When God Calls - Go and Do

 

Some years ago, I had a singular event happen that has been coming to mind a lot recently. It seems fitting, then, to put the incident on paper and let others read about it since it may be an encouragement to them and, quite possibly, to me as well.

Without mentioning actual names, I had known Amanda who, along with her husband Peter, was part of the same social club I was involved in a few years before. She was a very pleasant woman in her 30s who was quite active and had given birth to a little girl about two years before. Unfortunately, she developed a fast-spreading cancer and within months was on death’s door.

I was aware of the situation as a good friend of mine was a close acquaintance of the couple. He told me that she was about to go to a Hospice House where she was not expected to last more than a few days. I was taken aback at this since she was such a young and strong woman. 

At the time I was a life insurance agent and the discussion of death and its consequences was a daily part of my job. However, death had never come so close to me even though I had been in the business for over a decade. Additionally, I was now a Christian and the idea of eternal life assurance was even more important than earthly life insurance. It did not take long for the Holy Spirit to convict me to go and make sure Amanda knew the Gospel and she was confident her name was in the Book of Life.

I called Peter and asked if I could come over. We agreed the next day, Wednesday afternoon, would be a good time. When I got there, they were in the midst of getting ready to go to the Hospice House. Amanda’s situation had gotten more acute and she was being moved to the home in a couple of hours. 

Even though I had gone through a tremendous conversion experience and had the privilege of assisting two other people to faith in Christ, I chickened out. I could not bring myself to talk to Amanda about faith at all. I stayed for a few minutes, said some polite things and then left – feeling like a failure. God had sent me on a mission and I choked.

The next day I reached out to Peter to say that I had wanted to talk to Amanda about God. He told me it was fine. They went to church and knew all about that. Well, that should have settled my mind, but it did not. Just because you go to church does not mean you have given your heart to Jesus. In the Sermon on the Mount, our Savior tells us very bluntly – 

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:21-23 ESV)

I was uneasy that entire night. When I got to work on Friday, I could not focus at all. At noon I walked into the office of my sales manager, Dennis Trainor (his actual name), to ask him what I should do. 

Many years earlier, long before I knew my wife Diane, she had worked a few months for Dennis. He knew she was searching for God at the time and sponsored her to go to a local Cursillo (a Catholic retreat) which greatly helped her to come to faith in Jesus in the next few months. How interesting that a couple of decades later, he would be helping out her husband on another faith matter.

Dennis was a devout Catholic who had a wonderfully close relationship with Jesus. When I came into his office, he was just starting the three hours of silence since this was Good Friday. Therefore, he was not very happy I was interrupting his observance. However, when I told him what the situation was, he immediately understood the significance. 

“I just couldn’t talk to her about Jesus,” I said in an anguished voice.

“You have to go back,” he said.

“I can’t go back.”

“You have to go back.”

“There will be other people and…”

“You have to go.”

I nodded and left the room.

It still took me a few hours to get my courage up. I told Diane I was going to see Amanda and she agreed it was the right thing to do. I drove to the Hospice House parked my car, said a prayer and went in. I was determined to follow through and tell Amanda about Jesus but I was not looking forward to dealing with the other people who may be there.

When I entered her room, there was no one with her. Amanda was tired but awake, alert and pleased to see me. I told her I wanted to talk to her about Jesus. She said that she and Peter had gone to church. I said that was great, but had she ever said the sinner’s prayer?

“No, I don’t think I have.”

“Would you like me to pray it with you?”

“Yes.”

Diane and I always have Billy Graham’s track “Steps to Peace with God” handy for situations like this. This is the prayer Amanda and I prayed –   

Dear Lord Jesus, 

I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior.

In Your Name, amen.

Once we were done, Amanda thanked me and then started to get very drowsy. I said so long and left the room. 

On my way out, a woman was coming in. She introduced herself as Amanda’s mother. I told her that Amanda and I had just prayed. She looked at me with no change in emotion and said, “That’s nice.” Then she moved on from me towards her daughter.

After I got outside, I was smiling from ear to ear, praising God for how He had Dennis kick me in the pants and how He cleared the room so I could present the Gospel to my dying friend. 

I do not know if Amanda needed to hear the Gospel and pray that prayer or if I needed to be obedient to God’s calling or both. What I do know is I could not have waited much longer. Amanda died less than 48 hours later on Easter Sunday.