I think I should create a Hall of Fame and fill it with interesting souls I’ve met on the road to paradise. The first person I nominate is an old guy I met at the beginning of my ministry. He was in his eighties when I first met him. He needed a fresh new Band-Aid every day to hold up his left (or was it his right?) eyelid. He is memorable because of the number of times I went to his home to pray with him for deliverance from snuff. His family, very conservative folk, told him he couldn’t go to heaven as long as he dipped into his little round tin. He started using when he was six or seven years old and had used for eighty years. The days I went to pray with him he was victorious but if I missed a day he dipped. He wanted so much not to disappoint his family and Jesus.
At risk of offending some of the saints, during his funeral I was tempted to slip a small round tin into his coffin. Perhaps at the risk of offending some of my readers I want to say I am sure I will see him again. I do so with great assurance because of something Jesus said in Matthew 15. “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” Paul added his perspective in Romans 14, “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”
My old friend loved the Lord dearly. He is safe in Jesus’ hands. I wonder what he will look like without the Band-aid.
Spring Of Life