No Time To Waste

I went to get my hair cut today. I have been going to the same barber for most of 26 years. I started there almost as soon as I came to Kentucky, because I wore a flat-top and everyone said the young guy there did the best flat-tops in Lexington. I have to say that one of the things I was most looking forward to in moving back to Lexington was for Richard to cut my hair again. I had a great barber in Morehead, JP Tranbarger; no shade on him, but Richard and I have a long history. It feels in some sense like we grew up together. I guess we did. I was 25 and he was 27 when we met. He gave my boys their first haircuts. He about fell over when he saw them this summer!

Anyway, I went in to get my hair cut. I could sense something was not right. Richard was not there and his brother just looked beat down. He paused in the hair cut he was giving and said, “I guess you haven’t heard Richard is dead.” He had a heart attack 2 weeks ago. I was just stunned. And heartbroken for his family… his mom and dad who used to cut hair with him. His brother. His wife.

I have had a couple posts here about one of my evangelistic prayer lists, you can read one here. The fellow I talk about in a later post, "Thank You, Jesus!" was Richard, my barber. If he was my barber for so long, why did I not tell him about Jesus so long ago? For all the usual reasons… the shop was crowded. Maybe he would think I was weird. Maybe he might be offended. Maybe I have waited too long and if I bring it up now I look like an idiot. Maybe it would kill the fun of the barber relationship…maybe maybe maybe. All kinds of excuses. Praise God that I was at least praying and his wife helped him to know Christ.

What I did today was not waste any time. I got set in the chair for Richard’s brother to cut my hair. He is only the third person to cut my hair in 26 years. Makes sense it’d be Richard’s brother. I said “You could have knocked me over with a feather when you told me about Richard. It can happen to any of us. Have you considered your soul? Have you asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, have you placed your faith in Him?”

The rest is private for now. It hit me like a flash… “don’t wait. You kept your mouth shut before, but not now.” Here is the power of The 2 Questions. I apply them to Scripture, but they also are applicable to times of prayer, times of openness to the Spirit.

What is God saying?

What am I going to do about it?

I knew what He was saying: share the Gospel. (hint: He is always saying that!)

This time I obeyed, promptly and sincerely.