All Saints provides an opportunity to remember and give thanks for all the believers who have lived before us. Some of the saints are people we might have known quite well, we might recognize the names of others, and still there are many more numbering in the millions whose names and lives are known only to God.

There are people we knew personally who impact our faith in profound ways: our parents, grandparents, other relatives, good friends, fellow church members, or neighbors who now reside in heaven. We thank God for the privilege of knowing them, of walking beside them, and for the influence of their lives on our own.

It was a life-lesson Jon would never forget. One day, when Jon was about seven, he remembered having a fight with his best friend, Jimmy. "Sparks flew," Jon fondly reca…