funeral

I took the day off of work today to go to a funeral. A friend from church who was helping us out with our substantial yard was diagnosed with cancer not too many months ago. It had progressed too far. He started helping us out shortly after Dad died, so it was nice to have an older gentleman around where Dad used to be.

He smoked and had a problem with alcoholism. It made him feel really guilty concerning his relationship with God. He was unable to "find the key" that would lead him to freedom, as Jack Hayford would put it. Hey, it happens. We went and saw him a couple of days before he died. The first words out of his mouth when we saw him were "Precious Jesus." I was a little surprised. He wasn't struggling with his relationship anymore, just enjoying it. This impressed on me two things: Jesus didn't have a problem with him no matter what he himself believed, and that when push comes to shove you want the real thing, ie Jesus. The latter is true in my life - don't give me programs, or platitudes, I want the truth, reality, which seems to be all summed up in Jesus.

He and my dad are probably enjoying themselves at the moment, while we're here putting up with snow in April.