Last night I met some very close friends from my years here in Manhattan and learned that another friend’s 40-year-old brother died suddenly this past Wednesday night. They think it might have been related to the diabetes he was recently diagnosed with, but nobody really knows.

In today’s New York Post is a story about a very prominent 53-year-old socialite and philanthropist in Manhattan, Diane Wolf, who died Thursday following “an unexpected medical reaction to a minor procedure.” Her 81-year-old father, oil tycoon Erving Wolf, is quoted saying, “We are just in absolute shock. Diane was alive and well last week.”

*****

Many times this past month I have been reminded of the sudden death in early December of a 36-year-old fellow grace Believer, Robert Schuder, in Anchorage, Alaska. He died of breathing complications after a routine tonsillectomy!

Robert had been at the top of my list of people to call when I got back to Chicago December 5 from my unexpected prolonged stay with a friend in rural east Texas.

Robert had helped me greatly over the summer months when I was experiencing tremendous anxiety/depression (I was even fighting suicidal thoughts for weeks in a row!) and he would encourage me over the phone to seek out an antidepressant and tell me of his similar battles with anxiety.

When I told him how many friends and family members had advised me against such a move, he said, “That’s like telling a diabetic not to take insulin. You have a physical problem!”

I actually learned of his passing the same day I flew home and later attended the Wednesday evening service at my church and my pastor announced that “a 36-year-old student of Grace School of the Bible in Alaska went home to be with the Lord last night.”

*****

Obviously there’s no guarantee on living another day. One of my dearest friends from when I lived here in New York (one of the same ones I ended up seeing last night) sent me this email Thursday, relaying, in part:

“I understand you’re in New York! I did not move to St. Louis; I’m still here, enjoying New York!  It would have been of nice if you would have called . . . After just learning that Kathleen’s brother died, I realize that life is too short.  It is very distributing to find out that your friend (Kathleen) is hurting, and that she is, but she is an excellent friend whom returns all the kindness, generosity and respect that I try to give her. Most importantly, she does not pass judgment on her friends and that is the worst thing one can do. I just want you to know that you have disappointed me and proved that judgment is the enemy. Your website is very judgmental and wrong because it conveys anger, sadness and resentment and for that I’m sad.  It does not portray a true Christian. Lisa, wake up--your friends and family want you back!!”

Reading this, I immediately recalled how my brother (one of the people I love most in the whole world) pretty much kicked me out of his house this past June, telling me in tears and anger, “You used to be a good writer. I would even sometimes show my friends things you had written. This website of yours is a joke. It looks like all you’re doing is quoting your pastor.”

Earlier that same evening, I was told, “Get rid of your G-D website, your G-D book and your G-D church.” My brother really believed my emotional problems were to be blamed on my chosen take on the Bible and “obsession” to keep writing about it, etc. He thought I should just get a job and work on meeting some new friends.

*****

Thankfully, I got a gem of an email from a friend in Des Moines, Iowa, last week who wrote, in part:

“I want to tell you how much your essays mean to me. Richard (Jordan), through your writing skills, makes the complex understandable. At times, it's even simple to grasp. Thanks so much for your ministry. I hope the book is progressing. I sure look forward to my copies of the first edition.”

Best of all, one of my dear friend’s from last night’s outing informed me, “I go to your website every day.” He’s a lifetime Roman Catholic (now in his late 50s) and an usher at St. Jean Baptiste Church on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

*****

After I quit my job here in Manhattan, and was telling anybody and everybody in the city about how I was writing a book on the Bible, many responded, “Well, I want to buy a copy.”

I actually have a folder in my filing cabinet at home with at least 500 names and telephone numbers/email addresses/home addresses/work addresses, etc., printed on business cards, scratch paper, restaurant napkins, the back of matchbooks, mailing labels, etc.—all people who said they wanted to read my book when it was done.

So, the journey goes on. I know I have at least six months or more before I’ve got a rough draft of the book. In fact, I go back to Texas next Saturday to continue working on it from my friend’s place out in the boonies—where there’s no TV, radio, Starbucks, etc.