Yesterday

For many hours yesterday morning and again a few hours last night there were many police officers and vehicles here, making a lot of clomping up and down stairs noise. I won't go into details (partly cause I don't have many) but the bottom line is that one of our upstairs neighbors passed away between Saturday night and Sunday morning. He was a young man, a few years younger than me, and he had a very sweet little son that stayed with him sometimes. I would see them come and go (our patio door faces the parking lot and we see everyone come and go) and exchanged hellos in the hallway once or twice. He struck me as someone very lost, and I always wished there would be a moment, maybe facilitated by our kids, that I could talk to him about the Lord, invite him to bring his son to the awesome kid's ministry at The Chapel. Plant seeds. But there wasn't. And now I honestly am wracked with regret that I waited for an opportunity instead of created one. He died. He's gone. That chance is gone forever and one day I will have to account for why I didn't share the Lord with him in any small way, let alone a big way. And it's not me who suffers, it's him. And maybe it's the hell study my home group is doing right now that has brought it so poignantly to the forefront of my mind, but I cannot think about anything else than the reality that he is very likely in hell.

I'm not great at random evangelism. I'm not great at seizing moments with strangers. But today, more than ever in my life, I feel like that is not an excuse. At least not a good one. I failed this person who lived a few stairs away from me. And I would like to not do that again. Yesterday sort of a wake up call and challenge to me. Not to speak to every single person who I pass by randomly, shouting "Let me tell you about Jesus!!!!" but to make opportunities instead of wait for them, be more aware of the peripheral people in my life, and most of all, to remember the urgency of the matter. There's no guarantee you'll get the moment tomorrow, plant the seed today.

Remember that we are all given endless opportunities to plant seeds, build relationships, and grow the Kingdom every single day. And it's completely on us if we take advantage of that or not, and someday we will all have to explain why we let some of those opportunities pass by.