Prayers for Jimmy…
July 27th, 2007
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.
July 27th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
Prays for Jimmy.
Thanksgiving for you, good man.
August 2nd, 2007 at 6:01 pm
I learned the power of “presence” when my husband was dying of cancer six years ago. Many of our friends visited once but were unable to bring themselves to come again, especially as the end got nearer and nearer. But then there were others who continued to grace us with their “presence” bringing wonderful opportunities to discuss some Ordinary Things - something our lives were sadly missing at that time as the cancer took over more and more of our lives. Many times I thanked God as I came to realize that our “presence” is the greatest gift we have to offer each other. Consider another prayer said for Jimmy and his family and one also for you and your ministry.
November 29th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
[...] leans over to me as I sat back down in my pew and said, “you were the pastor that worked with Jimmy? Apparently she was one of the chaplains that cared for Jimmy over the year while he was dying of [...]