Cancer
Chris and I fly to Florida tomorrow to visit his family. I've only met his grandfather once (at our wedding) but he's such a sweet guy. Chris has told me stories about him and he seems like a pretty awesome guy. About 2 months ago he was given only about 6 months to live. He's had emphazema for quite some time and now he has cancer. There's nothing they can do about it at this point so he's living his last days right now.
I seem to only wonder if people are Christians or not if I hear that they're about to die. I asked Chris if he knew if his grandfather was a Christian and he said he wasn't sure, but probably not. Most people in Chris's family aren't. It makes me sad to think that this sweet old man may not get to meet Jesus. I mean, Allen is in his 70's. What can you even say to a 70 year old man that you know has months to live about God? No, really. I'm open to hearing what someone would do in this situation.
posted by Shaunna Faye @ 8:37 AM
2 Comments:
My grandfather was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2003 and I never spoke to him about his faith, so I had no idea if he was a believer. My family is a southern family that does the church thing, but for the most part, that's really the extent of it. For the year that he was battling brain cancer, I would cry myself to sleep wondering if he was a Christian, wondering what I needed to do about it and if it would even make a difference. Spring break of my sophomore year of college I went down to St. Augustine just to hang out with him in the hospice. He was my favorite person in the world and we would just talk. But I just couldn’t seem to ask him about his beliefs, if he had any, mostly because I didn’t want to hear the wrong thing. July of that year he passed away and that was the last time I saw him.
A couple of weeks after my trip to St. Augustine, my mom called me and said she talked to my Grandaddy on the phone. She said, ‘I don’t know what this means, but he said you would. He said for you not to worry anymore. He will be there when you get there.”
That’s all I needed. Even though he was still living, I had closure knowing he was going to be with the Lord after he died. I never talked to him about faith. I never heard him tell me stories about his struggles and triumphs in his walk. What I am trying to get at is that we really don’t know how the Lord judges peoples heart. I know that the bible says that the only way to God is through his Son. But I also know the Lord is grace and love. In no ways am I downplaying the necessity of a relationship with the Lord, but in no way am I downplaying the mysteries and miracles of God and his love for his children and wanting all to come to him. I am not saying to go my way and just cry, hope and pray something happens. During this time, I think people are more open to faith and hearing about other people’s faith. Don’t throw facts at him. He doesn’t need that. He needs you to just love him and pray for him and show him the Jesus you know by your love and words.
That's such a sweet story. Well, I didn't read this until after I was back from Florida. I didn't end up getting to talk to Allen very much. There were always other people around. I'm still not even sure what I'd say. I thought about writing him a letter. Or maybe telling Chris to write him a letter. I think he'd like that. But that's good advice.....show him Jesus by love.
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