My
son
George died four days after his 24th birthday in
October 1993. He
was coming home for a visit. On
the way, he stepped into the wrong street at the wrong time. He
was shot once in the forehead and was instantly brain-dead (although
the hospital kept him on life support for several days). I
did not learn of his death until the following evening.
My husband
and I were spending the weekend in the historical resort town of St.
Augustine, Florida, one of my very favorite places in the
world.
On Saturday morning (we didn't know that George had died the night
before) we went shopping at The Oldest Drug Store. I was
naturally attracted to their Precious Moments figurines, as I am a
collector.
I was drawn to one specific figurine and picked it up to
examine. I admired it, then put it down and moved
on. But I couldn't get it out of my mind. Suddenly,
the oddest thing happened. My mind went completely blank and
I couldn't remember anything about the figurine. "Was it an
angel?" I thought blankly. I returned to the
figurine and picked it up again. Satisfied that it was an
angel, I again moved on. But--another eerie blackout--and I
wondered, "Were those wings?" I picked it up again,
bewildered by the strangeness of what was happening, and closely
examined the piece. It depicted a small boy hitchhiking,
holding a sign that read "Going Home." An angel in a car was
stopping to pick up the little hitchhiker. The license plates
on the angel's car read "Heaven Bound."
A psychologist once told me that he had never seen anyone else so
effective at mentally blocking out things that I did not want to deal
with. Evidently I was attempting to block out God's gentle
announcement of George's death.
Later I learned that my mother had visited a gift shop in Live Oak,
Florida that same morning. She, too, had been curiously
attracted to the identical figurine.
George and his sister Anna had visited me for several days in November,
1990. While they were there, they went with me to the
Wednesday night service at the little church I attended.
After the service Anna and I were talking with the other church members
when I noticed that George was not with us. I looked around
and saw him sitting on the back pew engaged in earnest conversation
with the pastor. The pastor had his Bible open, explaining
scriptures to George. Then someone spoke to me and,
distracted, I continued introducing Anna around.
Suddenly George and the pastor were by my side, beaming, as they told
me that George had committed his life to Jesus.
George spent a lot of time with my parents the next two days,
discussing God and the Bible. Mom and Dad were both
Christians who had walked closely with the Lord for many
years. They recognized that George had experienced a genuine
conversion to Christ.
Mom gave him a book entitled Angels on Assignment.
The book was an in-depth look at how God has used angels down through
the ages to minister to and protect His people. It also
presented God's complete plan of salvation, even explaining how the Old
Testament Feasts foreshadowed and portrayed Christ's redemption.
It also included an illustration that I will never forget. It
showed a figure surrounded by sin, with the caption "What we
see." It then showed a canopy representing the Blood of Jesus
completely covering the stick figure and his sin. Then it
read, "What God sees," and showed the view from Heaven--a bright
covering which represented the righteousness of Christ.
I gave George a Bible in which I had underlined my favorite salvation
and assurance passages. Since I knew that it might be a long
time before I saw him again, I also wrote all the practical Christian
advice I could think of on the blank pages in the back. The
only item that I can recall now is, "Keep your eyes on God, and not on
man. Man will always disappoint you. God never will."
When George's Dad opened his suitcase after he died, there was no Bible
inside. George had dyslexia. Reading the King James
Version must have been very difficult for him. However, right
on top of his clothing was a dog-eared, well-worn copy of Angels on
Assignment.
After George's death, my mother told me that during his and Anna's last
visit, she had a profound sense that she would not see one of them
again, but she was unable to determine which one. She assumed
it was Anna, as she was in the Army and had just received orders to
Germany.
In the months following George's death, I worried about whether or not
he had really gone to Heaven. I remembered the
figurine I had seen in St. Augustine. In fact, one of my sisters later
bought it for me. It was only then that I learned its
history. The artist, Samuel J. Butcher, had created it after his own
young son had died.
But I knew that George hadn't lived a spotless Christian
life. So I still wondered if he had really gone to
Heaven. Then one day, God spoke unmistakably to my spirit,
"To whom much is given, much will be required. To whom little
is given, little will be required." George had certainly been
given very little in the way of spiritual instruction.
Therefore, I realized that God would require little of him. I
was comforted.
However, I still wasn't sure. Then I got a phone call from
Anna. She had just spoken to George's dearest friend,
Jimmy. Jimmy told her that he used to tease George about
being a Bible thumper, because he always wanted to talk about the
Bible. I was elated as I recalled the verse, "Out
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks."
Months passed. Occasionally I would still ask, "God, is
George really in Heaven with you?"
My answer came unexpectedly. I was reading Billy Graham's
book, Angels. In the chapter on the death
angel, I read, "Death for the Christian cuts the cord that holds us
captive in this present evil world so that angels may transport
believers to their heavenly inheritance."
Suddenly I was caught up into a strange, rushing silence.
Time stood still. The words leaped off the page in bold
print. Then clearly, unmistakably, I heard God say to me,
"That is what happened to George."
There have been no more supernatural assurances since then.
None are needed. I am now absolutely certain, beyond any
shadow of doubt, that George is secure in the eternal, loving presence
of his Heavenly Father.
And all thy children shall be taught
of the Lord,
and great shall be the peace of thy children. Isaiah
54:13
