Story

"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:7

My oldest son has been attending a different church than we attend since he started college. In bits and pieces, I heard this story about him.

One Sunday, about 3 years ago or so, Zach was attending church alone and happened to sit in a pew near an older lady in her 90's. During the service, the lady asked him to read some of the bulliten to her. She explained to him she was blind and could not see it. He read it to her and, after that, sat with her every Sunday to read the bulliten to her and tell her about anything she could not see. They became friends and talked every Sunday. Zena had no family and was sitting alone in church until my son started sitting with her. It was a good arrangement since he would have been sitting alone too. She was very encouraging of him and accepted him even though he had long hair and tended to be a bit unconventional at times. Zena had been an organist and was very musically inclined. She would talk to Zach about the particulars of the music as it was played. He used to play the trumpet and understood what she was saying.

Close to a year ago, he received a phone call telling him she was in the hospital and had cancer. He went to see her and took her a stuffed animal. He stayed in contact with her and they talked from time to time. There came a time when she told him that she would no longer be able to go back to church. He was very sad and that is when I first learned of the Sunday friendship. When Zena died, the pastor of the church called him to tell him, as she had requested. There was no funeral, at her request. We are guessing she had no family left but do not know. Zach was told she was buried in a small cemetery next to her husband.

This story impressed me because it is not just what we say, but what we do that reveals what is really in our hearts.