Jeff is a man I loved deeper and deeper every time I visited him.
Before I married him to my dear Laurie I knew him as a quiet, stoic gentleman.
I loved him even more, though, when My Aunt Carolyn was failing, and Jeff sat with Laurie in the hospital room, himself being cut down by cancer, but there he sat stoic and genuinely true and kind, open to all I said to Carolyn. I saw in his eyes and partially opened mouth that Jeff was soaking in all I said to Carolyn about our dear Jesus who died to save us from DEATH and who became SIN to save us from our eternal curse and condemnation of sin. I especially loved that in Jeff's inner miserable condition and physical pain that day, Jeff CHOSE to sit in a bolt upright uncomfortable hospital chair for his dear bride and her mom, supporting her and them, not worried about himself.
You cannot teach selflessness. You can talk ABOUT what it is to others, but either Christ instills it in YOU or you don't have it. You can never fake selflessness for long. Those closest to you know. So I knew that looking at Jeff care for Laurie and Carolyn I was witnessing Christ in that room, the Heavenly Bridegroom there for His dear Bride, the Church, at all cost to Himself (the bloodied, torn, damned, dead body of Jesus on the cross and in the tomb before He rose again on Easter IS His selfless love, and our Salvation). What an awesome man Jesus is! What an awesome man Jeff IS. I love them both with all my heart!
My love could not grow any deeper, however, than it did on Sunday, March 21st, 2021, one week before Palm Sunday and Holy Week. I came with my own dear son Evan to speak to Jeff in his hospice bed. Laurie, Jake, Jenna and their spouses were present. Jeff was literally a skeleton wrapped by a very thin layer of flesh. Death! Jeff the Person, Man, Soul was still looking & speaking through the last organs functioning on his poor body. Had I not been a pastor for 28 years (now resigned for medical disability), I might have been disturbed by the shock of his appearance from the last time I saw him. Instead, I was so saddened for him, Laurie, the kids.
But I saw in his eyes that same genuine true stoic gentleman. It truly was one of the most beautiful things I've observed in my life! Jeff's optimism, selflessness, character, all that he represented and passed down to his kids and gave to his dear bride had been tested by the fires of sickness, pain, misery, heartache, disappointment, disillusionment, and now death (none of these coming from God), and there in Jeff's eyes I saw that ALL these things are was really him. Jeff is all that he represented and handed down, AND STILL IS (more on that below). I love Jeff most of all for his authenticity, as was so obvious by how graciously he received and welcomed me on March 21st.
Then came the best part of our visit, and this is your part as you read this. Evan read Scripture after Scripture and I proclaimed to Jeff "Thus saith the Lord!" after each reading. I didn't explain each text. I spoke each Word of God into Jeff.
When you and I are laying on the threshold of death, and every stage of death/life before that day, we don't need to learn ABOUT God; we need Christ to come to us and SPEAK LIFE INTO US! By comparison, if a toddler is drowning nearby, do we use that occasion to explain to him how a life-vest works and ask if that toddler wants to commit himself to that vest? I wouldn't. I'd jump in if possible and grab the little guy, strap the life-vest on him, and drag him to the boat. That's Jesus' mindset for us with sin and death! He is Savior more than Lecturer or Motivational Speaker.
The best part of this proclamation is two fold: sin and death never came from God. He told us humans exactly how to avoid it, but we knew better than He does:
"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you[f] shall surely die.'" [Genesis 2:16-17].
"So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate." [Genesis 3:6-7].
No guys, it wasn't the woman's fault or the devil's/serpent's fault. It was our fault. Adam refused to be husband to his wife that day. Though he was 'with her' and though he had named all the animals so he knew earthly serpents don't speak, he let this demonic creature lure his wife into eating from the Tree of Knowledge.
Adam used his wife as a lab-rat, a cruel self-centered science experiment. If she dropped dead, he'd go to God playing selfless, innocent man and offer another rib for a better wife. She didn't drop dead, so she 'must have become a goddess like satan promised us,' so he ate. The Husband's sin is what ruined creation, ruined life, ruined Jeff. So is your sin and my sin and Jeff's sin now. The best part , then, is God is NOT afflicting us with pain, sin, death. We did this! Now we all have equal need for salvation from all sin and deliverance from our death.
That's John 3:16, God gave us Salvation, no less than His only Son. Jesus' perfect human body for Jeff's ruined, sick, sin-laced body. Jesus' priceless life for Jeff's life, because to God the Father, Jeff is truly and literally priceless. There IS NO value that could equate what Jeff is worth. Jesus' pure soul for Jeff's sin ruined soul. This is the cost for God the Father, the worst cost ever!
God loves His dear Jesus and always has from all eternity. God has loved Jeff more than we could ever describe or comprehend ever since God first designed Jeff's genetic code in His mind before time and creation existed. For God to live with Jeff forever, Jesus must take Jeff's place in sin's death, curse, and condemnation: full removal from the Father's presence! That's what Jesus' 40 day fast in the wilderness began after Jesus received our sin and Jeff's sin in Jesus' baptism, and that's what "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken Me?" from the cross completed! Jesus took Jeff's place in sin and death.
SO! Jeff got Jesus' place in Heaven, at God's right hand, and Jesus spoke this reality into Jeff on March 21st, and again on March 29th, "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me SHALL NEVER DIE!" [John 11:25-26].
JEFF NEVER DIED! Jeff could not die. It was impossible for Jeff to die for Jesus took Jeff's place in death and gave Jeff Jesus' place in Life. Jeff is NOT alive merely in our hearts, minds, or memories and Jeff is not a god looking down upon us from above. Jeff is really alive, just like as we have always known him, only now He is more alive than you've ever seen him, more human than you've ever seen him, more happy and whole than you've ever known him.
SINCE JEFF IS STILL VERY LITERALLY ALIVE, it is both important and wonderful that we not need ever talk about Jeff in the PAST Tense. Jeff is forever present tense alive! And this Jeff is just a little bit more genuine and true than when I knew him on earth, since NOW his sin is now purged from his body and soul leaving ONLY perfect pure Jeff standing right beside perfect, pure Jesus. Two men I love with all my heart.
One saves me. The other one, it will be my pleasure to spend an eternity to get to know through and through after we are reunited. With a man as fine as Jeff, it will take eternity to get know him fully, and I will gladly take that long talking with him and exploring the new forests and streams and animals with him and Laurie and his family and Jesus!
The best part of my March visit with Jeff and Laurie and the kids was guaranteeing them that Jeff would never die. He has not. Neither will you...in Christ!
