Paths That Seldom Meet

We'll meet agin my friend :)

4Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted. 5But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
Isaiah 53: 4 - 6 NKJV

Grief is never a wonderous thing.  However, it seems that this past year that I have been witness ot my own share of it.  Today I received the news that a good friend of ours had passed away.  Now, it's no secret that such news often brings instant sorrow, but I was comforted by the kind words of Dennis as he announced our dear friends passing.  For indeed his earthly body has been left behind.  However, the spirt identity of our friend Tom, the very spirit of Christ Jesus in him will be in his Lords presence for eternity.  Indeed, I fully expect to greet my freind on those shores when my time comes to leave this world behind.  It is with sadness, however, that I did not have the opprtunity to see him one last time.  Yes, there had been plenty of times to reconnect with Tom, but our paths seldom seemed to cross.  I had my life and he certainly had his.  Despite all that was going on in our lives, there was always tomorow.  Now that tomorow will never come.  The next time I see my friend we will both be in the presence of our Lord.  It is then that our paths will meet at last.  They say that time waits for no man, and it certainly didn't for me.  I had every intention to visit Tom when I heard that he was sick, but there would akways be tomorow for such things.  Today is for us and our daily life, tomorow we can tend to other things.  We do well to remember that we are not guaranteed tomorow.  For if God wills, we may all enjoy the adventures of the next day.

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.
2 Corinthians 1: 3 - 5 NKJV

One comment I made to Dennis when he told me of Toms passing was that he had always been nice to me.  Indeed, Tom Reilly had a way of engaging others for Christ Jesus.  I recall many a conversation in a Sunday morning bible study class where Tom would grace us with his insight of not only scripture but of his years of experience in talking to others about Jesus.  There are very few people that I know who can engage almost anyone in a conversation about God, Tom Reilly was one of those people.  I came to enjoy his comments and insight because I would learn something new from him each week.  However, I also saw the frustration of others when he would talk of the God he loved.  For when Tom got to talking about God he tackled it like a dog on a bone and NOBODY was going to stop him from telling others about the joy which he found in Jesus.  Toms attitude seemed to be that everyone needed to hear of his Lords love and grace, and he wasted no time in doing just that.  I suppose one could see him as a one man traveling salvation revival.  Anyone who met him could not spend a few minutes with him without seeing his love and devotion to his savior.
I remember the last time I talked with Tom as we met over coffee just after my mother passed.  Knowing my mom, he reassured me that she was definately in her Lords presence.  Before we parted, Tom presnted me with a little pocket knife which I still have today.  We talked of meeting up again when we were both free.  Our paths would never again cross...there was always tomorow.

~Scott~