I hadn't heard anything from my friend for a few months. That was nothing out of the ordinary. Carl wouldn't keep in touch, but whenever we met or spoke on the telephone, it was as though we were always together.
It was a shock when I got an email from his wife last weekend saying that he only had a few days left to live. He has in fact died; last Monday morning.
I managed to talk to his wife last night. She is incredibly strong and confident that her husband is with Jesus. That's great because he believed that that's where he would go. He'd been on the way with Jesus for most of his life. I met him more 20 years ago and then he was a church leader, planting a church in a very difficult situation in Austria.
I remember them giving us a bed for the night when we were on our way to Slovenia. Then they moved back to England and we worked together on a number of projects in Eastern Europe and Asia.
As I am currently planning another project in the middle east, I had made a mental note to get in touch with Carl and ask if he would support here too.
I was too late.
The whole thing comes a shock and just reminds me how fragile my life is: here today, gone tomorrow.
It also challenges me to make the most of my life starting NOW!
As I think of my dad dying at 69 and his dad dying at 67 and his dad dying at 57, I realise that I might not have all that much time left.
These are sober thoughts, but nothing is more certain than death.
I have made a quality decision to live out each day to the glory of God and be ready for departure at any time.
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