I drove across the crest of Neufer Hill this morning and praised God at the glory of his creation. Frost covered trees glistened in the morning sun rising over a gray misty haze in the valley.
I couldn’t keep my soul from crying out in adoration.
Then it gripped me, that reminder that a friend was missing from my world.
The flurry of feelings and thoughts that rushed through my mind were dizzying.
How do you know where he really is.
How can you be sure there is a God and a heaven?
How can you truly know.
You are weak.
Your religion is a crutch.
The intellectual atheistic voices shout at me.
But then God himself reminds me that they are right. Not about Him and heaven and truth, but that I am weak. But he also reminds me that I do not prop myself up with false ideologies and tell myself I am strong. I freely admit that I am weak and it is in this weakness I find strength in the truth, in Him
In Hebrews 11 it says.
1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2This is what the ancients were commended for.
Josh had faith, he had hope, and he was certain of what he did not see.
And that is what I see as Josh’s legacy. As I said last night, Josh was free to be Josh because all of the big questions had been answered.
Is there a God, Yes.
Is there a heaven, again yes.
How do I get there, By recognizing you are a sinner and accepting the fact that Jesus died on the cross, the perfect sinless sacrifice for you sins.
That is all.
We are weak, His strength perfect us.
We don’t accomplish it ourselves, it is what Faith is all about.
And so Josh was able to live, not in a legalistic, holier than thou, jugdmental way, but live freely, being content that God and heaven awaited him.
Josh lived in a way that people saw what being a Christian was really about.
I don’t want to deify him or make him out to be perfect, but that is not what being a Christian is all about. It is about being Jesus to those who don’t know him.
How many people upon meeting Josh for the first time, walked away from that experience with a smile on their face?
Josh reminded people that being a Christian was fun, because we a free. He reminded us that reaching out to others is what being a Christian is all about. He reminded us that the first concern of Christians is valuing other people and enriching their lives. And that is what he accomplished in a mere 16 years.
As someone said last night, he lived more of a life in 16 years than most people do in 60 years.
And so, as I looked out over the valley on my way to school, I was reminded that this valley, this school, is filled with people who need Josh to be here.
He is not, And so my question is
Who is going to be Josh to those people?
Who is going to be Jesus to those people?
I guess it is up to you and to me.
