He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart. (Ecc. 3:11)
After church, I gathered the weekly prayer requests from the congregation they had turned in on slips of paper. Katie’s, as usual, was among them. These requests reflected her heart’s desire each week. This one was a prayer for family and friends to come to know God. In her twenties, Katie was laid-back and fun-loving. She had faced difficult challenges in her short life, yet pressed on with a smile.
In a coffee shop, I met with Jenny—another young lady in her twenties. She was newly married and figuring out life, family, and future. She was there that day seeking a mentor. Over the next several months, always with notebook in hand, Jenny would ask questions, share her heart, and try to buy my coffee.
I met April when she was sixteen and invited her to church camp over the summer. She seemed interested but decided against going. I never found out why she did not come, but I received a phone call while at camp that year. She had been killed. April’s tragic death impacted me in a way that brought beauty to my relationships with Katie and Jenny when I met them ten years later. Both Katie and Jenny have now also passed away before turning thirty. Etched firmly in my heart is the power of a moment, a prayer, a person, and an opportunity to impact eternity.
Choose someone to invest in today and follow through tomorrow.
Wesley Seminary alumna, Sarah Cochran and her husband pastored for seventeen years, and now both work for an agency rescuing kids from sex trafficking worldwide.
© 2021 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
