Just in Time

You never know how a chance encounter with someone will turn out. A few weeks ago someone asked me to visit a stranger in the hospital. His name is Fred. Fred had led a rough life, by his own admission. Now he had cirrhosis of the liver. I helped him place his faith in Jesus and trust in Him. Well I just learned that Fred went home to be with Jesus yesterday. I had visited with him last Saturday, he had been in the hospital a week for observation. He had visited the church once. He loved everyone. All he could talk about was how nice everyone was to him and how nice it was to be in a place where people really loved you. All Fred wanted to do was try to make amends for his life in some way. When I left the last thing that I told him was this. "Fred, God wants you to finish the race. How it ends is up to Him, all He wants you to do is finish strong, finish well, don't give up." With that I prayed with him, he gave me his heart felt thanks, a few vanilla wafers and I said goodbye, with no idea it would be the last time.