Beyond the Mist

The phone rang and as soon as I heard his voice I knew the message it carried. He was calling to tell me my friend was dead. I felt a deep sorrow. I spent the rest of the day remembering times I had spent with her as if they were scenes from a movie. I also thought, "What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." (James 4:14)

All day I thought about my friend, remembering the first time we met; how we would watch our children play together. I had always enjoyed her artistic approach to every day things, and her ability to find treasures at yard sales was legendary. But now, like a vapor that floats for a while in the air but which disappears with the heat of the rising sun, my friend was gone. 

I had shared many things with my friend but there was one part of my life she did not want to participate in. She wanted nothing to do with my faith. She was always very kind, and when we were together she would invite me to pray before meals; but she did not join in the prayer. She allowed me to freely talk about my faith with her, because she loved me and understood that what I believed was a intricate part of who I was, but always made it clear that she did not share those beliefs. "Man is like a breath; his days are like a fleeting shadow." (Psalm 144:4) Like a fleeting shadow my friend was gone.

That Evening I received a second phone call. It was from my friend's brother. He was calling to tell me what had happened on Christmas Eve two days before she had died. "I want you to know this because I know you prayed for my sister and I do not want you to grieve like those who have no hope." He told me how he had share the gospel with his sister. He told her, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believed in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:14-16) She lifted her eyes believed in God's Son and received eternal life. Her brother and I wept together but in the midst of sorrow there was the joy that we would see her in eternity.

Father, I do not understand Your love that though our life here on earth is like a vapor You have given us Your Son so that whoever believes on Him might not perish but have eternal life. Thank You that even though I grieve the loss of my friend I am confident that I will see her again.