If Only I Knew He Would Die.....

"If only I knew my son would die, I would have given him all what he wanted!" This was the statement of the mother whose son died three months ago. When Esther and I visited her, she said that it is painful to loose a son. My friend who died, and is her only son, was a believer. My friend had his own moments of discouragement as he shared to me before. He shared that he sometimes does not set a good example. However, his mother and his siblings tell how much he has loved the Lord while he was still alive. One of his cousins who is now a provincial official claims that he was discipled by this friend who died. While he was alive, he left a word to his youngest sister that in case he does not finish the book he was reading (the Bible), he urged his sister and her boyfriend to finish it. His sister, together with her boyfriend, are reading the Bible and are now attending a Christian church. The mother of my friend still has to understand the reason why Jesus Christ died on the cross. At the end of our conversation, she said that she has somehow recovered and is beginning to let it go because she still has children to attend to.

While her statement of "...should have given all my son wanted" is a result of regret, this is not always possible for a Father who knows all that is best for his children. However, the statement of this mother teaches us that: a) We must always take time to love people arround us. We never knew when we will see them again. It may not happen. Sometimes, we withold to show the kind of love God has shown us when we become too concerned with ourselves, work, and what we could get instead of whar we could share. b) We must be thankful that God does not always give what we ask or want. We are grateful that God does not do this to us. If he would answer all that we wish or asked for, many of us, if not all, may be nowhere to be found and would be in a judgement seat for a wrong desire, wish, or prayer.

In my human perspective, since God the Father knew that His one and ONLY Son would die, I thought it must be more painful when you are just anticipating your only blameless son to die? Many parents suffer much for the loss of a son or daughter of two, three, four.... Giving up an only son is too much.... What a merciful God we have!

God sent His Son to die for the undeserving. He never deserved to die, but because of of His love for a world that turned its back on him, he endured all the excruciating pain just to give you and me life. I can only express my deepest gratitude to God!

Let us live with people as if it is the last day we will be with them. Thus, in the end, we will not say , "If only I had known ........"