Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

A man well known, yet not known at all found himself on his deathbed today. Though this is not the story of a man dying but finding life. After living a full life of seventy eight years Bryan Linway is finally seeing the end of this walk he has called life. Surrounding his bed are his 2 sons Dan and Greg. Bryan looked up emotionless at the ceiling and remembered his wife Burda…
“You look beautiful dear.” Bryan whispered to his soon to be wife.
“Thank you.” Burda reply blushing heavily.
Burda was dressed in a bright white dress common to weddings with her hair in golden braids. Her skin was smooth even the scar on her cheek she got from a cat as a kid. The dress hung from her hips loosely and swayed with the passing spring breeze from the open church windows. The church they were in…
Bryan broke from his trance and looked up at his oldest Dan. Dan stared back with eyes showing tears that have been held back with one or two that broke free from their prison trailing free down his cheeks. Bryan whispered softly but not audible enough for his sons to hear…
Bryan watched as his two year old son Dan ran towards his mothers warm embrace. He could hardly believe he and Burda had been married for 5 years now, though they had their troubles it has still been happy. His son looked and smiled…
“Father do you need anything?”
The sudden words from his eldest reopened his mind to where he was. Dan leaned in to hear what his father had to say.
“Just your company is fine” Bryan said quietly.
Dan and Greg looked at each other and back at their father. His eyes had closed…
“Hey there good looking.” Bryan stared at the woman in front of him. “Those blue eyes drive me…” His eyes opened slightly with tears forming in them at the memory of his unfaithfulness towards the love of his life. He remembered the day clearly and it is one of the many memories that tares him up inside, it is also one of many of similar occurrences. He couldn’t deny but hated the fact that he had betrayed her so many times which eventually caused…
“How could you! How could you betray your family like this? And for what, for what? A night of little pleasure? Who trades a lifetime of happiness for a moment of pleasure?” Burda screamed and yelled at the man she thought she knew
Bryan sat they’re begging for forgiveness he knew he would not gain. Crying tears he knew would not feign. He knew due to his mistakes he would no longer be able to have the life he wish he could with his wife, he had ruined his life, though blamed everyone else, even though he knew right on the surface that he had ruined his life and there was no one else to blame.
Bryan looked at his two sons again and wondered how either one of them could possibly love such a wretch. His mind went back once again.
Bryan walked into the room stumbling and sought right from the start his two sons. He was depressed and angry and drunk. He found his youngest Greg grabbed his arm and tossed him against the wall and started whelping on him. His son instantly began crying, before he knew it his eldest son grabbed him on the shoulder and punched him in the face…
His cheeks were stained with tears as he looked at his two sons remembering all the time he had beat them, cursed them, and humiliated them. He could hardly hold back the tears, the weight of years of torment he had held back weighed on his shoulders, every mistake and every fault. “How could anyone ever love this wretch of a man” he thought to himself. He began to speak weakly:
“I have been nothing but horrid to both of you… How could you ever shed a tear at my death bed, all should be glad that I am leaving this world.”
Dan tried to speak but could not, instead he began to sob. But Greg got up picked up a leather bound book from the shelf and began to read, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned. But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the one man’s trespass the many died, how much more have the grace of God and the gift overflowed to many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ.” grabbing another he opened and read, “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.” With tear filled eyes he looked into his fathers and spoke these words “Father we have all sinned and have wronged, because of this we shall all one day face death, but do to the sacrifice of one man, we shall live eternally, not in body but in spirit. We are to bless and not curse, we are commanded to love and not to hate, and because ‘he first loved us’ we now love Him. Only by him is man saved and reconciled with their creator and it has been my humble prayer that you one day will see this as we have seen this. By the sacrifice of Jesus the King of Kings we can be saved if on his name we call. Your whole life father you have ignored this, and today father death is staring you right in the face and so the fear of sin has become known to you, and by this I pray the joy of Gods gift may be known to you. You now know the torment of your life, but what torment is there if no wrong? And what wrong is there if there is no right? And what right is there if there is nothing to give it? Now know the one who is goodness, who’s nature is wholly good and be reconciled with Him through the sacrifice of His son.”
Bryan stared wide eyed at his son, and he knew the words his son spoke were true, though he was not able to tell his sons at that moment he called on Jesus, and at that moment He knew the bitter taste of death, but also the sweet taste of life. This is the end to the story of the Wayward man, for he is no longer lost but found, and now known that in death there is life eternal if on Christ’s name you call.