good advise...

After that talk with my friend the other night, I was searching for some guidance. So, of course I went to the one person who always has good advise, my dad. I told him about what had happened and that I was looking for the right words for my friend.

Months earlier he had told me about a story of how he became a christian. So, I asked him again to tell me the story...

When he and my mom got together, my dad was not a believer. They were living together in the house that my Grandpa had built but hadn't finished. He hadn't finished it because he was struggling with a long drawn out battle with colon cancer. He was about 5 years into his fight with his illness, and it was pretty obvious by that time that he didn't have too much longer to live. My dad had shown interest in being the one to finish the house that Grandpa had started, even though he really didn't have the knowledge he needed to take on such a project. So, as dad worked Grandpa would sit or sometimes lay and teach him. One day while they were working on the house, they took a lunch break. Dad asked Grandpa how he kept his faith in God even though he knew he was dying. Dad couldn't understand how you could continue to believe in a God that would allow you to go through such a devastating illness. How a person could live such a good, honorable life, be good to his family, a church going person, a pillar in their community and still be dealt such an unfair hand in life. Dad asked him that day how he continued to believe. How he knew there was a God. Grandpa answered him like this... he said at the end of my life I know that I have lived the way God has asked me to, living for him, I know where I am going... I have an insurance policy that will lead me to eternal life. If there is no God, and I have lived an honorable life, living to be better than the day before I haven't lost anything.

In part because of that conversation, my dad was lead to accept Jesus into his life. But, more than that conversation, he said that it was the was the way Grandpa lived his life that made him want to know more. It was the example he set, the light that shown through him, the peace that he had because of his love of Jesus, that made my dad want to have that too.

So, Dad told me this... the best thing I can do is continue to be an example. To let the love of Jesus shine through me for others to see, and to continue to pray for my friend each and every day. So simple, yet such good advise! That story of my Grandpa has really touched me. I never knew him, he died before I could. But, I know in a way hearing stories about him like that, he is still teaching us... Thank you dad for sharing that with me!