)

As I walked into the hospital room one of the sons, probably in his late 20’s or early 30’s simply said to me that his father was dying and didn’t know Jesus. I boldly walked to the side of the bed and took the man’s hand. He was in a semi-conscious state so getting a response was difficult work. Long story short, I was able to lead him to the Lord that morning just before things got worse.

For the next three or four hours, doctors and nurses worked on him only to walk away from the bed saying that they done all they could do but he probably only had a few more hours left.

As we stood there, I realized I still didn’t know anything about the family or why they had called our church. No one looked the least bit familiar. So I asked the son why they had called our church. His story still tremendously impacts me nearly 30 years later.

He simply told me that when he, his brother and sister were 9, 10 and 11 years old respectively, a man from our church named “Joe” used to come by every week, pick them up and take them to church. I can’t remember if Joe took them in his car or drove a church bus but Joe was the one responsible for picking these three kids up every week.

The kids eventually quit coming to church and none of them had gone to any church since that time. Their lives had been good, money was okay, health was okay but now as their father was dying, they recognized the fragility of life and their need for God.

His next comment was bigger than life. He said that he knew based on what had happened to them at our church nearly 20 years prior, that there would be someone there to care for them and help them out during this time of their life.

In my last blog entry, I mentioned that the Apostle Paul concluded his defining chapter of “agape” or “love,” by saying that in the end, the only thing that will be left standing is love. This event has served as a bigger than life object lesson to me. Hopefully it will to you.

By the way, I found Joe. He was a deacon in our church and when I asked about these kids, he laughed and told me numerous stories about those three. It seems they were not model kids. They were found hiding in the church, climbing on the light poles, and doing all sorts of mischief. But look what happened because Joe showed them some “agape.”

Always In Pursuit!