The Eyes Have It - A Minute of Vision for Men

The Eyes Have It

It is pretty humbling to pay a visit to a man on his deathbed. Wayne had fought a long battle with cancer, and his time on this earth was drawing to an end. As Wayne lay in the care of hospice, Pastor Chuck and I went to convey God’s love for him and open the door to any needed spiritual conversations.

As we stood over Wayne and greeted him, there was a warmth and glow in his eyes that I rarely see at that level of suffering. Wayne’s mind was still sharp, and he reached out with his hands to greet us. He had struggled for quite some time to speak well, because half of his tongue was removed with the cancer. But on this day, we had no trouble understanding him.

I asked him when he accepted Christ as his Savior, and he indicated that he did it when he was a little boy. When I asked him if there was anything that he needed to talk about, he quickly and confidently said no, while shaking his head as if to say, “I am content.” His favorite Scripture was the lengthy poem about time in Ecclesiastes 3. I read it, Chuck then prayed, and Wayne gave a resounding, “Amen!”

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 says, “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die.” As Wayne’s time to die approached, his eyes said so much that day. I’ll never forget it. Wayne hardly spoke ten words, but he communicated volumes. He couldn’t fool us, as a man’s eyes don’t lie when he is on his deathbed. Had Wayne been bitter, we would have seen it in his eyes. Had he not believed, we would have known it from his eyes. Instead his eyes conveyed that he was ready. How about you? What will your eyes convey when it is your time to die?

For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-2