My friend Glenn died this morning. He says we met in college, about 1969, but I don't remember him being there. It's embarrassing to have been that self-absorbed. Then when I hired on at Commerce Bank, there he was. He was a difficult person. A grumbler. Never satisfied. Critical. After getting a few promotions, being responsible for him as my employee, I found him to be a pot-stirrer, a gossip. The work relationship was difficult. After about 25 years, Glenn left the bank, and I left in 1996. Then a few years ago, I get an email from him asking if I was the Deb who used to work at Commerce Bank. And it was as if we had never had a cross word. I apologized for some of the hard times I had put him thru at the bank and he quickly brushed it aside as nothing. While he never apologized for how he acted back then, it was clear that he had changed, and it seemed it was important for me to know it. I think it was his way of saying he was sorry.
We have emailed literally every day since he found me. Sometimes just silly jokes, weather gab, encouragement for me to start walking. But usually we revealed little bits and pieces of our lives since we lost touch, and about our current adventures. He was never anything but positive, compassionate, and pleasant.
Not too long after we started emailing, I asked Glenn about God, his feelings about and relationship with Jesus. He wasn't too sure. Had a Pastor friend who had been talking to him quite a bit about the Lord. But he really didn't think he believed all that stuff. I started working God into a lot of my emails, testimonies about what the Lord had done in me, for me, and thru me. Glenn listened. Our mutual friend Jean also bent Glenn's ear about her Lord & Savior. Glenn's emails gradually became more and more pro-Christ. All of his emails for the past few months have included blessings and praises and gratitude to God. He had become a man of prayer, praise God. I never asked Glenn to pray the the sinner's prayer, but I saw real evidence of a conversion.
On 10/14, after a few days of not hearing from Glenn, I got this email "sorry i havent written i guess iam sick cancer am in hospital will write more later please pray for me i am a fighter glenn"
30 days ago, he was out washing his van. Today he is dead.
How long has Glenn known he had cancer? I suspect he knew 3 years ago, when he started fervently seeking out long-lost acquaintances. He found people from his old childhood neighborhood. He found his best friend from high school. He found dozens of coworkers from the 70's and 80's. He found me. And I am so thankful he did.
I am awed that in 3 short years, this man was able to totally undo all the negative impressions from the past, completely rehabilitate his image, rewrite his legacy, and most importantly, get right with God.
