Nearly ten years ago I wrote four ‘living eulogies’ about people who had influenced my life in ways impossible to measure. These four folks—three men, one woman—were believers who had shaped my thinking, infused me with direction and purpose, inspired me to press on, and pointed me to Christ. I posted the eulogies at Parchment & Pen. Three were my elders, one my junior. One was a relative who instructed me from my birth; three were godly leaders whom I met later in life.

Three are now with the Lord. Only one is left. Dr. Harold Hoehner was the New Testament department chairman at Dallas Seminary and a genuine Doctor-Father to me. He instilled in me the desire to dig deeper into God’s word and above all to have integrity in my scholarship. Dr. Joe Aldrich was my pastor at Mariners Church in Newport Beach back in 1970—he joined the staff just a couple of weeks after I did as the church’s first youth director. He was one of the main reasons I decided to enroll at Dallas Seminary.

Harold Hoehner and Joe Aldrich both died on the same day, February 12, 2009.

The third influential person was my mother, Nayda Baird Wallace. She taught me the importance of centering my life on Christ and on getting the core of my theology right. She would say, “Nail one foot to the floor inside the circle where Christ is; let your other foot tap dance all it wants, recognizing that you can never get too far away from that inner circle.” The makings of a rudimentary doctrinal taxonomy!

Mom passed into the presence of the Lord on January 30, 2017.

The last person is still with us. He is the only one on this list younger than I am—and by more than fifteen years. He was one of my interns back in c. 1999. He volunteered to be an intern not to learn from me but to help me in any way he could. I had contracted encephalitis in 1997 and lost much of my memory—most of my languages, most of the people I knew, who the president was, even my wife’s name! I was in a wheelchair for nearly a year and had next to no energy for many years afterward. At one point I was sleeping 22 hours a day and not able to read more than ten minutes without falling asleep. I could read for a maximum of twenty minutes a day. Two men wanted to help me get back on my feet—literally. One of them, a promising young man named Kris Boring, died a year after the internship from a bizarre disease that he contracted in Guatemala. The other is, frankly, barely hanging on because of other diseases that have ravaged his body.

And yet, in spite of his physical limitations, he has been able to co-author two books in the last few years—Reinventing Jesus and Putting Jesus in His Place. His name is Ed Komoszewski.

Over the past two decades our friendship has deepened, and my respect for Ed has soared. In many respects he, too, has become one of my spiritual mentors, and in the process he has become my best friend. I could tell you about the variety of diseases that have taken hold of his mortal shell, but I want to respect his privacy. Ed’s energy levels on his best days almost make my encephalitis look like I was some sort of an energetic superhero. I don’t know how much time Ed has left for this realm, but I do know that he intends to use all of it to magnify the name of his God and King. His book, Putting Jesus in His Place, co-authored with Rob Bowman, was endorsed by dozens of the world’s most notable biblical and theological scholars. I consider it the best—and most accessible—Christology to come down the pike in a long, long time. It belongs in every thinking Christian’s library.

Ed Komoszewski breathes Christ. He has often stated pensively, “Even though I’ve thought about it a lot, I don’t know what I’m going to say when I meet my Lord face-to-face for the first time. One thing I know I won’t say is, ‘Hey, it’s good to connect a name with a face’!”

We need Ed to stay in the fight, to continue working on his vital writing projects, to struggle through the pain and weakness and bring glory to the Risen One.

But the medical bills are mounting. They’re getting out of control. A good friend of Ed’s, Alex Blagojevich, has started a GoFundMe campaign to raise $50,000 to help cover Ed’s medical costs. Alex has already committed to match the first $2500. Ed has a growing family and his dear wife, Shelley, works full time. They need our help.

This is a time for believers to come to the aid of a brother in Christ. The eternal rewards for such an investment cannot be overestimated. I ask you to consider making a generous, even sacrificial gift, to Ed’s GoFundMe account. Share the news with your friends on social media. Tell your church. Get involved. Only a small fraction of the funds have been raised so far. The word needs to spread. Here’s the link, my friends:

https://www.gofundme.com/ed-komoszewski039s-medical-expenses