How Is Your Urgency?

How Is Your Urgency?: By Lea Lockhart

I was rereading a page in one of my old journals. It was an update of a time when Allen had been in the hospital for a few days, but the update wasn’t about Allen; it was actually an update about his hospital roommate at the time. His name was Tony and by his strong accent, we knew he was definitely from Jersey. He looked like a very weak old man, but despite the fact that Tony was very ill, with tubes running here and there, Allen and I got to know him pretty well over the three days.

It’s been said that I don’t know a stranger and that I could probably get a brick wall to talk back to me. Tony seemed to be quite the talker as well, so we hit it off.  By his own confession, it didn’t take long for me to become aware that he was not a believer. He, like so many, said he believed in God but that was the end of it. Sadly, he did not believe in Jesus, the Savior.

Now, to look at Tony one might have thought, as did I, that he could possibly be leaving this earth in the very near future because of his frailty. As I talked to Tony, it was like an alarm went off in my heart… this man needed to hear the Gospel. He needed to know the truth. It was like the building was on fire and I needed help. I immediately called my friends (Tim and Chris), told them about Tony and how he had some questions and how he needed to hear the Gospel rightly and…. he needed to hear it immediately!  Tony had been terribly misinformed.

Can you believe that my friends dropped what they were doing and came down to Wuesthoff Hospital where they answered Tony’s questions, shared the Gospel with him and prayed for him? Now, looking back, I don’t know why I didn’t share the Gospel with him as they did. I was capable; I mean I knew the Gospel…. It is the good news of Jesus Christ. I knew the good news because I am a Christian. Why didn’t I? After all, I’m quick to share other topics of exciting good news… just read my Facebook..  Why didn’t I? Was it a lack of confidence?  Fear of man?  I don’t really remember, but my heart was in turmoil thinking that Tony could die at any time and if he did, he’d never know the truth. This was urgent and I was so grateful that my friends were so kind and gracious to me. They embraced my emergency and came to share the most important news of all with our new friend..

So, Allen was discharged from the hospital and all was well. Thank you Lord!  Tony and I exchanged email addresses to keep in touch. I told him that I would be praying for his physical and spiritual health. Tony had his questions answered and heard the good news, but he wasn’t convinced yet.

I kept in touch with Tony periodically. He had regained his physical health, but his spiritual health was still gravely ill. I would tell him that I was praying for him.

As I reread this old journal entry, my heart leaped with joy as I had written about receiving an email from Tony and how God had graciously softened his heart and drew Tony’s heart to himself. Tony was at last a believer in Christ. I’ve since lost contact with Tony and who knows, maybe he is now in the presence of our Savior and is no longer suffering physically or spiritually.

As I’ve been thinking about this, I’m so thankful to God and I’m so thankful for my caring friends. However, I realize that I’m not viewing others spiritual health quite as urgent as I did Tony’s? Let’s face it, all of us are one breath away from eternity. I’m praying that I view other lost souls as urgent as I did Tony’s back then, but this time I want to be the one to share the good news of Christ. So, I must ask….how is your urgency? Heavenly Father, please give me/us a heart for lost souls. Please open doors and give us opportunities to share. Please give us the boldness to speak. Thank you my God and Savior Jesus Christ!