We had two brothers of the dying Anette for lunch yesterday.  They are successful contractors from Canada on just a short visit here.  Our hearts went out to them.  My young ad hoc secretary, Marin, and her mother were also there.  The atmosphere was tender and loving.

“Tell me about your church in Canada”, I suggested.  They belong to the Catholic church, and their whole family is very religious.  “I believe in God”, one of them said, “but I´m not religious”. - “I´m not either”, I said, and the conversation went on from there.  I made my simple point. “I don´t believe in religion, and I don´t believe that sitting in a church makes you a Christian”, I went on.  O, how I loved the honest expression of their faces.

“It boils down to our relationship to Jesus Christ, doesn´t it?”  I shared with them how that “Rock of salvation” has been the topic of my frequent visits to their dying sister.  “Tell me, do you feel it´s okay that this is what we talk about at your sister´s deathbed?”  O, they sincerely embraced that. “I´m going to sing a simple song now which I´ve often sung  for your sister.”  And I stroke up “In times like these you need a Savior…” that was known all over the world, especially because Billy Graham´s singer, George Beverly Shea, often sang it.

I gave them a copy.  I asked them to take it with them to Canada as a sweet memory.  In memory also of their dying sister in Denmark.  O, we did not have a “religious” time together.  I  read to them one of Anette´s favorite words which we often dwelt on, “Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord!”  (2 Cor. 5:8).

Before parting we prayed together, not a “religious prayer saying”, but an honest worship to our great Rock of salvation, thanking Him for Anette´s bright prospects of being soon “home with the Lord”.  Indeed,  very soon, to be “promoted to glory” as the Salvation Army puts it.

March 18, 2013 – jn