07/22/2026
TWO RICHARDS
Two men named Richard. One from the state of Illinois, the other from Texas. They never met one another, but their stories had some things in common. Each were married men with children. Neither of them was Christians. Richard, from Illinois, had a Christian wife. So did Richard from Texas. Richard from Illinois did not attend church. Richard from Texas attended church, but with limited dedication to God. He struggled with having a love for worldly things.
Both of these men’s experiences were somewhere in the mid to late sixties. Many things were different then from what they are now, in 2019. Richard, from Illinois, was driving through his city with his young son standing by him in the front seat (no child restraint laws, or seat belt laws were in affect). The daddy stopped at a four way stop sign. After looking in all directions he entered the intersection. Another driver ran the stop sign, and there was a horrible accident. The daddy was fine. His little boy, standing beside him in the seat, received head injuries that left him in an unconscious state, until his death at the age of twelve. He was a beautiful child with black hair and long eye lashes. From the time of the accident until he died, he remained in a fetal position. To be placed in his casket, the morticians had to break his legs and other bones.
I assisted the pastor of that young boy and his mother in the funeral service. No one knew how his dad would respond. He loved his child greatly. He partially blamed himself for the wreck and the boy’s physical condition. The dead boy’s mother was a good Christian. The dead boy’s dad was not a Christian. Other Christians prayed for, and supported them both, but trusted that God would undergird the mother. But what about the dad? He not only blamed himself concerning the wreck, but tragically he also blamed God. What would happen? What would he be capable of doing with his anger toward God?
This was a large church, and there was a large attendance for the service. When the attendees had passed by the casket and viewed the beautiful lifeless body of this boy, it was time for the family to see their son and loved one for the last time. Richard, the boy’s dad, which had his healthy child tragically taken from him in a flash of time, approached the casket and gazed at his son. It seemed a good amount of time passed before he moved. Everyone cried at the next scene. This dead boy’s daddy stepped to the casket, laid his head in his child’s chest, and asked God to forgive him of all of his sin. He then, still with his head laying on his lifeless son, quoted the 23rd Psalm. He and his wife left that service verbally telling the boy in the casket, they would all be together again in God’s great heaven.
Briefly, the testimony left by Richard from Texas. Richard loved the world and things of the world. One of his likes was drinking alcohol. He just could not seem to get over it. He always made excuses for why he drank, with an assurance to his wife and family that he would stop drinking and serve the Lord. His wife was a good Christian lady who constantly prayed for her husband’s deliverance and salvation. In one of my final conversations with Richard, I spoke to him of God’s love for him. I assured him, that no matter how he was living and had grieved the heart of God, there was forgiveness, mercy and grace. He could be victorious through Christ.
A few days later, I was given the latest report on Richard. He had left a bar, was drunk, had run under a flatbed truck and been decapitated. There is much more to the tragic end of this Richard’s take. But the greatest importance of his testimony was not his job, his helping neighbors, his wife, parents or children, but how did he fair before God at their first meeting in eternity. Frightening!
Psalms 55:16, “As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.”
Romans 10:13, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
Which “Richard” will be the more likely testimony of your life and eternal destiny?
