FROM THE PASTOR’S HEART
OP / ED BY DR. ROBERT KENNEDY
I remember it as if it were yesterday; my wife had just come home from school. She had driven 26 miles after teaching, so as she entered the house, she complained of not feeling well and went to rest for a while. But in less than an hour, the call came in that her brother, living more than 200 miles away, was very sick. He was diagnosed with cancer a few weeks before, and it seemed to have worsened.
Immediately my wife jumped out of bed and said, “We’ve got to go! We’ve got to go!” I did not say anything but began to dress because her brother was the closest brother-in-law (I don’t want the others to hear, they are still alive) to me. So, we covered the 200 miles in 3.5 hours, reaching about 8:00 the night. After our greeting and investigation, we went to the nearest health food shop, where we purchased vegetables, fruits, and other things my wife recalled from her grandmother’s medicine box. She was about to do everything to ensure that her younger brother would remain alive.
We stayed for the weekend, and I watched my wife as she joined her brother’s wife and children into the routine of food and medicine. But, of course, we did not forget the prayer routine. At various times while we were in the house, we went into the bedroom and prayed, asking God to fulfill his will in bringing about healing. We followed the ABC prayer formula found in John 14:13-17: Ask. Believe. Claim. It was tough to leave on Sunday evening to return our 200 miles, but we did because, on Monday morning, my wife and I needed to be back in our classrooms and administrative tasks.
A few days passed, and our brother was committed to a hospital on Long Island, and we trekked the 200 miles again. And over the next few weeks, it was a back-and-forth. Do I need to say how we felt burned out at times? But we just felt like what we were doing was what we needed to do. Then, after a while, our brother’s cancer went into remission. And he gave his all-in service to his church and community members. He gave his time as if it were his last day to live.
After a little while, our brother decided to plan for retirement, so we both got houses built beside each other in Georgia. We went down each holiday and enjoyed each other’s company. But the move never came. Before it was accomplished, our brother began to show evidence that the cancer was on its return. We had relocated about 50 miles away from our brother’s residence.
As the battles with the sickness got worse and worse, we drove two or three times per week, either to his house or to the hospital where he was. Sometimes we would be in the hospital room with the doctors and nurses. At other times we would participate in the consultations with the doctors and the family, as requested. Often when his wife and children despaired, we would take the time to comfort and pray with them. We watched and worked with our brother until one evening on our visit, we spoke with the doctor, and he told us they could do nothing more.
When the doctor told our brother they could do nothing more, he asked for his release from the hospital. Then he told his family that he did not want to go home. Instead, he wanted to come to our home in Jersey. So, we made the necessary preparations to receive him, and he came. His (our) mother was living with us at the time. And I cannot forget how she superintended him as he came. The scene that I remember most was the day when he was sitting on the stoop in front of our residence with his eyes fixed on the sun. He returned to his bed, and before the day was done, we had to call for an ambulance to get him to the hospital, where they admitted him. Within a few days, he passed.
I hope that you can identify with the story I have just told. I suspect that just about every family can tell one or two, or three of their stories. Some people do not only have one person being sick at a time but two or three with their varied forms of debilitations. Battles with cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, malaria, heart disease, respiratory challenges, PTSD, the pandemic, Alzheimer, and other diseases are real. I have seen the battles with many and shared them with my family. I have had a few church members who suffer from kidney disease, and the daily routine of going to dialysis seems a real challenge. I pray for the caregivers, especially in spousal relationships, because I have sensed the burnout.
My question is not often when will sickness end, in terms of death, but when will sickness end forever? David Agus, MD., has written a New York Times #1 Bestseller, The End of Illness. And it has been lauded by the Washington Post as “A convincing guide to some of the most confusing issues currently discussed in popular health writing.”
Others say it presents an eye-opening picture using physics to examine body complexities and that it takes note of the supplements, vitamins, and new technologies present to heal the body. So let us thank Dr. Agus and the many other doctors and health researchers who have done the most excellent work in looking at the medical traditions and alternatives that can help us to more healthy lives in this world.
But it is pathetic that with all of the exploits on health research and development, sickness still comes on us and causes us to suffer so much. I have enjoyed good health, but I, too, suffer some anxiety about the days when, if I do not die suddenly, the battle with “the something” that impacts us all before death comes will come upon me. It is not just the pain but the thing that takes away your dignity and makes you feel so compromised and vulnerable. Yes, frankly, I hate to think of it, for it is not just suffering for Christ but suffering because of sin.
Enough said. My ending is a note of encouragement that we can know that someday, all sickness will end. My mother loved this text, and I love it too, “they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Isaiah 35:10lp).
This is the promise and assurance that keeps me going, for above the sickness is the promise of eternal health. As is said, concerning life in the eternal city of God, “And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:2)
