Hello all:

On Tuesday, my wife and I attended a funeral. A dear friend of mine that I went to High School with had called me up over the weekend….his mother had died.

Dan’s mother always welcomed me into their home, and it was if I was at my home when I was there. She always took an interest in stopping and talking with me. We knew many of the same people…. she had worked for the county Sheriff’s office where I volunteered, and so we often talked about what I was experiencing in my volunteer work there. She was a person who went out of her way to extend a kind hand to others. She defended the helpless, spending thousands of hours of her own time protecting the rights of sexual assualt and domestic violence victims. Not only did she personally help those victims, she faught for their rights in the legislature as well, helping to pass numerous bills protecting those people. She was a wonderful person.

Listening to her Eulogy, I heard how she had made many more people feel as welcome in her home as she had made me feel.

However… it was a sad funeral. For her entire family and for me, for the same, but different, reasons.

She was Jewish, and non-practicing. While the final judgement indeed belongs to the Father, I felt a deep sadness because I never shared my faith with her. Her son was the first person I ever tried to evangelize…. that effort failed miserably. I haven’t talked with Dan much, we live on opposite sides of the Tri-County area…. and we both have families. But he said he’d like to get together more. Maybe its another chance… I don’t know. But I can’t help but feel somewhat guilty when I think about it.

-Clarke