Dear ___________

Dearest Chameleon,
I have greatly missed your presence over the years, I do not recall the last time we had actually taken time out of our schedules to see each other. Those days are long gone. You were the one who made the decision to end our friendship...unfortunately, it was quite gradual and subtle, and it would have been easier to just tell us that you no longer desired our company. However, I wanted to let you know that I never was angry over our loss of communication...just sad. We had been friends for so long, but these things do happen in life as people grow older and change. My sister and I went one direction on a path that was more straight and narrow while you ended up taking the more twisted path, popular among others our age. When we were young I remember staying in your home over the weekend and wishing that our parents would forget to pick us up for church. Ironically, now I would love to pick you up to come to church with me every weekend! There are reasons why the Lord had saved me later, but sometimes I just wish that I had that same desire for Him now back when we were kids. The life that you lead now just blows my mind away, I can see that you left innnocence behind years ago. The Lord has had this in His plans since the beginning, which is why I suppose I am gravely struggling with trusting in His sovereignty when I think about you. I think back to what I could have done to prevent this from happening in your life, but honestly, your will was never under my control. My prayer is that one day you would realize that a life without Christ is a life not worth living at all, because pursuing earthly pleasures is meaningless and will never truly satisfy. You know the gospel friend, now is always the best time to repent and put your faith in Him! I'm begging you to drop everything you have and run to the cross empty handed, coming to the Lord with nothing but a broken heart. I'm telling you this because I love you, and it would be a great joy to me knowing that you knew the Lord before Christ came or before you died, either one.
To God be the glory in all of this. Maranatha.
-The Grizzly Bear

Dear ___________

Dearest Jack Rabbit,

To my dismay, I have peered into the small window of your life and seen things that I wish I did not see. It brings to mind past regrets; things I dreamed of telling you at the time, but ended up failing to speak in my little pool of fears. I'm going to start with a story and I would like you to take this story seriously, so please listen...

Imagine us as ants. Our colony has, out of blatant stupidity, built our anthill out of piles of crumbs. Obviously we cannot survive much longer with this home, for the coyote is coming to lick it up within a matter of hours. However, for reasons I cannot explain, a human being of much greater strength became an ant in order to save our colony. This ant built up another anthill with all the accommodations we needed to survive, but ended up dying in the process. 

Wouldn't you agree that this human being that became an ant was a bit absurd for wanting to save our colony? 

Why would he do such a thing?

I'm hoping that this story somehow rings a bell, or that you are making a connection with another story, for I was trying to convey the gospel of Jesus Christ to you. We are the ants, Jesus was the human in the story, and the coyote was Satan. Jesus, the Son of God, willingly gave up his life in crucifixion that we may be saved from our "stupid" sin. Just as it was a bit shameful to become an ant and die for the colony, so it was to become a human and die for us. Jesus' story did not end in death, however, because He conquered death and rose from the dead three days later! By this act, He gave us grace in letting us conquer death in sin by repenting of our sin and putting our full faith in Him. 

HOW LONG I have desired to share this good news with you, and honestly, it is one of my worst regrets. A few years back I recall standing in the hall asking you if you were a christian. You had said yes, but I asked you because I saw no fruit in your life. Therefore, I followed up with the question of ‘how do you know that you are?’; you had responded with ‘because my parents are?’. My heart sank, wanting so badly to tell you that christianity is a personal relationship with Jesus, it cannot be treated like an ethnicity that is just passed down to the next generation. Unfortunately, I kept my mouth shut and pretended like all was well. 

When I was with you I do not remember being the best example of what God's love looks like. A life living for Christ is one that consists of sacrifice in pursuing righteousness for Him. I would have shown you His love by sacrificing my pride and ignoring my fear of man in sharing the gospel that you may be saved too. In my silence I did not live out Romans 1:16 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the jew, then for the gentile.".

So when I see you drinking and partying, it greatly saddens me. There was a day when I told you that I would always love you, and honestly I can say that I still do. I love you as a friend that I have lost to sin...a friend that I have prayed for for years. Your salvation has been prayed for so many times that I cannot count, but I admit, there were times when I got distracted and forgot to pray for you. This may be considered a reminder to continue praying, for I know that God is all powerful, and can save you just as He has saved a sinner like me. 

Maybe one day I will see you again here on earth, but my hope is in God's saving power. I would much rather be with you worshipping God in heaven for eternity, than to have that chance to spend time with you every week here. Who knows...maybe you will be the last one to be saved before Christ's return. Maranatha. 

-The Jaguar