The last few weeks of his life, Mark had been searching very hard and Saturday morning at 7:10, he came to my bedroom door and said, "Mom." I asked him, "What is it Mark?" He said, "I found God." Of course, I got up immediately and hugged him and told him how glad I was and we talked a bit about it. I used to think "I love you" were the three most beautiful words to hear from another person but I now know they are second.
During the spring and summer of 1996, Mark had a very strong pagan influence in his life from new friends. Later in the year, because of that influence, he started becoming confused. He had always attended Christian churches. In November, Darin, his middle brother, found Christ. Darin shared his salvation with Mark and invited Mark to church with him and his wife, Tina. Mark started attending church regularly each Sunday; sometimes he was late but he was always there. In fact, from his first Sunday, the only Sunday he missed was the Sunday prior to his death and that was because he was out of town at his maternal grandmother's house; she had just gotten out of coronary care and he was there to help her for the weekend.
For the last several weeks before his death, he asked a lot of questions and did a lot of studying. He spent many hours reading his Bible. He often asked me questions to which I could not give him answers except to tell him to ask the pastor, read his Bible and search his study guide. I told him I was not a Bible scholar and could not give him his answers, I only knew that it was right and the only way. We discussed why I felt that way.
The night before Mark died, he and I drove to the Portland post office. When we returned home, I checked my e-mail and there was a junk e-mail there which was quite common since I was involved in a local news group and received advertisements all the time because of that involvement. I usually just deleted the advertisements and didn't even read them. This one had an AOL address with the subject line "Hi." Thinking it was possibly a message in response to one of my posts to the newsgroup, I opened it and read it. The e-mail was outlining the steps to salvation. I printed it and gave it to Mark and said, "Maybe this will help you;" he read it very thoughtfully and layed it beside him on the back of the sofa where he was sitting. We talked a while and then I went to bed.
The next morning at 7:10, he came to my bedroom door and said, "Mom." I asked him, "What is it Mark?" He said, "I found God." Of course, I got up immediately and hugged him and told him how glad I was and we talked a bit about it. I used to think "I love you" were the three most beautiful words to hear from another person but I now know they are second to the words Mark said to me that morning. I pointed to the e-mail on the back of the sofa and asked him if that helped. He said, "It was one of the things, Mom." We talked a while and then I got ready to go to work and left the house an hour and a half later.
As I went out the door that morning, I stopped and said to Mark, "I love you." He said to me, "And I love you, Mom." Those were the last words I heard my son say. An hour later he was dead.
My greatest comfort is knowing that Mark is with God and I will see him again. It does not reduce the intense pain I have because Mark is no longer here with us on this earth but the knowledge that I will be with him again gives me some peace. I will miss him for the rest of my life but am grateful he is with God.
The e-mail which was undoubtedly sent to thousands of people that Friday night reached Mark when he most needed it. It provided the missing piece for him to reach his salvation sometime between midnight and 7:00 a.m. God has reached billions of people through the centuries and this time it was through an electronic message. That message is printed below.
Hello! I wanted to share something very important.
You know each of us only has one life to live.
We need to make decisions now that will determine our future.
The God of heaven sent his only Son to this earth
to let us have a way to be right with God,
have God's help in this life and one day be in heaven
with God. There in heaven is peace, rest, love and joy.
We definitely don't want to go to the other place called hell.
In hell, there is darkness, thirst, torment and weeping and
gnashing of teeth. So how can we enjoy God's blessing now
and be in heaven? Simple, receive Jesus Christ as Savior.
It says that if we will confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus
and believe in our heart that God raised him from the dead
we will be saved. We can simply pray: Heavenly Father,
forgive me of my sins and I now confess Jesus Christ
as the Lord of my life and I believe in my heart
(with everything in me) that you raised Jesus Christ
from the dead. The Word of God (the Bible) says that you
are now saved! You are now a child of God, transferred
from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light!
Jesus is now your Good Shepherd, taking care of you and
helping you!
Thanks for reading and choosing life. Hope to hear from you soon!