Words of The Lamb magazine

Today, I want to talk to you about John Gallagher! John Gallagher passed away back in 2001 at the ripe old age of 78. Now John Gallagher was a kind old man who had a wonderful heart! He was a loveable old guy! And he always had a smile on his face! His infectious smile could brighten up a room. In fact, throughout most of his life people called him Smiley!

Do you know the kind of guy I’m talking about? Such a kind heart…such a wonderful person!

John Gallagher was a true gentleman! He would open the car doors for the ladies and take their hand to help them in or out of the car! He would gladly offer his coat if they were the least bit chilly! Or he would share his umbrella so that others wouldn’t get wet. He was a true servant in every sense of the word!

I had the pleasure of knowing old John for the better part of 6 years! For you see, John Gallagher was my father-in-law! He was my wife’s dad! And John Gallagher and Theresa, my wife, had lived together for most of their lives. After his wife, Edie, had passed on, John and Theresa were always there for each other! They were inseparable!

And I knew when I married Theresa that her dad was part of the family along with her two kids, Richie and Kristin! I went from being a single man with no obligations to being a family man with an already built-in family! I married into a family that had 2 cats, a dog, 2 kids, and a grandpa!

Now you see, I had already raised my daughter, Danielle. She had graduated and gotten married, and I was out on my own, and I was dead set on moving to Florida, because that’s where my mom and dad lived. Why, I remember telling Theresa when we were dating, “Now, Theresa, we can’t get serious! We can only be friends because I am going to be moving to Florida, the land of sunshine and beaches.” And face it; no way was any woman going to keep me from going to Florida!

But after we dated for a while, I felt it coming on! A moment of weakness! I would say, “No, Lord, this isn’t happening!” “No, Lord, this is not happening!” And I kept denying that it was happening! And I would say, “I’m not going to listen, Lord!” NaNaNaNaNa. I can’t hear you! No! But sure enough, it did happen! Why, I was smitten! I was in looove!

Doesn’t the Lord have a wonderful sense of humor? When He told me that I was going to give up my life in the “land of oranges and palm trees,” I said to myself, “Yeah, right!” So…here I am…10 years later… Still haven’t made it to Florida, with more animals and kids than the Brady Bunch, and instead of Alice the housekeeper, I get Smiley the grandpa instead!

And many times…many times I prayed, “Oh, Lord, dear Lord, are you sure this is where I’m supposed to be?” “Are you sure you know what you’re doing? I…uh…um, yes, Lord! And not only did I inherit 2 kids, a dog, two cats, and a smiling grandpa…why, I also inherited 250 (look around) students at Gahanna Christian Academy! Ohhh!

Back to John Gallagher!

On the day that old John passed away, he took what spare change he had and went down to the market and bought a half gallon of milk and a couple slices of cold meat. All the money that he had left out of his Social Security check!

He was so tickled that evening when he told Theresa and me! I can still hear him say, “Now, Theresa, I bought a half gallon of milk, which should get you through the week, and I bought some of that lunch meat that Richie likes, so you can pack his lunch!

Later on that evening old John asked me to take a walk with him, and he took me out to the shed where we kept the rakes and shovels and the lawn mower. And then he made a comment, which I thought was rather odd. He said, “Scottie, these are my tools; I want you to have them when I’m gone. And I wondered then what was happening.

Later on, I was watching a baseball game with old John when he excused himself and said that he wasn’t feeling well and said he was going up to bed! Old John passed away in his sleep that night!

A couple days after John’s funeral, Theresa came downstairs to the basement where I was doing some work on the computer. And she had tears in her eyes. And I asked her, “Honey, what’s wrong?” She said, “Scottie, I don’t know if my dad will be up there (point up). And I’m thinking to myself, “Up where!”

Theresa went on to say, “I don’t know if my dad was saved, and I don’t know if he will be in heaven when I get there!

And then a thought struck me! All those evenings that I had sat with old John watching baseball games. John always liked his baseball. And I didn’t take the time to share the Gospel with him. I didn’t take the time to talk about Jesus with him! About salvation. About His promise to us of eternal life with Him!

I had spent close to 6 years with old John Gallagher, and never once did I talk to him about Jesus Christ. All those opportunities to witness to him were now gone! There was nothing anymore that I could do! All those years were wasted.

And I must admit to you that my oldest daughter, Danielle, and my three beautiful grandchildren are not Christians! They only attend church on Christmas Eve and Easter, if then at all! And it’s real easy to get together with them and kind of “wink my eye” at them and condone their actions because I don’t want to step on their toes!

And I keep telling myself, “Ah, don’t worry, there’s always tomorrow!” But what if there isn’t a tomorrow? What if they are killed in a car wreck on the way home from school today? What would I do then? What could I do then? Why, it would be too late!

Because you see, I can’t automatically assume that someday, somewhere, sometime down the road things are going to be all right and that my daughter and my grandchildren will somehow magically be saved. If I believe that, then I am sending my daughter and grandkids straight to hell! I might not have that one more tomorrow for my daughter and her kids!

I sure wish… that I could have had… one more tomorrow… with John Gallagher!

What about you? Do you know someone who doesn’t know the Lord! Do you have family members or friends or loved ones that haven’t come to the Lord? What are you waiting for? What happens when their day comes and you’re fighting back the tears and saying to yourself, “Oh Lord, give me just one more tomorrow, please!”

Do you know that you might be their only opportunity at a chance for salvation! And just because you’re young doesn’t mean that you can’t make a difference…that you can’t bring them to the Lord!

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to stand before the Lord someday and have explain to Him why I missed my opportunity…my opportunities…to share the gospel with my loved ones! I don’t want you to have to stand before Him someday and have to justify your reasons for not sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with your loved ones!

And I can’t promise you that there will be another tomorrow for your loved ones! Because there’s no guarantee that there will be any more opportunities for you to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with others! All I know is that the time is right! Don’t wait until there’s no tomorrow!

Oh, by the way! A couple of days later Theresa came down to the basement where I was working on the computer. Once again she had tears in her eyes. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, “Here, I found this in my dad’s glove compartment.” It was one of those little New Testament Bibles that you can put in your pocket!

On the inside of the cover was written, “Confessing to God that I am a sinner and believing that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins on the cross and was raised up for my justification, I do now receive and confess Him as my personal Savior.”

And under it was written in scrawled letters… John Gallagher, March 1995!

Prayer. Father, we love you, and we thank you for your faithfulness to us. Oh, Lord… if we could only be half as faithful to you as you are to us!

Lord, help us to understand the gravity… the seriousness of the situation! We have students here today whose loved ones and families don’t know you!

Father, help us… Help us to be bold and courageous men and women. Help us to be strong and convicted and well grounded enough in your Word to be able to go up to Mom or Dad, or Grandpa or Grandma, or brother or sister or best friend and say, I need to talk to you about your future! I need to talk to you about Jesus before it’s too late!

And Lord, as I look around this room, I know that there are some students who don’t know you! Father, help those in our midst to know that You do care about them, that You love them so much; that you to want to make a difference in their lives! Help them also to understand that you have put each and every one of us here to be there for them!

Help us live for those victories today so that we won’t miss out on those lost opportunities of tomorrow! Thank you for your continued blessings on Gahanna Christian Academy. Let us be a haven for those who hurt, for those who are struggling. Let us be beacons of your love.

In your most precious name we pray! Amen.