Sharing Jesus with Bob

Bob is an elderly man from my community who visited me at church the other day. I had never met Bob before our unscheduled introduction that morning, but I quickly fell in love with him. Bob is 82, frail, and suffering in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's Disease. Bob's precious little wife, Darlene drove him to church to "meet with a minister". I happen to be the only one available at the time...and so we met.

Bob and Darlene and I sat in the chapel, and I listened as the two of them explained their situation to me. It goes like this:

Bob was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease 6 years ago. He has been functioning quite well with it, all things considered, but it has recently begun to take him over. Darlene's voice quivered with what sounded to me like deep agony as she explained that in the last 8 months Bob's disease has robbed him of a lifetime of relationships and memories. And what's more is the fact that Bob knows it. Though he can't tell you his children's names or recognize their faces, Bob told me that he sees his children and is reminded of them frequently enough to realize that there are years of his life that have been deleted from his recollection. And that's when Bob said something that melted my heart...He said, "The only memories that I have left are from my wedding day and when Jesus saved me, the two most important days of my life."

Darlene went on to explain that she and Bob had been speaking with one another about those two events and how she is determined to do everything in her power to extend the life of those memories. That's when Bob spoke again saying, "Evidently I've forgotten about a lot of people, but I don't want to forget about Jesus. I don't want to live a single day having forgotten Jesus." And then he began to cry. Darlene then spoke up and said that the real purpose of visiting me was to ask me if I would consider visiting them at their house every day to share the Gospel with Bob. Bob said, "That way even if I forget, you can tell me about His cross, and I'll listen...I'll surely listen."

Needless to say, I accepted. As God is my witness, I am going to go share Jesus with Bob every day that he has left, and it will be my blessed priveledge to remind this beloved child of the King that, in Christ, there is grace enough for him.

By the way, Bob helped me remember something today...I don't want to live a single day having forgotten Jesus, either. The grass may wither and the flowers may fall and relationships may come and relationships may go, but I don't want to live a single day without Jesus. He is everything to me.

Grace and Peace