Friends

Over the past two weeks, five acquaintances of ours have passed away - the mother of one of our missionaries, the husband of a friend from church, the mother of a fellow Awana worker, the husband of a teacher that I hired, and a former student. Now they weren't what i would call close friends, but they were people who crossed our paths in one way or another. The older we get, it seems the more frequently we are attending viewing and funerals.  Checking the obituaries has become a daily routine.  I guess this is a part of senior life that nobody warned us about.  During this same time period I've also talked to two widows who are struggling with the loss of their husbands.  And what can you really say to them?  That has to be one of the most devastating experiences of life.  This week is also the one year anniversary of the unexpected sudden passing of my very close friend, Jim Herrold.  We met 54 years ago at Susquehanna University, became college roommates, and were like brothers to each other. He prayed for me regularly and few people have such a faithful prayer partner. But Jim was just one of my very close friends who are now in glory, each leaving a widow behind here on earth.  In 1984 my friend Paul Brosious was called home with a sudden heart attack.  We met while I was in college and I became his tutor and close friend. He went on to earn his doctorate and become one of the early developers of minicomputers for IBM.  During my  college years I also met Norm Zellers.  We sang together in the Gospel Four Quartette in church and each week on the radio.  He was responsible for getting Dianne and I together.  We used his car in our wedding party and we had much in common throughout our lives.  When we moved to the Lancaster area after my graduation, a young man by the name of Gary Varner came to help us move.  He and his wife attended our church and we soon became very close friends.  We sang together in a mixed quartette.  We enjoyed the same things.  We helped start several fellowship groups at church.  Our children and now even our grandchildren grew up together.  He died unexpectedly of lung cancer.  Then there was Ralph Michel.  We also met Ralph and his wife in our church many years ago and we too had much in common.  We vacationed together.  We would have been the guardians for their children if they had died before their kids were of age.  We, too, had so many great times together.  His death was also very quick and unexpected.  Then, of course, there was my brother, Terry.  A star athlete, a godly man, a man with a heart for others, but a victim of prostate cancer. Even though he was four years younger than I was, he taught me so very much about living ... and preparing to die.  Terry, Jim and Norm were the men in our wedding party and all are now home with the Lord.  And that is so hard to believe.  But that is part of aging.  I think a person is blest if he has just one close friend during his lifetime.  I guess I have been blest many times and I thank the Lord for that.  But I do deeply miss these good friends who are now sharing together in the splendor and joy of heaven.  And I have the hope of seeing them again when the Lord calls me home to heaven.  If you have a good, close friend, please take time to thank them and spend time with them.  For those extra special relationships here on earth may soon be gone and then all you will have here are the good memories and maybe some regrets.