Josh Gad shares one of his final texts from Chadwick Boseman: ‘He knew how precious every moment was’

On Friday, it was announced that actor Chadwick Boseman, 43, had died after a silent, four-year battle with colon cancer. The actor was known for playing cultural trailblazers such as James Brown and Jackie Robinson, but will forever be known as T’Challa in the 2018 smash, “Black Panther.”

To give the public a glimpse of how thoughtful Boseman was in real life, actor Josh Gad, who starred with him in the 2017 film “Marshall,” shared one of the final texts his friend ever sent him. The text shows how Boseman found beauty in even the most distressing times.

It’s a lesson we should all take to heart these days.

Gad shared the text on Twitter and called it, “Catch the Rain.” It appears to have been sent last spring when Los Angeles had just started to go on lock-down due to COVID-19 and it was raining.

“This was one of my final texts from the brilliant & once-in-lifetime talent, @chadwickboseman – take this in & celebrate life. He knew how precious every moment was. Take none of it for granted,” Gad captioned the post.

“If you are in Los Angeles, you woke up this morning to the rare and peaceful sound of a steady precipitation,” Chadwick’s text began. “If you’re like me, maybe you looked at the week’s forecast and found that it’s supposed to rain for three straight days — not without breaks of sunlight and reprieves of moist gloom. But yeah, it’s gonna be coming down like cats and dogs.”

“Great, we’re stuck inside these damn quarantines because of the COVID, and now we can’t even get no sun in Cali. Come on now!”

“But now that the rain has stopped and today’s storm has cleared, I urge you to go outside and take a deep breath,” the text continued. “Notice how fresh the air is right now, after our skies have had a three-week break from the usual relentless barrage of fumes from bumper-to-bumper LA commuters.”

“And now today’s rain has given the City of Angels a long overdo and much-needed shower.”

“Inhale and exhale this moment, and thank God for the unique beauties and wonders of this day. We should take advantage of every moment we can to enjoy the simplicity of God’s creation — whether it be clear skies and sun or clouded over with gloom.”

“And hey, if the air is in the clear right now, and it does rain tomorrow, I might even put jars and bins out and catch the rain, throw that in the water filter, and I have water more alkaline than any bottled brand out there.”

After the announcement of Boseman’s passing, Gad shared a heartfelt video paying tribune to his friend, on Instagram.

“There aren’t words to express how amazing of a human being Chadwick Boseman was,” Gad began the video.

“You come upon people in your life who are next-level good,” he continued. “This was a man who was beyond talented and was so unbelievably giving not only as a performer but as a human being. Beyond just being Black Panther, Chadwick was T’Challa in real life. He was somebody who just gave and gave and gave and never stopped giving.”

Gad mourned the loss of his friend as many of us do. After a few days, he turned his energy from focusing on the loss to celebrating the person’s life and the the friendship they shared.

To celebrate the good times they had together, Gad posted a video clip of himself, Boseman, and fellow “Marshall” co-star Sterling K. Brown, singing a beautiful three-part harmony on Boyz II Men’s hit song, “Motownphilly.”

On Sunday, he posted a photo collage to remember the good times they had together.

“As with any passing, we have to find our way though the grief of loss to reach the celebration of life,” he captioned the post. “So, this morning, I have tried to replace the tears with smiles and revisit the many (but still too few) moments of joy I got to spend with my friend over the last few years.”