Don't Miss the Wedding Feast

It has been a while since I have had the time write. I guess that marriage does that to you. I have been extremely busy in recent months, moving to a new city, building an apartment, looking for places to do ministry, and last but not least, getting married. It has been a busy few months!

Many of you came to our wedding. That was such a fun time of fellowship. The goal of our wedding was to present the Gospel in a very clear manner, so hopefully you came away understanding that. So many of you have done so much for us during this time. You have expressed your love, overwhelmed us with gifts, and covered us in prayers. We cannot express how thankful we are for you.

There is one story, however, that many of you do not know in relation to our wedding day. That story was going to remain to myself, but due to recent events and the stirring in my heart, I feel like I need to share the story. It is somewhat hard to write but I ask that you bear with me and hear me out during this long post.

Over the past couple of years, Erin and I have met some incredible people. If you are reading this blog, you are probably one of those people. But one individual that we met, and one that we became close friends with, was Don.

Don is not the typical person that you call a close friend. We never had class together, we didn't have much in common, and we never lived together. In fact, Don hasn't really lived much with anyone. He was often seen wandering the streets at night collecting cans and trading them in for a little change. During the day, you could find Don at his camp down the road sleeping in a shack made of milk crates and tarps. Such is the life of a homeless person.

Don was 56 years old and a retired war veteran. He drank, he smoked, but deep in his heart he made a great friend. When I lived in Huntington, you could often find Don at the dumpster behind my apartment every night around 10 pm. If I or my roommates were around, we would go out and spend an hour or two with him. We built a great relationship with him and knew him well. I even had the privilege of going dumpster diving for cans with him a few times. I learned all about his life.

Don came to church with me once. The Gospel was preached in a very clear manner that Sunday, as it always was at River Cities Community Church. I also had several other opportunities to preach the Gospel to Don and even invited him to church several more times. But usually he patted the dumpster and responded, "This is my church. I communicate to God right here."

Over time, Don became a great friend. We laughed, we joked, and we prayed. I prayed for that man a lot.

When Erin and I began creating our wedding list, Don was one of the first individuals that came to mind. In fact, several months before Erin and I started dating, he requested that we invite him to our wedding. His dream was to catch the garter. The only problem with the invitation was that he had no mailbox. So instead, we told him of the date. And another problem was that he had no car, so again we offered a solution.

Saturday morning (the morning of the wedding), my brother Brian and I went to look for Don. We drove to his camp only to find it resided by someone else. I asked the man where Don was and the man responded that he was going to some wedding feast. Of course, that was mine, but how would he get there?

Brian and I drove around Huntington for hours, maybe 3 in total. I had traveled with Don so much that I knew all his routes, so that is where we looked. We drove down every alley, we passed every dumpster, and we looked on every block. Don was nowhere to be found.

The wedding day was incredible! But it saddened me the Don wasn't there. He was such a close friend and I very much wanted him with me. I was unsure of his eternal destination, and I knew the Gospel would go out that day, so I would have done anything for him to hear it one more time. Plus I didn't want him to miss the wedding feast.


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More than a month had past, but still my prayers continued. I had been back to Huntington a few times, but still never ran into Don. I assumed that sooner or later I would cross his path.

This morning, however, things changed dramatically. I received a text message from my friend Luke to check the news, and then I confirmed it later myself: my friend Don was no longer around. He had passed away the day before.

"The body of Donald Barry Harrison, 56, was found Monday morning at a recycling center in Ironton, OH. The cause of his death is still undetermined, but it appears that no foul play was involved."

My heart was crushed at the sound of the news. The pain did not come from the death of my friend, but it came from the uncertainty surrounding his salvation. I had preached the Gospel to him so many times, I had labored with him and for him in prayer, yet I never knew how close he was to my LORD. There was nothing else that I could have done.

The Word says that God's word does not return to him void without accomplishing what it was sent to do(Isaiah 55), which of course I believe. But what was His word sent out to do in Don's life? I saw some signs of fruit, though he still continued in much of his sin, so was that supposed to indicate salvation? Was that supposed to indicate a relationship with our Creator?

I am not looking for answers, nor am I looking for comfort, but rather I am in anguish over the fact that I do not know his eternal state. Not because I felt like I should have done more, but because a friend of mine died and I was not certain of his salvation. I am not sure if he will be at the greater Wedding Feast. Do you catch my drift?

Anguish comes when you don't know someones eternal resting place. And greater anguish comes when you do know, and you know it's not good. God desires all men to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4), and that is my desire as well, but there comes a point where men have to choose; when they have to decide whether or not they will worship the King.

Matthew 22 talks about the great wedding feast of the lamb. It talks of men rejecting the King's invitation, and it talks of others being rejected by the King. They were not rejected due to a lack of love on behalf of the King, but rather they were rejected because they had no relationship with Him; they did not know who He was.

This parable isn't really about a feast, but rather it is about heaven, and the King is God. There will come a day when all of us will die and will have to stand before the Mighty King. Our merits will never get us in, because one wrong thing makes us guilty. No, the only thing that we can rest on on that day is whether or not we know the King; whether or not we have a relationship with Him.

I loved celebrating with all of you at our wedding feast, but I desire even more to celebrate with you at the final wedding feast: the one that exists in heaven. I have anguish over Don because I do not know where he is, but please don't bring me more anguish by leaving me opportunity to wonder about your salvation. I love you. I desire to be with you. And I long to stand around the throne with you in heaven, worshiping our Mighty God for the salvation that He brought about in our lives.


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Thank you Don for your friendship. And thank you for all of the great lessons that you taught me. I hope to run into you again someday, and of course I hope you are in heaven. However, I cannot know for sure, and so that brings me sorrow, but I promise to use your story as a way to point others to Christ and to bring God glory. I know that you would not have it any other way.