One Final Letter

If you could write one final letter for others to read after you are gone, what would that letter say? Would it be a love letter to your spouse or advice to your children? Would it be filled with memories from the past or hopes and dreams for the future? What would others read written your own handwriting? How would you even close a letter like that?

I don’t write this post to be morbid, but hopefully to encourage you to live today to the fullest. Take advantage of the opportunities you have today to make an impact for eternity. Let me explain…

You may have read my post previously about handwritten letters. In that post, I introduced you to my grandfather that we call, Pop. Starting around his 90th birthday, he started a pen pal relationship with my 11 year old daughter as they exchanged the sweetest handwritten letters back and forth for the past few years. My daughter was not the only recipient of his letters though.

For the past 20 years or so, my grandfather has been writing letters to prisoners. He wrote them each by hand, not even learning how to use a computer. He would write men and share truth and Scripture, tell them how he has been praying for them, send them articles, devotions, devotional magazines, sermon outlines, and anything else that could be an encouragement. We knew that he did this and that there were many letters exchanged, as we always saw a pile of letters on his desk when we would visit. What I didn’t know until this past weekend is just how vast this letter ministry has been.

My grandfather , Emmett Lawhon, passed away just over a week ago. While it has been sad to lose such a man of God, we celebrate with him as he entered eternity and we celebrate a life that impacted so many people with the Gospel. As my dad was cleaning out his apartment, he found letters that prisoners had written back to him. These were not letters from the past 20 years, but only from the past several months. In these letters were 93 different prisoners that had written back to Pop! Again, these are just from the past year or so!

In the letters, men shared with my grandfather everything from questions they had about life to news about the food in the prison. They wrote to him when they were released and told him about how well they are doing now. They wrote to him about the impact he has had in their lives and how Jesus has changed them. One even called him his, “spiritual father.” As I opened the letters and looked through them, I couldn’t help but notice highlighted places on the letters. Pop carefully read each letter and highlighted specific prayer needs for that prisoner or questions they had which he likely answered in his response to them. On the envelope he would write notes about the letter and the prisoner. He would write the date that he wrote them back, what he wanted to send them when he wrote, and other notes that would help him to minister to that individual.

We were blown away by the intentionality my grandfather took with each one of these men. To Pop, these men were not just physical prisoners, but spiritual prisoners in need of pardon and a Savior. He not only cared for them in prison, but got involved with a home for men that had been released from prison and needed help getting back on their feet. For over a decade, until just recently, he went weekly to lead a Bible study for these men and headed up a project to build a chapel where they could worship. I feel like I need to mention that much of this was while he was in his 80’s and into his 90’s.

This leads me back to where I started… one final letter. My grandfather wrote the last handwritten letter that we know of just two months ago at age 93. In this letter, he shared the Gospel clearly to his readers, his prisoner friends. Reading his letter begs me to ask myself, what would my last letter include? (Or if writing is not your “thing”, what would your last social media post say?) Would your words glorify Jesus and draw people to him? Would you brag on what Jesus did for you on the cross? It encourages me to do as it says in 1 Peter 3:15-16, “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” (NIV) May we share Jesus until our last breath and look for opportunities to share Christ with anyone who does not know him.

You can read his last letter below.

God’s Love Is Unending.