{"id":1260,"date":"2014-02-06T03:16:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-06T03:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/2014\/02\/06\/jimmy\/"},"modified":"2014-02-06T03:16:00","modified_gmt":"2014-02-06T03:16:00","slug":"jimmy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kinshipradio.org\/home\/jimmy\/","title":{"rendered":"Jimmy"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, the \u201cright time\u201d is now. Today is the day of salvation. <\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n

(2 Corinthians 6:2b, NLT)<\/o:p><\/b><\/span><\/span>
<\/span>
Last week, I received an email that Jimmy (not his real name) had died.<\/o:p><\/span>
<\/span>
And it stopped me in my tracks.<\/o:p><\/span>
<\/span>
See, Jimmy wasn\u2019t that old. He had a wife and two children. <\/o:p><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

I never saw him smoke, I never saw him drunk, he seemed physically fit, and he was not afraid of a hard day\u2019s work.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span>
His obituary offered no explanation other than he died unexpectedly of natural causes.<\/o:p><\/span>
<\/span>
Jimmy was kind and considerate, he wasn\u2019t loud or brash, he had a good sense of humor, I never heard him curse even when others around him were doing so without restraint, and I never heard him put another person down. In fact, I remember times when he had an opportunity to say something bad about somebody else and he purposely stopped himself from doing so.<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n

We all liked Jimmy. By all accounts, he was a good man.<\/o:p><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span>
But the part of Jimmy\u2019s passing that stills eats at me is I don\u2019t know if Jimmy knew Jesus. <\/o:p><\/span>
<\/span>
Jimmy and I were not close friends. We were acquaintances. I only saw him during the summer when I was helping run the church concession stand at the ball diamond and he was playing softball. When he was done playing, he\u2019d buy a hamburger. He liked fried onions on it. Jimmy was a \u201cKeep the change\u201d guy.<\/o:p><\/span>
<\/span>
We had talked about God a little bit here and there, but I was trying not to be pushy. I could tell he wasn\u2019t anti-God, but it didn\u2019t seem like Jesus was a big part of his life. I really didn\u2019t know, but I did not want to force Jesus down Jimmy\u2019s throat\u2014and I thought there was plenty of time. <\/o:p><\/i><\/b><\/span>
<\/span>
Then, as I was listening to the new Casting Crowns album, the lyrics to \u201cLove You with the Truth\u201d hit me like a brick:<\/o:p><\/span>
<\/span><\/span>
For the longest time, I believed the lie<\/o:p><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span>
That I\u2019m not a strong enough believer
To be the friend that can take your hand
And lead you straight to Jesus.
I\u2019m waiting on the preachers, singers, and the teachers
To string the perfect words together
But every single time I have to say goodbye
I wonder will this be the last time.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span>
I can\u2019t call myself your friend and walk away.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span>
When we love, we earn the right to speak the truth.
When we speak truth, we show the world we truly love.
I\u2019m not pointing my finger, I\u2019m holding out my hand.
I lay it all on the line now to see God save my friend.
Let my life and my words be the proof
I\u2019m gonna love you with the truth.
Gonna love you with the truth.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span>
Yes, God is love, but God is just
And we are separated in our darkness.
So God let Him who knew no sin
To become sin to make us right with Him.
It\u2019s not about religion or earning God\u2019s forgiveness
Or magic prayers or new behavior.
It\u2019s all about your heart, He\u2019ll meet you where you are
Turn from your sin and trust in Christ as Lord.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span>
Jesus is the truth, the life, the way.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/span>
How I\u2019ve prayed for this moment, that you would finally see
That God is more than religion, a stained-glass fantasy.
And how I\u2019ve prayed for the courage, for my silent faith to speak
Or that God would just send you a better friend than me.<\/o:p><\/span><\/span>
<\/span><\/b><\/span>
Today\u2019s Praise<\/o:p><\/span><\/span><\/b>
\u201cFor God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 ESV)<\/b><\/o:p><\/span><\/b><\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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