Going Home Soon: A Short Story

Nothing seemed unusual. He began his day as was his custom. He sat down with his wife, read a devotional, said a short prayer, and had a small breakfast. A few moments later, he kissed her and went out the door.

While on his way, he texted a few friends with updates on the day and asked if anyone needed any prayer, and then he was at work. There was nothing remarkable about his schedule. A meeting first thing in the morning, and then some tedious detail work before lunch. At lunch, he pulled out his phone while he ate, scrolled social media, and then finished his time reading a Kindle book he had recently downloaded. It was a biography of a Christian from the 1800s.

In the afternoon, he needed to navigate a few personalities to finish one aspect of his work. It cost him some political capital, but he was able to complete the job. There were several things causing him stress. He had a deadline tomorrow for a project where he still needed to figure out a complex issue and didn’t know how to do it. He asked the Lord for help, and by the end of the day, it was 90% complete. He could finish the rest tomorrow.

He was also worried about his car; it had not been running right, and he didn’t know where to get the money to fix it. Money had been tight because he had been helping his married son with medical expenses. His heart felt the weight of his condition every time he thought about him.

The workday had ended, but there was an elder meeting that night at the church where he served. Due to the distance, running home wasn’t worth the time, so he sat down at a fast-food restaurant for a quick bite. He called his wife to check-in. She had also been busy all day, so it was good to connect. He loved her dearly even though the busyness of life didn’t always allow him to show her as much as he wanted. But she knew it.

The elder meeting always started with prayer. He asked them to pray for several things on his heart, and he wholeheartedly prayed for the others. That night, besides the usual business, they had a heartbreaking issue of how to support a member whose son had been getting into drugs and was walking away from the faith. The drugs had begun to take over. He had known him since the young man was a child, and his heart broke to see him suffering in his own sinfulness.

It hit home because, when he was young, something similar happened to him. He was raised Christian, but in his early 20s, he wandered far from the Lord. The lust of the eyes led him away, and the lust of the flesh took him even further, but he was the Lord’s child, and God disciplined him. The Father laid him low and called him back home. It was his deepest and darkest regret in life, but it was also a testimony that the Lord repeatedly used to call others to himself. He let the elders know he would reach out to the young man.

It was now 8:00 p.m., and the meeting adjourned. He was the last one to leave, and as he buckled his seatbelt, a blinding light crossed his eyes. There was a moment of intense pain, and then he sat there semi-conscious, unable to move. He was having a massive stroke. He thought, “This is it. I am going home now.”

He wished he could say goodbye to everyone he loved but was strangely content, knowing that God’s will is always best. He had done his best to be a faithful man of God, and every shortcoming, every sin, and every evil deed had been washed clean by the blood of his Savior.

As he faded out of consciousness, he thought, “I had no idea today would be the day.” I never realized it would be so soon. At that moment, the stress of his work, his son’s medical condition, the young man, and even the concern for his wife faded into a peace that passed all understanding. All his concerns were in the hands of his Heavenly Father. His final prayer before he died was, “Let my death serve as a reminder to all who hear of it. They need to be ready because they, too, will be going home soon.

-D. Eaton