A few months back, Glenn and I got a call while in a restaurant that two men we love, an aged father and very sick (stage four) 64-year-old son, were ready to be baptized. We hurried over and, realizing our baptistry had a problem, were busy heating water on the stove to add to the frigid baptistry water. There were complications in the small things (…It took three men to immerse the aged father,) But the big thing—the salvation of two precious souls—was mercifully achieved that night. You can read about that here: https://thecolleyhouse.org/the-new-younger-brother
Jessie is the father. Jessie Neal is the son. Neal died last week and, yesterday, I attended his funeral. I was taken aback when I peered into the casket and saw this very marked-up copy of the Word. Neal’s mother, sitting on a stool beside the casket, said,, “He wanted it to be opened to Acts 2. He sat through every live-stream with Bible and notebook and pen in hand and he listened and diligently took notes every single time.”
The open page was not the only page that was marked and re-marked. The amazing thing about this Bible was that all the marking had occurred within a relatively short time. His mother explained that he just started studying when he knew his time on earth was short. Every marking in the Bible and all those notebooks were made in just a few short months prior to his death! What if we all studied this diligently and took the blessings of deep study into lives that, though His mercies, get to continue on for years? What would be the sum of the souls we could influence?
I’m so thankful for that night when Jessie Neal, after studying deeply, said to his dad “I’m ready to go and be baptized. Are you coming with me?” I had spoken with Jessie Partridge, Neal’s dad on more than one occasion, about his soul. He knew truth. he had attended the services with his wife, Jeanette, for many years. But Jessie Partridge would not listen to me. He was a always kind and polite, but he was indifferent to the urgency of salvation.
It took his dying son’s pointed question to move him to the waters of baptism. That night, when they were buried with Christ, of course, was the focus of Glenn’s remarks at this funeral. As of last week, no other day in Jessie Neal’s life really mattered. His race cars and motorcycles and the country music of his younger years were, suddenly, utterly irrelevant. It just mattered that he had died in Christ. That’s all.
I’m so thankful for Matthew 20:1-16, where the Lord of the vineyard made it clear that those who labor from the latest hour in the day, are mercifully give the eternal reward. Neal was not ever able to be a great elder or preacher. He never led a song or a public prayer. But, then, none of us ever give anything valuable to our God who needs nothing. Neal Just gave what he had, once he surrendered his will.
I’m so thankful that Ezra, my ten-year-old grandson, was beside the grave and witnessed the military honors being given to Jessie Neal. Ezra was impressed, having never seen that before. But I’m a thousand times more thankful that Ezra was sitting in the wings off the stage of that funeral home, a few feet from his grandfather who was conducting the service, as Ezra heard about the night Jessie Neal was baptized into Christ and and about how that one event is the only one that matters now.
I’m thankful that two of our elders were pall-bearers. As they walked to the front to carry that body to its resting place, I thought about how differently this service would look if it had not been for that night in those frigid waters.
Are you someone who can start working in the vineyard today? Even if it is a late hour in your life, heaven can still be yours. I‘d love the privilege of opening up the Word with you. Oh, there’s a lot of little fires to put out in my life and yours right now. I know you are busy. But none of those little fires holds a candle to the eternal fire that can be extinguished for those who are still on time’s side of eternity. Let’s talk about the one thing that will matter when you leave this world.