Talking With The Relatives

Talking with the Relatives

For the honor of your name, O LORD, forgive my many, many sins.

Psalm 25:11

Even though I was raised in the church and heard we are to bring others to Jesus, for years I didn’t know how to do that. Then one of my favorite uncles was diagnosed with lung cancer. In the midst of his medical battle, our family’s beloved Mama Farley, his mother, died. He was able to attend her funeral but was hospitalized for the last time shortly after his return home. Since he was in an isolation unit, visitors had to scrub with special soap and wear head-to-toe covering to keep from passing germs to his weakened immune system. When I visited him one evening, the nurse informed me the cancer had invaded his throat, so talking would be painful for him.

Covered from head to toe, I thought he wouldn’t recognize me, so I whispered, “Hi, it’s me, San,” as I entered his room. I patted his shoulder with my gloved hand and pulled the lone chair close to his bed.

“I hate it you’re going through this,” I said.

He nodded.

I paused, wondering how he would receive what I was about to tell him. In the past when any of us, including his own mother, had tried to share our faith, he would wave us away. I had to find a way to get him to listen. Please help me, Lord.

“I want to tell you what Jay said when we were at Mama’s funeral,” I said.

And I told him about my young son telling his little sister that Mama’s breathing part was in heaven.

As my uncle listened, tears sprang to his eyes.

I blinked rapidly and said, “I know Mama’s in heaven.”

He nodded earnestly.

“And I know I’m going to see her again,” I continued. “I want to know that when I get to heaven, you’ll be standing right there with Papa and Mama.”

Through the glass in the door I could see a nurse in the hallway.

“We don’t have much time,” I said, worried she would soon gesture for me to leave. But the double meaning of the words was evident too.

“May I pray for you?” I asked. “The words I say are what you can repeat in your heart to accept Jesus as your Savior.”

I expected him to shake his head in his old rejecting way, but instead he gave a jerky nod and squeezed his eyes shut. —SANDRA

Lord, I am grateful I will see this dear uncle again. But I have many other relatives and friends who need to hear the simple path to you. Give me the opportunity and the courage to share the way.

A person may go to heaven without health, without riches, without honors, without learning, without friends; but he can never go there without Christ.

—JOHN DYER (1699–1757), ENGLISH POET