It was the summer of 2020 I believe. Our church was doing a series about loving your neighbor, and we prayed that we could get to know our neighbors better. We saw one of our neighbors was having a garage sale, and we went over to meet them. We met Dave that day and just had the best time talking. He was so kind to our kids and over the next several weeks showed us his back yard, his flowers, gave us tomatoes, etc. At some point we started talking about God and learned that Dave had a deep love for the Lord. One night I was out playing guitar and singing worship music on my front steps and Dave came over to say how much he loved to listen to it. I think it was around that time we realized that he and Wanda have known my parents for decades, so it was fun to reconnect them too. We paid many visits to Mr. Dave's house. My boys loved playing with his mail slot and looking at the lights in the backyard. He always welcomed us into his day. We would talk about faith and church and family. 

One day I was at work and I learned that my dad's best friend passed away. On the way home I was thinking about this man who shared Jesus with everyone he knew and was praying I could be more like Wayne, always aware of the supernatural and listening to whatever God told me to do no matter how wild it seemed. I felt like I should take a slightly different route home, which seemed a little silly, but I did it anyway. This path took me right in front of Dave's house where I saw him sitting outside and he looked very sad. My mom was bringing my kids to my house but they weren't quite home yet, so I had a few minutes to go check on Dave. A close friend of his had just passed away and he was having a hard time with it. I told him about my dad's friend, and we cried and hugged. He looked up to heaven and thanked God for sending me. It was just what he needed. 

We missed Dave this summer and will continue to miss him! We're thankful he is now worshipping his Savior for eternity.