After receiving the call that Jerry had passed, I just began interceding for his family and all of his loved ones. All I could hear Jerry saying was how he is loved and how he is now new again. The blood of Jesus had transformed him and he is now in the presence of the almighty Lord, where disease, sickness, and pain have no place.

Spending the final days with someone is a profound experience, one filled with mixed emotions ranging from sadness and anger to joy and hope. Jerry was one tough man and there is no doubt he fought the good fight until the very end. On my morning runs, I pass by their house everyday and this morning the sky was crystal clear and the moon was as bright as the sun and today there was also a bright star next to the moon. It was one I had never noticed before and it appeared directly above the Coon residence. It made me ponder Jerry in heaven looking down on us and wanting us to know how he was in such peace and to not mourn his passing.

In some of our final conversations, we talked about what questions we would ask God when we went to heaven and as I told him the first person he would see when his sight would be restored was Jesus, the tears rolled down his face. He was so thankful for the redemptive work Christ had done in his life and for the blood He shed at Calvary to make our salvation possible. The blood of Jesus has the power to compel, convict, transform, and raise the dead, which is exactly what happened to Jerry late last night.

To be absent in the body is to be present with the Father and Jerry’s last prayers in this temporal world were for his wife Glenda to have strength and faith to walk the road ahead and also that God would provide for and protect her. His second prayer was over his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. We specifically prayed that the seeds, which were planted in their lives, would begin to take root, growing into mighty God-fearing trees that would bear much fruit and bring glory to God.

I am truly honored to have spent so much time with Jerry during his final days on this side of eternity and I still cannot fathom the literal and figurative blind faith he walked his final days with. He completely trusted in God’s plan and His perfect timing. This is an area so many of us get wrong. We want God’s best, but we aren’t patient enough to wait according to His timing. Jerry understood as long as he still drew breath, God was not done with him and it was only on the exact day of his passing that he ever said he was ready to go home and be with the Lord.

Jerry leaves quite a legacy behind and my prayer now is that his family and loved ones will continue where Jerry found himself in his final days, which was in the palm of God’s hand, living life in the fear and admiration of the Lord. My final word of faith to Jerry was that the Lord’s word does not return void and that it always accomplishes the task for which it was sent. Jerry truly understood how the Lord’s presence enables us to face each day with confidence and peace. Our trust in God is a testament that anxiety and restlessness is only a reality when we envision our future without Jesus in it.

Rest in peace my brother in Christ; you will always be loved and missed!

Until we meet again… JD