A Champion Goes Home
Submitted by Frank Williams
April 7, 2025
Ps 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
There comes a time for every servant of the Lord to permanently hang up his spurs, so to speak. Jonathan Bryan (Laura) went to Mexico as church-planting missionaries in 2002. On April 2, 2025, Brother Jonathan was taken home to Heaven. I use this devotion piece today because these precious missionaries were the directors of the Lighthouse Children’s Home in Mexico, for both the girls and the boys.
On the day of his death, Pastor Jonathan preached a funeral and led five people to the Lord. After the Wednesday night service, it was his practice to go witnessing. Laura, some of the girls, and Jonathan were out together, when suddenly Jonathan collapsed, and just that quickly, was transported into the presence of Jesus.
What a champion! What a soldier of the cross! What a precious servant of the Lord! And with what preciousness and tenderness did a loving Heavenly Father look upon His child’s homecoming.
But here, we are left with a certain shock and sadness. He was only 52 years old and seemed to have many more fruitful years ahead. Many children lost a father, including his son, Wyatt. A church lost their pastor. Churches planted lost a supporter and mentor. A wife lost her husband. And we of the Lighthouse lost a great friend and co-laborer.
But the timing of our passing is never ours to decide, and we must always look to our benevolent and wise Father for our comfort and healing.
Spurgeon penned these words — “The Lord watches over dying beds, smooths their pillows, sustains their hearts, and receives their souls. Those who are redeemed with precious blood are so dear to God that even their deaths are precious to him . . .[He] views the triumphant deaths of his gracious ones with sacred delight. If we have walked before him in the land of the living, we need not fear to die before him when the hour of our departure is at hand. “
We will greatly miss our brother Jonathan, as even now our hearts weep… especially for those left behind. But our joy and hope is out yonder, when in great delight, we shall be eternally reunited.
Consider – Celebrate his life, not his death.
