A couple of Sundays ago our sermon was about How People Come To Jesus. After church I shared with the pastor an experience I'd had some years before.
My story was about my brother-in-law. I'd met him only once before I married his brother. Within weeks of the marriage he was diagnosed with lung cancer. I was stricken with concern as to whether he "knew" Jesus and was saved. No one seemed to know, but it wasn't something I was comfortable asking him about. It remained constantly on my mind, taking on an almost physical heaviness I've never had before or since. It was truly a burden on my shoulders.
His folks stayed with him during his lung removal surgery and recovery. After they left for their own home many states away we visited to look in on him. I often drove drive him to oncology appointments. But still I couldn't ask. How do you bring that up?
At first things went well; he seemed to be getting better. Then things took a turn. Many times I would wait for Danny to come home from work, only to tell him we have to go see your brother, we HAVE TO! It would overwhelm me. I thought about him day and night, wondering how I could ask about something so personal.
Then one day I found him sitting on the kitchen floor. I had to help him up. He wasn't getting better and something was terribly wrong. I insisted we call his parents who flew back in. Tests revealed the cancer had metastasized to his brain.
My own minister at that time had been in a serious accident along with his wife. He would be no help. A friend of his who had done a Bible series at our church was willing to meet me at his house to share the Gospel with him.
On that day God pulled 4 virtual strangers together to save one soul.
I arrived before the friend did. A new hospice nurse answered the door as the phone rang in the background. I said, "I'm the sister-in-law, go answer the phone." The friend was on the phone, lost. I gave new directions and then the nurse and I met each other while we awaited his arrival.
We took him upstairs to the bedroom and I stood outside the open door in case I was needed. The nurse went back downstairs. I heard the story of Jesus being shared and then a prayer began. In the middle of the prayer my brother-in-law asked for something to drink. I wondered how much was getting through as the medications made a very short attention span.
The nurse brought some water and then the four of us held hands and prayed together over the bed. That friend and I drove away, wondering if anything did any good.
My brother-in-law passed almost exactly a year later to the day of his diagnosis. He was only 36 years old.
At the visitation the night before the funeral the hospice nurse came and shared the rest of the story with me. She said that after we left she noticed his eyes looking at a tiny cross-shaped lapel pin she had on her collar. Curious, she moved it to the other side and sure enough he was looking at it. She sat and was able to have a true one-on-one with him, answering questions and helping him to understand that God doesn't require people to be "good enough" for Him to love you and care for you and keep you. It just takes believing, it just take faith that He is who He says He is and trust that He will always be with you no matter what.
For me, that was the end of my heaviness, my obsessive burden from God. I know that one day I will see my brother-in-law again. And I will see Jesus too!
