Decades apart
Never met
Brothers in Christ
I wrote about Brenden after he shared in our Sunday School class
I wrote about Howard after a nursing home visit
8-25-26 - Brenden
If God is real,
then why do I feel lonely?
If God is real,
then why do I still struggle with sin?
If God is real,
then why don't I feel the Spirit on the inside?
If God is real,
then why aren't we seeing Acts 2 come alive today?
And while these niggled at the back of his mind
when he was on staff at a church,
the floodgates opened
when he gave himself permission to question
He read some helpful books
that helped him see
that other thinking Christians have asked these same questions
and emerged on the other side with their faith intact
"What were those books?" someone asked
He doesn't even remember
because it wasn't the knowledge from the books
that rescued him
but a deeper heart matter
It was his pursuit of truth
and realizing that Truth is a person
pursuing him
8-25-26 - Howard
May 2026 - the day I met Howard
It was his first time at our nursing home church service
and he and his daughters
were amenning and singing along,
and I just kept playing more songs
June 2026 - Howard requests "Jesus, keep me near the cross"
so I start singing that song every time I come
When I leave, I tell him to "behave,"
and he laughs
July 12, 2026 - Howard's using a walker now but still comes
Jesus, keep me near the cross
July 26, 2026 - Howard's in a wheelchair now but still comes
Jesus, keep me near the cross
August 9, 2026 - Howard doesn't come,
so I ask the nurse
why he has been declining so repidly
"Cancer has spread to his brain. He has become difficult and mean
and curses at the nurses. You might want to leave him alone."
I go to his room to wheel him to church
His wheelchair is more of a laying chair than sitting chair
He still sings, "Jesus, keep me near the cross." Every verse.
August 23, 2026 - Howard doesn't come, so I go to his room
The curtain is slightly pulled, so I peek in
He's in bed unclothed, kind of like my dad was during his final days of hospice
After church, I come back and kneel outside his room
"Jesus, keep me near the cross." He still sings along...
"Be my glory ever till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river."
May it be so, Howard.
[Note: When I left the nursing home that day, I gave my contact information to the receptionist to let me know when he passed. I hadn't heard anything, so today (9-13-26), I went to his room, only to find that it now belongs to someone else. He died on August 31. He clung to the cross his whole life until the day when he met his Savior face to face and found rest beyond the river. I sang this hymn, as I have every time ever since he requested it. This time, I couldn't make it through without crying.]
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