Ever-Present Father: Living Faith Through Trials

Dad was in the hospital. He was having terrible pains in the back and abdominal regions. It turned out that he had Renal Cell Carcinoma- a rare cancer of the kidney. They removed one of his kidneys soon after he entered the hospital. The cancer had started to spread. He would have a long time of treatment ahead of him, but we knew this was an incurable disease.

The man that I was visiting in the hospital seemed so unlike the father I knew. He was scared and seemed frail.

He was never one to communicate his feelings while we were growing up. He only showed us the things he wanted us to know: He was one of the youngest men ever to captain a ship in the coast guard. He was a very successful businessman. He was a superior athlete when he was in school. But he rarely spoke about who he was as a person.

I was about sixteen when my father made a decision to have a person relationship with Jesus, a choice I had already made a few years earlier. I watched him over years after that slowly start to turn from a somewhat harsh person toward becoming a gentler, more loving man. He started to minister the Gospel to others. He impressed me especially with during this hospital stay.
A few days after the surgery, he was encouraged to get out of bed and walk and then sit up in a chair as long as he could endure. It was difficult and painful at first, but as the pain medication kicked in it became easier. The nurse helping him tried to encourage him and make small talk to take his mind off of the pain.

"Your daughter tells me that you are a pharmacist." She said.

"Yes, and he's a minister, too." I threw in before he had a chance to respond. His eyes started to twinkle in that familiar way of his.

"Really?" She said, intrigued, "How interesting!"

"That's right," Dad said, "and it's very important that I get out of here quickly, because I have to tell people about Jesus. You see, many people don't know for sure if they're going to heaven. Do you?"