My husband and I went to visit an elderly man in the hospital Saturday morning. This gentleman is not a Christian. He is the boss of my best friend. I have gotten to know him over the last year when I have done some temp work for them and he is a "crotchety" old man but he is one of those that grows on you. We have come to love him and he holds a special place in our hearts. My friend has worked with him for 20 years and has prayed for him constantly all that time hoping to see him turn his life over to Jesus. He just turned 77 years old last month and his heart is failing him. But over the last 6 months he has started showing up at church unexpectantly and asking more questions about God/Heaven, etc although he hasn't committed his life to Christ yet.
DH & I like to go to Cracker Barrel every Saturday morning for breakfast - just the two of us. That's our routine...it's our time together every week. When we were leaving Cracker Barrel this past Saturday, DH was the one that suggested we go visit our friend in the hospital. I really wasn't up to visiting with him at the moment but I realized that was selfish of me so I agreed to a quick visit and off we went.
When we got there my best friend was sitting by our gentleman friend's bedside (she is like a daughter to him...he really has no friends or family so she has taken over that role) and she was waiting on the doctor to come in. He was in a semi-private room and the man on the other side of the curtain was snoring off and on loudly and tossing around on his bed. I made the comment that it would be nice if he could have a private room if he has to stay very long in the hospital wouldn't it?
Well we made the usual small talk until our gentleman friend drifted off to sleep and my dear friend and I stepped into the hallway to talk for a few minutes. About that time the snoring man on the other side of the curtain sat up at the end of his bed and started complaining to my husband...about the fact that he had come in last night just for some tests and they ended up admitting him; nobody was telling him anything; it was now 10:30 a.m. and he hasn't had any breakfast or anything to eat since last night and various other things. My husband listened to him and asked him a few questions and offered to pray with him. When the man accepted the three of us gathered around him and prayed with him. Once we were done he thanked us and continued right on with his complaining.
Then he said "They told me last night I could walk out of here and go home and die...and that scared me." My husband said "Well let me ask you something...if you did die, where are you going to spend eternity?" And this young 29-yr-old man said "I don't know. I've never thought about it." So my husband had the privilege of leading this man to Christ Saturday morning.
We ended up spending all afternoon at the hospital talking to him. It was such a wonderful thing to hear what had transpired in this young man's life over the last 2 weeks to get him to this point...his testimony was powerful! He started crying when he was talking about what had happened and how now he could see how God had gotten him here.
We found out Sunday from my dear friend that all day Saturday (after we left) the young man continued telling everyone that came into the room that he was in the hospital for an enlarged heart....but he knew the real reason it was large because he now had Jesus in it and he wanted to share that news with everybody!
1 comment:
Wow, what an inspiring story!
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