"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever
I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always,
even unto the end of the world. Amen."
- Matthew 28:19-20

We're here.  The final plague.  God has taught me truth after truth.  I thought I knew it all.  I thought I could just sit back and breeze through life until the Lord called me home.  I was wrong.  

Plague #10, as those who know Old Testament History can verify, was the worst of all.  In my case, the same is true.

Let me put things into context for you.  The final plague that I am going to share with you ACTUALLY CAME FIRST.  Plague #10 actually occurred just a few short weeks after I graduated high school.

During my high school years I shared most of my "homeroom" classes with a guy named Jack Bryant.  (Name has been changed).  Since Jack's last name was alphabetically found near my last name, we often sat near each other.  Jack was a really nice guy.  He was muscular guy, our best football player.  He was also tough as nails...no one wanted to tangle with him.  But, despite his macho exterior, inside was a seldom seen, soft-hearted guy.  I got to know him pretty well through the years we spent together in high school and although we didn't "hang out" together, I thought a lot of him.  He had a lot of things going for him, I thought maybe he would end playing football at some Junior College.

I remember the excitement of  graduation night as we stood near each other, smiling and generally enthusiastic about finally receiving our diplomas.  It was an exciting time, filled with hopes and dreams and great expectations of what the future would hold for us all.  

Summer kind of crept along - you know the kind of summer I'm talking about.  Right after graduation, things seemed to go at a breakneck speed as things began to change for all of us, but they also seem to move at a snail's pace as wives, children and careers still seemed so far away.

It was one of those humid, sticky, Arkansas summer nights when my sister entered my bedroom and woke me.  When I saw the tears streaming from her face, I knew something bad had happened.  I instantly sat up and asked, "What's wrong?"  With a shaky voice, and amidst sobs, my sister said softly, "Jack Bryant committed suicide tonight."

I was stunned.  I tried to pull myself together and hoped that it was all just an ugly nightmare...but it wasn't.  Jack was dead.  A self-inflicted gunshot wound claimed his life at age 18.

IT SEEMED LIKE AN ETERNITY as I lay there in my bed that night.  I tried to remember when we last had talked together.  Had he gave any signs?  Was there any indication?  Could I have helped?  And the big question, why?  Why did he do it?  Why?  Why?  Why?

Looking back, the only reason I can find is that he did not have the peace and joy found only in Jesus Christ.  A girl breaking up with you isn't a reason to die.  An argument with parents isn't a reason to end your life.  Even unhappy circumstances don't warrant suicide.  Jack died because he didn't have the peace, he didn't have the joy...he didn't know about the love of Jesus Christ.

I want you to think about something, my friend.  During the past nine devotionals you have read the words "IT SEEMED LIKE AN ETERNITY."    During each of the previous nine plagues  time seemed to stand still.  Each brought its share of hurt and pain.  It just seemed like they would never end.  Through each and every one of those plagues that seemed like an eternity, through the past two weeks as you have read through each daily devotional, through the time it has taken you to read today's devotional, through every second of the past twelve years, my friend Jack Bryant, presumably, has been in torment in a place called hell.  And he's never getting out.  One million years from now he'll still be suffering.

Does that scare you?  Does it hurt and pain you?  It does me and I hope it does you too, because there are Jack Bryant's all around us.  People who are hurting.  People who are dying.  People who are going to hell.  It's our responsibility to tell them about Jesus.

And why wouldn't we want to?  We have the answer to their pain.  We know the One who can ease their hurting, who can heal their broken heart.  Why would we keep that to ourselves?

I often think about Jack Bryant.  I wonder, "Could I have made a difference?  What if I had been the Christian influence that I could have been?  Would Jack be alive?  Would Jack have accepted Christ?"

What's the lesson in the final plague?  Our trials may seem like an eternity, but if someone dies without Jesus Christ, it won't just seem like an eternity in pain, it will be one.

The Lord has commissioned us to "Go."  Go tell others about the saving grace offered so freely to all who will receive.  Tell them verbally, show them with our lives, do whatever we have to do, but God help us, we've go to tell them about Jesus.  

I want you to think about someone who you know is lost.   Friend, family member, co-worker, neighbor...get someone in your mind.  Are you willing to tell them about Jesus today?  Show them this devotional, share your testimony, tell them what Christ means to you...just don't let them enter into eternity without at least trying one more time.

I don't have a flowery finish.  I don't have a clever thought to wrap this up with, nor do I have some well turned phrase.  I think Christ said it best on this one..."Go."
 
P.S. Today's devotional was the final one in the IT SEEMED LIKE AN ETERNITY series.  While it's the end of the series, God continues to teach me lessons about the Christian life.  Some are learned easy, while others require an occassional plague.  The Christian life is a journey, and you never really stop learning until the journey's over.  "For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." - 2 Tim 1:12 (KJV)

Have a "Wonderful DAY in Christ,"
Jimmy D. Brown
\o/ Praise Jesus!