The Eleventh Hour - It's Never Too Late!

Do you, or your nearest and dearest, know where they're going when end-time sets in? No, I don't mean whether they'll be buried or cremated, though that is a good subject to discuss, so you know their wishes before they die. What I'm thinking of is rather more momentous. Let me explain.

A lady, whom I'd counselled in the past, approached me a week or so ago, to tell me of a new trauma she was experiencing.

'My ex-husband has died,' she said, in a troubled voice.

That may sound odd to those of you who have been through divorce, but I found myself well able to relate to her sorrow.

'I know we've been apart for a long time,' she continued. 'But I still love him in a way.'

'I understand,' I consoled her.

I suspect that this, too, may sound somewhat unusual. The fact is, though, that I felt the same way about my ex. Despite more than forty years since we parted, I am all too well aware that I loved him. Not in a sensual manner. Simply as a human being who had gone astray.

My marriage had come to an end due to more than fifteen years of his adultery, and the suicide of his close friend whose wife had become my hub's latest mistress. I can't pretend it was anything but extremely traumatic, nor that it had not had a terrible effect on me. Bringing up my children alone for nearly six years, I found myself living a less than moral life. Until, that was, God led me to the love of my life.

Years later, when happily remarried, my ex rang me and asked if I would visit him in hospital, as he was not expected to live, due to his alcoholic lifestyle.

'Of course I will,' I responded.

Sitting by his bedside as he apologised to me for the hurt he had inflicted upon me, and our girls, I held his hand and prayed aloud for his forgiveness. Hours later, he died.

Vera, the lady who had approached me, told me she had just been to her ex-husband's funeral.

'I'm just so afraid, wondering where he'll be now,' she said, tearfully. 'Is there any chance he might be with God?'

Reaching out to her, I told her my story.

'I know just how you feel, because I felt exactly the same just before my father's death,' I said. 'Neither he, nor my mother, went to church, but Dad always said he wanted a church service when he died. So I asked him, “Do you know where you're going?” He pointed heavenward. “And does God know that you want to be with Him?” I asked. “I hope so,” he replied. “I talk to Hm all the time.”'

Vera grimaced. 'The trouble is, I don't think my ex had a faith at all,' she said.

I reached out and touched her. 'But we never know, do we? My middle daughter died, suddenly, in the middle of the night. She'd moved to a remote part of the country, and had been a recovered drug addict for years. But the police told us that there had been a theft from the local pharmacy, and that they suspected her next door neighbours had stolen some drugs and dropped one in her drink at a BBQ, so as to get her back on drugs, and become a dealer for them.'

'That must have been awful for you,' said Vera.

'It was!' I felt the tears welling in my eyes. 'Later in the night, she vomited and died of asphyxiation. But when it came to the where and why, I felt that the Lord was telling me that rather than see her back on drugs again, He'd taken her to be with Him.'

Vera looked puzzled.

'Think about the thief on the cross,' I urged her. 'He acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God, and begged Him to show him mercy. Jesus then promised the thief that he would, indeed, be in heaven. That tells us that it's never too late. And that's what I believe the Lord offered to both my ex, and my daughter. I shall see them again, just as you might see your ex.'

Vera gasped, and clutched my arm.

'That's exactly what God was saying to me,' she said. 'About the thief on the cross. I just didn't know whether to believe it. But you've confirmed it for me. Thank you. Thank you. Now I can be at peace.'

A sense of peace engulfed me. Surely this, the story of the thief on the cross, has to be one of the most relevant and inspiring messages of God's endless love for us; His eternal forgiveness; the hope that we might all hold onto when faced with the loss of a loved one. Yes, it's better to live out our faith and shine God's light into this darkened world. But this is proof that even at the eleventh hour, it's never too late to receive the forgiveness and mercy won for us by our Lord Jesus Christ.