Clefty, I experienced the dryness of mouth which mental stress gives one, two weeks ago.
I had flown up to the funeral of a dear friend T who had committed suicide, and I was the second of a dozen people paying tribute to him. My mouth went completely dry, and I commandeered a tiny cup of water, with only one inch of water in it, from the lady sitting next to me. There were a few hundred folks at this funeral. That tiny bit of water loosened my tongue enough to speak. The last thing I wanted was a bucket of water.
At this funeral were prison inmates, folks from off the street, folks from all Africa who T had allowed to stay in his house. T had got sick doing missionary work in Thailand, and never recovered, but he had had a prison ministry and converted dozens of prisoners, and provided sources of income for these prisoners after they got out. He had also given all he owned to Jesus. Yet T had committed suicide.
I spoke as follows...
"We are put on earth for one reason only, that is to tick the box 'Friend of Jesus'. Not 'Friend of Jesus' and kept every commandment perfectly. Not 'Friend of Jesus' and look at all these good works which I have done for Jesus. Just 'Friend of Jesus'. And T ticked this box, in spades.
"Now T is dead, and awaiting the last trump. When Jesus returns, the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible. T will rise to meet Jesus in the air. All the good attributes which we knew and loved about T will rise with T, but all his issues will be left behind. He will rise with a clear and wonderful mind.
I then spoke about some of T's wonderful attributes, how he could arrive in a place, and within hours could know and have met everyone in that place. T had the most amazing ability to chat folks up, or engage people in conversation. And he was very entertaining when he got a crowd around him. I called these his "super-powers". He was always a little over the top, and did everything to excess. I listed some of the things I remember him doing to excess.
But he was a person who needed people, exercise, and something to give him a feeling of self-worth. Some activity. I mentioned how, if left alone for any length of time without the above three, that one could almost visibly see his feelings of self worth decline. T was not like the rest of us, I said, who can do nothing and feel good about ourselves. In two sentences I mentioned where I thought his feelings of lack of self esteem originated.
I mentioned how, for baby boomers who have reached retirement, there are no jobs, so no folks around one at work to get feelings of self affirmation from, and one's health is declining too, so one cannot exercise. I know these factors were all working against T.
That was the gist of my speech.
Then many others got up and spoke of how T had impacted their lives for the better.
