The Blessings of Struggle

One of the things that pastors are called on to do is to visit folks who are in the midst of the struggles of life and death. Yesterday was such a day for me.

First, I traveled cross town to visit Eric in his hospital room. Eric is a long time Christ follower who plays various percussion instruments in our Praise Band. He has been fighting cancer for the last year and nearly lost the battle this last week. As we visited I told him about Bazil, a young man whose mother passed away just hours after he had joined our church. When I concluded my prayer at the end of our visit Eric asked me if he could pray. His prayer, less than a minute long in his weakness, was for Bazil! Here, in his weakness, he prayed for strength for another whom he hardly knew! I was blessed.

I found Bazil at his parents home surrounded by family and friends. The home was filled with praise and laughter. But why shouldn't it be....a child of God had gone home. He shared with me the story of her quiet passing and how he had shared some thoughts from my Sunday morning

sermon with her just before she passed. He told her that "the best is yet to come" and that "death is just a comma (,)!" Her last word spoken this side of eternity was "Allelluia"! And again I was both humbled and blessed in the midst of struggle.