That Time of Life

February 16, 2008 by Pastor Jon.

People always get excited when someone has a baby. We give showers, and beg for photos. The beginning of life brings an excitement. But the ending of a life brings sadness and sorrow. It is supposed to be wonderful to be with the Lord, but for some reason our flesh wants to hold onto this earthly realm. I have recently been listening to the David Crowder Band’s “A Collision” CD. It starts, and ends with a snippet of what I think is an old song. “Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die…I want to go to heaven, but I do not want to die.”

I was just a young child when I went to my first funeral. It was a friend of my mom and dad. Later there was my little league soccer coach. Next came my grandmother, and just two months later my dad. I was just 11 years old. I was home when he died. It is a night I will never forget. My dad was my hero, and thankfully a follower of Christ. These events have shaped my thoughts on the ending of this life.

Two years ago Janice and I moved in with her parents. Her dad has Parkinson’s disease. He was diagnosed over 10 years ago. Over the years I have watched him decline. He grew up on a farm in Minnesota, born to Norwegian immigrants. He served state side in the Army during WWII. He built bombers and cargo planes that would fly over Europe and the Pacific. Each year he would have a garden that what produce more vegetables than we could eat. After retirement he and his wife volunteered delivering meals to the shut-ins of Henry County. Now he has nurses come and bath him 3 times a week. He is a devout Christian.

He spends his days sitting in a recliner. He needs help getting into the wheel chair, going to the bathroom and help eating. There are days that go by that he does not know what is going on. Sometimes he will look at me like he does not know who I am. Talk has begun to see if we need to put him in a nursing home. My question over that last two years has been, how do you help someone walk through this time in their life with dignity? Unfortunately, I do not think I have found the answer.

So how exactly do you pray for an 86 year old man that has been fighting a debilitating disease for over 10 years? My wife and I have struggled with this. We do not believe that a Nursing home is a valid option. We long for him to be healed, but he continues to struggle. The past couple of days his breathing has become labored and he does not look the same. It is a hard question to ask, but wouldn’t be better for him to be with the Lord? He no longer has a quality of life in this earthly realm. The only things we know to do are live each day, and do whatever is needed to help Grandma take care of Papa. Our prayer is that when the day comes, he will journey to be with Jesus in peace.

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