I woke up this morning at 4:44 a.m.. No alarm clock. Just a cool breeze slipping through the window and the racket of birds singing their morning songs like they had something urgent to say.
The first thing that hit me when I saw that Angel Number ... 444... was the story about John Wagner and the Holy Spirit. The story is only a few years old, and I’ll get better at telling it over time.
It centers around a man who gave more than he took. A guy who might’ve earned straight F’s on life’s report card, but aced the things that mattered most — Faith, Family, and Friendship.
...and when the lights started dimming in his life, those three things shined the brightest.
Wags died two or three times in the final weeks of his life, but it was that second death that changed everything.
See, Wags was the first guy we knew who shared his health battles openly on social media. After he flatlined and came back, he grabbed his phone and posted a message that shook all of us.
He said he had a conversation with the Holy Spirit. God’s ghost didn’t talk about eternity or faith or love.
The two of them talked about forgiveness. The message that heaven gave Wags was to forgive and to ask for forgiveness.
Simple, right?
That post changed those preparing to grieve the loss soon to come, but we didn't lose, we won. Wags helped solve one of the biggest mysteries of our Faith.
He showed us that the skinny Jewish kid made good with the promise of his crucifixion and resurrection.
Wags was there for me during the roughest stretch of my life, when my marriage hit the rocks. He was the experienced friend that had the advice and support that I needed.
He didn’t sugarcoat anything. He listened and told me what I had to hear....
.... and then, when he was close to the end, he hit me with the hardest thing yet:
“Shep,” he said,
“Forgive the mother of your children… and ask her to forgive you.”
So today, on this Holy Saturday, that’s the chalk lesson.
Forgive.
Not because they deserve it. Not because you feel like it, but because it will make your final days lighter and softens the edges on the road to salvation.
Yesterday’s theme was hatred. Today’s is forgiveness.
I wonder what Resurrection Sunday’s lesson will be…
Today we added one more F to Life's report card....
FOUNDATION: FAITH, FAMILY, FRIENDS and FORGIVENESS
