Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Can I Go With You?

How can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone telling them? Romans 10:14

I dreamed of Dad last night—actually him and Mom both. It has been so long since I’d been able to talk to them; Dad, because he died seven months ago and Mom because her alzheimer’s took her memory and her ability to communicate quite a while back.

In the months leading to Dad’s death, he had become almost housebound due to the difficulty in maneuvering him into a vehicle. As the clock ticked closer, Dad would say “Can I go with you?” every time someone was going anywhere.

I’d try to take him somewhere every time I was in town and at Thanksgiving I rented a wheelchair-accessible van for three days. We went somewhere twice a day “just to get out.” Despite his pain and exhaustion, his smile beamed through as we drove around looking at Christmas lights or just went to the store to pick up medication.

Last night we were talking about church and Dad kept asking, “Can I go with you?” over and over. "Can I go with you this Sunday?” In my dream I had a sense that time was limited, that he may not make it until Sunday or that it might be his last Sunday in church.

How often we encounter people every day who by something in their actions are saying “Can I go with you this Sunday?” but we never actually invite them because they never actually ask. What if the “Can I go with you?” is a desire to have eternal life but we never share the way.

What if their time is limited and they never make it to Sunday?