I just sat down at my desk to study for next Wed, but I can’t shake something. I literally left my Great Aunts Memorial service to study for PURE next week, and while I sit studying a reoccurring thought goes through my mind…70 years…70 years of chasing, living, and intimately knowing Jesus.

This past Thanksgiving I had the chance to sit with my Aunt and chat over dinner. She had just been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer…but for her life just went on, and there just seemed to be an assurance…I know when its going to end now, that is all that has changed.

At dinner that night a funny thought rolled through my head, ‘I wonder if she remembers the moment she met Jesus?’ The night before was a Wed and we had several people make decisions, so it was at the forefront of my mind and after a few seconds of wondering I vocalized my question. And without hesitation Aunt Fran began to tell me the most amazing story of how she met Jesus.

She was in 4th grade Sunday school at Compton 1st Baptist Church when her teacher shared a simple Gospel message with the class and asked them if anyone wanted to know Jesus. She teared up as she told me how she crawled to her knees folded her hands in put her face into the chair of her desk kneeling as she prayed the sinners prayer.

By now I am choked up at the visual of a little 8-9 year old girl with her hands folded on her knees meeting Jesus for the first time. I think the best part of a story like my Aunt’s is that its didn’t end with that prayer…Her life became a commitment to the Kingdom. In everything she did she was kind and servant hearted. She loved her family and loved others with the same conviction…and the best part she did it for 70 years. She knew Jesus for 7 decades…There are few people in the world that can say that…but the best part is that there are many more people who can say they were touched by her legacy…not because she was a preacher, but because she loved people.

living//PC