My Best Male Friend Passes Into Glory

My best male friend recently passed into glory.

My friend lived and died in obscurity, but he will be great in the coming kingdom. A shining luminary who laid his entire life down for Christ, the One whom He loved dearly.

I’m honored to share his first and middle name — Frank Anthony. He was born the same year as my mother. And as providence would have it, he truly was a spiritual father to me. Closer than my own blood dad.

Frank was brilliant, kind, and had razor sharp wit. He also seemed to have the right answer to every problem.

In 2009, my wife experienced what some have called “the dark night of the soul.” I encouraged her to call Frank, which she did.

When she hung up the phone after speaking to him, she was relieved and had clear direction on what it means to live by blind faith.

Frank was like that. He had an uncanny ability to encourage anyone through any problem, situation, or struggle. You always felt better after talking to him.

My friend taught me so much over the 27 years that I knew him. We’d often have stints where we’d talk on the phone every day for hours.

He stood with me during some of my darkest hours, helping me to survive and thrive through each one.

Our relationship was based on trust and mutual admiration. For this reason, we were extremely open and vulnerable with each other.

Frank taught me how to rejoice during suffering. How to deflect and disarm criticism with the grace of Christ. He taught me how to feed my mind with truth.

When I think of the verse that mentions a “friend who sticks closer than a brother,” that was Frank.

He was also a walking seminary library, but one that was couched in the meekness of Jesus. My running joke was, “If you don’t want to know the answer to your question, don’t ask Frank!”

He could speak at length about any topic and bring it down to the most basic level. Philosophy, theology, literature, history, art, even quantum physics. You name it, Frank knew all about it.

Unfortunately, during the last years of his life, his memory was gone. He no longer had the beautiful mind that I came to cherish.

Yet when I would visit him in the Rehab Center, he would smile because he always remembered me. And he would recall some of the past memories we shared, and we’d laugh together. Every time he would ask about each member of my family; he remembered them too.

Till the day he died, Frank had his Bible with him on his bed. He was truly a man of God and a man of prayer. I was privileged to be the recipient of those prayers and his walk with the Lord. (I’m losing it as I write these words.)

I will miss him greatly. And I’m thankful to God for putting such an amazing mentor in my life.

I’m also grateful that I got to see him shortly before he passed, and I was able to tell him how much I loved and appreciated him.

Takeaway: Life is short. So cherish the time you have with those you love. For they can be taken from you at any moment.

I’ve learned that the most important things in life have to do with human connections. Our connection with family members, our connection with friends who follow Jesus, and most of all – our connection with Jesus as our closest Friend who will never abandon us.

Connections can be broken, but they can always be renewed and strengthened if we lay our fears down and open our hearts to trust. This too I have learned.

Thank you Lord Jesus for putting Frank into my life. I shall never forget his friendship as long as I live on this earth. And I look forward to seeing him on the other side of the veil.

With tears and joy for where Frank is now, the end of his sufferings on this planet.

Yours in the hope of Resurrection,

Frank Anthony Viola