You Never Know What A Day Will Bring

 We had settled for the evening preparing to eat dinner when my phone rang. It was dear friend and former college roommate. He called with tragic news. One of our college classmates died and he wanted to know if I knew about it since I am close to the family. I had not heard anything. 

We called him "Tex." He was a cowboy. Not the pretend kind with the hat and boots. He grew up roping and ranching with his father. He knew all the lingo. Wore starched wranglers, button down shirts and boots. We became friends when God called him to preach. We were polar opposites. He was gregarious and me more introverted. He could charm anyone. He had blue eyes and a smile as broad as west Texas from where he came. He could make us laugh. He was the life of the party. I seldom even showed up to the party but somehow God connected us. 

One semester we dropped a sofa from his third story dorm room by looping two lariat ropes around each end and lowering it down. That sure made a lot more sense to us than carrying it down three flights of stairs. I guess it never dawned on us that we could drop it. It made it safely to the bottom. 

Tex got a small pastorate while in college. His father was a pastor. God used Tex. I still remember meeting his father on the campus of Howard Payne University. That struck up a friendship between a seasoned pastor and a novice tat has lasted over three decades Tex and I shared many meals and private conversations. We lived together one summer in a house with a few other guys. Our bond was tight. 

Tex got bit by a mosquito on 2015. He contracted West Nile virus. He nearly died. The virus attacked his brain causing severe brain trauma. From that point on he never lived one second without severe migraine headaches. He averaged about two to three hours of sleep a night for the past eight years. 

Tex had to retire from preaching as a young man. He was just hitting his stride He could not concentrate and be around large crowds of people for extended periods. It drained him. The few times I was around him the last few years his personality had changed. He did not have the same sparkle in his blue eyes and prolonged conversations really taxed him. He often had to get up and walk away to not have to concentrate making is constant headaches even more severe. He suffered night and day. Still he pushed on. He started a thriving business. Worked hard and saw it grow despite his constant pain. 

News of his death shocked me. I just talked to Tex's dad a few hours before Tex died. It is all surreal. Tex was actually two years younger than me. He was so beloved his memorial service will be held in the high school gymnasium. It is a sad time. My brother is no longer suffering. He is safe in the arms of Jesus. His first sight after eight years of chronic pain was Jesus. He instantly was pain free for the first time in a long time. He leaves behind a broken shell of a body, a beloved wife, three grown daughters and two loving parents,  but his soul his free. No more pain. No more tears/ My brother is free. I am shocked and saddened by his sudden home going. I am also rejoicing. 

My heart hurts for the grieving family left behind. I celebrate that my friend is with Jesus. 

Tex's father told me his back door opened and a sheriff's deputy walked in. The father knew instantly something bad was wrong. The deputy informed his oldest son was dead. It was Tex's father who told me, "You never know what a day will bring. What a knock on the door or the ring of the telephone will bring. We have cried gallons of tears. We have an inner peace though."

I am not sure what I would say or how I would respond in that situation. I hope I would hold to my faith dearly. I hope I would not cave in and crater. I hope I would cling to Jesus and stand firm in the faith even on those days when you never know what it will bring. Some days triumphs. Some days tragedies. God is still on the throne for both.