Edgar was walking home from the store. Slowly and painfully he walked, stopping every little while to rest. Edgar was not an old man; he was only nineteen, but he was very sick and he knew he had not long to live.
Little Frances walking merrily by his side, was gathering flowers and chatting merrily about everything she saw. It was getting dark when they finally came to the gate that led through the village cemetery. Edgar shuddered a bit, for he feared the thought of death, and wished to hurry away. Little Frances bravely opened the gate and turned in.
“Good-night, Edgar, and I hope you feel better in the morning.”
“Good-night, Frances. Aren’t you afraid to cross that cemetery in the dark?”
“Afraid? Not at all. Don’t you see my home is on the other side!”
Frances smiled and pointed to the light in the cottage window in the distance.
Even more slowly, Edgar walked to his own home. “My home is on the other side!” These words kept ringing in his ears. He knew he had not long to live, for the doctor had told him so. But he feared death.
That evening, he took the Bible his father had given him, and went alone to his own room. There he knelt and told God of his fear of death. He told God of the burden of his sins. Then, still on his knees, he opened his Bible. He read the story of the jailer in Acts 16, and when he came to the question, “What must I do to be saved?” his heart leaped for joy, for he knew it was just how he felt.
With his fingers firmly resting on that wonderful verse, he closed his eyes and said, “Lord, I believe.”
That settled it. He was saved. And now the “other side” was truly home for Edgar. As death drew near, he was filled with joy and the very night he passed away, he sang “There’s a light in the valley now for me.”
His last whisper was, “I do not fear death. My home is on the other side.”
ML 11/29/1953