Sunday, March 14, 1999
Sunday, March 14, 1999
If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
(Psalms 139:8
NRSV)
"When Jack got on the airplane to leave for Saudi Arabia," his mother recalled, "he gave Lisa, his
fiancee, a bride's book, so they could be planning the wedding." Perhaps the most moving
moment of Shirley's witness came when she said, "I speak to you only from my heart, and out of
my pain, because only God can give me the strength to stand here before you and say these
words. But they're so important. Each of you has the decision to make that my son made. And
this is the time when you have a choice, and we never know how long we'll have to make that
decision."
Three weeks before John Morgan was killed in action, half a world from home, he wrote two
letters to his family, "just in case." Shirley and her family gathered together and read the letters
after they received the word that their son had been killed. John's words reassured his family.
John ended his letter with these words, "in case you have to open this, please don't worry. I am
all right...Now I know something you don't know--what heaven's like!"
Ronald Newhouse, Texas, USA
At the Billy Graham crusade in Seattle Shirley Lansing told about the death of her son. Her story
is very moving. She told the crowd, "I come with a story about my son, John Kendall Morgan,
Warrant Officer One, United States Army, serving in Operation Desert Storm." Shirley told the
crowd that her son, Jack, had committed his life to Jesus at an early age. "At that time," she said,
"it didn't seem terribly important, but it was." "A few weeks ago," Shirley told the crowd, "two
officers came to our door and told us they regretted to inform us that our son had been killed in
action when his helicopter was shot down by hostile Iraqi fire." It was a tragedy. A young life
had been lost.
Prayer: Loving God, give me a touch of heaven today. Amen.
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