More and more it becomes evident to all onlookers, that I am on a divine assignment with my family. One week ago, I participated in a funeral for one of my closest relatives.
Two months after I arrived in Baltimore, my aunt mentioned to me that she was having some difficulty breathing and she was going to try to get an appointment with her doctor. I told her that I was available to take her if the doctor was able to see her the next day. My offer turned into Wednesday visits for 3 hour chemotherapy treatments. Little did I know that those weekly visits would be our final experiences together.
The drive to and from the doctors office only took 30 minutes, after her treatments however, we would stop at the pharmacy, find good soup, go to the bank and visit family members. The 3 hour stay at the hospital became sacred time for me to study and get ahead on my work for the week.
On Wednesday October 28th, she could hardly make it to my car. She told the doctor that she was feeling worse than she had ever felt. The doctor ordered a CAT scan and pulled me to the side to tell me that he was not looking forward to the results. I phoned her son and asked him to take her for the test the next day. By Friday morning she was in hospice care and by Saturday she was on her way to eternity.
On the Friday night before her death, as I was reading Romans 14:7-9 to her, she regained consciousness and reached out to me with a glorious smile and asked if I had been there with her for a long time. As we embraced, I responded yes, and helped the nurse change her clothes. I told her that I loved her and she said, I love you too and closed her eyes again. As I reflected on our 2 month journey together, I thought about how my aunt cared for my grandparents and mother while I served on the national staff for 11 years.
This was the woman who named me at my birth, she was the one who was most proud of my call to serve the church. As she learned of her aggressive disease, she never complained, she never asked why, she never mentioned any regrets. She talked only about the love of God and God's amazing grace. She trusted in God's promises of life eternal for those who believe in Jesus as Lord and she allowed her faith in God's Word, to overshadow any fear that she might have had.
I thank God for her life and especially for the opportunity to have shared those final hours with her. When she awoke and reached for me, it was if she was passing something on to me. Certainly I received the lesson of dying well.
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