My friend, Luke, was released today.
I first met Luke a little over a month ago through one of our THF family. I'd been told that he was a good guy, a professional painter, who had lived a pretty rough life and that he had been diagnosed with cancer down in his abdomen back last year. He was literally riddled with cancer - abdomen, throat, brain. A tumor was even pressing against the optic nerve behind his right eye and he had lost vision in that eye. He was terminal.
No one really knew what his spirit was, and I was asked if I'd visit him. "Of course," I said. After all, that's something pastor's do, right?
You never know, going into a meeting like that what you will find. People respond all kinds of different ways. Anger, rage, dismissal...and worst of all condescension (like you're a hired "gun" and of course, you're there to see them about their eternity.) Well, what I found was a friend...and a really good man.
It was a quick five weeks. I don't know what Luke was like most of his life, but I do know what he was at the end. He was just very genuine and gracious. Somewhere in there, Luke had embraced the Savior and it - as it always will - transformed him. He wasn't fatalistic. He wasn't angry or questioning. He was just real people. We talked much - which was a trip in itself, because Luke was hard of hearing, so we had to yell at each other. We laughed a lot, sometimes at stuff we'd say - or often enough at stuff we couldn't figure out how to say, given all the yelling. And sometimes I'd just sit on the edge of his bed on the really tough days and hold his hand and pray. Like a true Texan, Luke always extended to shake your hand...
I told his brother-in-law on Wednesday that Luke's spirit was "quiet" over the five or six weeks I knew him. As is intended, that wandering, nomadic soul found its rest in Jesus...and he was good with life. And here's a truth to live by: He never mourned the life that cancer was taking from him. He embraced the life that Jesus was giving to him.
This past Sunday, Luke was able to muster up the strength to come celebrate with us at THF. He'd wanted to for a while. His special lady had come with him...had flown all the way from Florida, in fact, to come with him. It was a big thing. I'd told our greeter team to be watching. They did, and when he arrived, they came directly to me and told me that big ol' goober was in the building. It was great for them to pray with in person the guy they'd prayed for at a distance for over a month. I told Luke that this place - THF - was started for guys just like him. He was in many ways the epitome of "Heights Harry." We celebrated.
His hospice nurse just called to tell me that Luke has been released. And, that's a good thing. Life didn't leave. Life just came by and picked him up on its journey. Today, I'm grateful for friendship. But more than that, I'm grateful that the Savior counts as precious in His sight, the death of His beloved.
What about you, friend? Has your spirit found its rest in the Savior?
