Jimmy went home today to be with the Lord. Nothing in seminary really prepares you to confront life and death issues you face in pastoring a church until you actually walk with someone through their pain.

Today, I spent some time with a wonderful guy and church member named Jimmy. Jimmy has cancer. It’s a horrible cancer. His body is filled with tumors. This last year has been difficult in that the doctors can’t stop the cancer. Nothing seems to work. Radiation and chemo haven’t worked. He began hospice a few weeks ago and just yesterday his hospice nurse said that his kidneys are failing and that he’s only been given a few weeks to live.

If Jimmy crossed your path today, all you’d see is his smile. His smile is contagious and his heart loves the Lord. He loves his kids, his wife, and his mom. You’d never know that he was physically in pain. As Jimmy and I spent some time together this afternoon, Jimmy is certain that he’s going to heaven. He said, “Last night it hit me, that I was going to heaven soon.”

As I sat in the quiet of his back-yard with his wife, I reminded him of a recent trip he and his wife took to Alaska. I asked if he was doing anything else or if he was spending time with family. Jimmy smiled and said he wanted to go to the ZOO and that this Friday he was seeing the opening of a movie and that this was the first time he had ever seen a movie on the day it opened.

Something I did grab from a theology professor in seminary was the art of being present is what matters and that pastoral care sometimes is just being physically present in the midst of someones pain. No answers, no fixing, just being present.

Today, Jimmy and his wife and I sat. We laughed. We were quiet. A few tears were shed. We laughed some more and we prayed and we will continue to be present praying for Jimmy and that he would enjoy these last days sitting in the presence of family, friends, and the Lord.

Please pray for Jimmy.