{"id":961,"date":"2011-11-10T23:05:29","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T03:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.bottlerockettheology.com\/?p=961"},"modified":"2011-11-10T23:05:29","modified_gmt":"2011-11-11T03:05:29","slug":"my-friend-tc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dave.dlscott.info\/?p=961","title":{"rendered":"My friend TC …"},"content":{"rendered":"

My friend TC.<\/strong><\/p>\n

He smiled and said, “You better.”<\/p>\n

“You better.” \u00a0Tom’s reply when I asked him if I could pray with him.\u00a0 And then I smiled and four hours later … still smiling.<\/p>\n

A brief friendship …<\/strong>
\nI haven’t know TC for very long, but I have a very strong feeling that he did this often, made people smile, that is.\u00a0 And not just a passing crease on our face that is there and then gone like a wisp.\u00a0 But a smile that resonates, keeps smiling even hours later, keeps tickling your funny bone, deep down, as it happens when someone marks your life deeply with a genuine kindness.\u00a0 Smiling like I am now, hours after his reply, and color me sentimental but I am still warmed by that smile that almost imperceptibly drew itself over the features of his face.\u00a0 Strictly speaking, this was a weak smile, frail, no hardy “ha, ha, ha” laughter accompanying it.<\/p>\n

But as I looked at him lying in that hospital bed, I saw strength not weakness.\u00a0 That thin brush stroke of a smile was painted over the canvas of a life that had been ninety-eight years in the making. \u00a0Powerful indeed.<\/p>\n

I didn’t mention yet, have I, that Tom is dying.\u00a0 How could I leave that out?\u00a0 Actually, by the time I write this he may have left this world for the kingdom of heaven.<\/p>\n

So that is kind of the thing<\/strong>.
\nTom was dying but he wasn’t.\u00a0 Physically his life on the planet has been shortened to hours, maybe minutes. \u00a0Maybe gone. \u00a0But if you had seen Tom as I did, you would know that this man was not dying.<\/p>\n

“Praise the Lord!\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0 What joy!\u00a0 What joy!”<\/p>\n

Not the words of a dying man …<\/strong>
\nDoesn’t sound like the words of a dying man to me.\u00a0 He had such great anticipation of seeing his God and King that I was ready to go with him.\u00a0 In fact I joked, “Tom, I am so excited. \u00a0Maybe I could go with you?” \u00a0His response, “What joy, what joy!”<\/p>\n

Another smile.\u00a0 His.\u00a0 And then another.\u00a0 Mine.\u00a0 And another.\u00a0 Me again.<\/p>\n