Our Friend Brad

A dear friend in Christ, Brad Morris died a couple of days ago. He suffered from Multiple Sclerosis. His sister asked for thoughts about Brad to be read at his memorial service tomorrow. We'll miss Brad, yet we know he is in a better place now.

Brad's health was in significant decline for most of the time we knew him. He was in a wheelchair, and required constant attention and care.

Brad was a force to be reckoned with when it came to tending to our spiritual lives. His constant challenge of our interpretation of the word, caused me to take pause, ponder my own beliefs, and often re-read and study the scriptures we were discussing. I didn't always agree with his perspective, but I don't think that Brad's purpose was to get us to see things his way, rather it was to see things God's way.

I remember thinking about Brad one day when I was stopping off at the church building to drop something off. I was thinking how I wished there was an opportunity to get to know him better. Lo and behold there he was, getting out of the van just returning from the dentist. Though his mouth was numb from dental work, he seemed happy to spend a few minutes chatting with me. The conversation took an almost immediate turn from a pleasant superficial chat to something much deeper. He challenged my current spiritual walk, in a way that was frank and honest, not critical. His attitude was one of why wait, do the thing now I had been toiling over. Now, when a challenge is before me, and I find myself procrastinating, I often reflect back on that moment, and the way Brad spoke to me, as a brother in Christ who knew the value of taking care of things today, in this moment, for the opportunity may not come along again.

"Stay with it. That is what's required. Stay with it to the end. You won't be sorry, you'll be saved." Mark 13:13 (The Message)

Thanks Brad!