Reggie!

Reggie Sanders died a few weeks ago.

I have only known Reggie for a year. I have only had three contacts with him during the year. And yet I feel as if I have lost my dearest friend.

When I heard Reggie had died from a heart attack, I crumpled to my knees for I knew the body of Christ had lost a great warrior.

Reggie loved Dawn. In fact, I can’t say I have ever observed a husband that loved a woman as well as he loved his wife. I found it a bit annoying, because he was so much better at it than I am. He kept raising the bar for the rest of us.

Drat that man!

Bless that man!

Reggie encouraged me. That annoyed me too. He was so good at it. There was not a discouraging bone in his body. He always called me “The Apostle Paul.” It made me feel special. And it occurred to me today that I won’t hear that again, since in heaven that title truly belongs to someone else.

Reggie Sanders died a few weeks ago. And I cried. And I continue to cry. But it in no way diminishes the confident hope that is mine.

Reggie lives.

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.”

John 11.25 (ESV)