Held for Ransom

Kris Ransom

We are all creatures of habit.
Never was this more true than at the First Presbyterian Church in Klamath Falls, Oregon where I used to serve as the pastor.
When I preached, I would look out over the congregation and lo and behold everyone who came to church sat in the same place every Sunday. In the back right was this family and in the front left another certain family occupied the same pew every Sunday.

Kris Ransom was no different.

On the Sundays that she was able to make it, Kris would take the side aisle nearest to the entry door and walk past twelve or thirteen pews, make a right hand turn and scoot over to about halfway across the pew. There she sat in the third or fourth pew from the front with the brightest smile on her face, her countenance brilliantly lighting up the front of the church. As a preacher, I always appreciated it when people would actually look at me when I preached. I loved catching people's eyes during the sermon and my eyes would twinkle at catching the sparkling eyes of Kris Ransom. The fact that she was suffering from breast cancer did not define who she was. Who she was worshiping is what defined Kris Ransom.

I found out last night that the beast of breast cancer finally won the battle over Kris' body after a 25 year struggle.

My iWitness...

I wasn't there for the end of Kris' life but I have a feeling that those sparkling eyes and brilliant smile never faded, never stopped and never ceased even though her body was getting ready to.

Here's my take on why her face and her mind and her heart would take on such a posture right up to the very end.

This is what I believe Kris envisioned was ahead of her during this last week of her life.

The day was going to come when she would shed this shell of a human body and be escorted to the peaceful place of perpetual paradise. As she would glide toward the heavenly gates she would meet Jesus face to face and they would embrace. And Jesus would lean back and say, "Before I let you in Kris we have to go through a bit of a formality. Let me open up the Book of Life and see if your name is in it."

Jesus flips through the pages of this ginormous bound book and then He stops and with His right index finger He slides his hand down the page on the right hand side of the big book and suddenly His hand stops, perfectly placed over her name. Jesus looks up at Kris and says, "Here we are. Yes! We have a spot 'held for Ransom'!"

And Kris flashed her brilliant smile...
And Kris' twinkling eyes sparkled...

And so they did...
And now...
So they do...
Forever and ever and ever...

And that's my iWitness...
Laugh often and Fear not!
David!

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21. 1-4)