HIS NAME WAS ROBERT. I had never heard of him, nor met him or any of his family until one day, ‘out of the blue’, a friend from a place I had worked years before contacted me. They wondered if I would do them a favor. Would I come over to their house and pray for someone and his family? They didn’t ask for themselves or even a friend, but for someone who was living in their house temporarily—dying of ALS. Robert was far from his church home. There was no one to call upon except a guy who writes inspirational editorials. I was a friend they knew they could trust. “Robert has maybe a week or two left. Can you come soon and pray with him and his family?” they asked.
I sat stunned for a few moments. My daily prayer for years has been to, “Let me demonstrate your loving-kindness today, Lord.” But I never imagined this. I was grateful. I was humbled. I had a crowded schedule. But I could not refuse this. I wanted God to open the way. And . . . He did.
His name was Robert. He was elderly, and a Christian. His family lived in a foreign country. He was unable to travel to them so one of his children was in town tending to his final days. As I entered the door Robert was seated in an easy chair and mustered a hand wave as to say, “Hi”. His head was bowed due to muscle weakness. I returned the greeting with a smile.
“How should I pray?” I wondered. I had no ‘magic’ words. I was hoping the right thoughts would come to me for this particular situation. To my delight, I remembered what I had been studying recently in the Bible. As I opened my mouth to pray, out came thoughts of God’s goodness and mercy. He tells us that, “He knew us every one while we were still unformed in the dirt. He has a plan for our good, and has written a book on each of us containing every detail of every day of our lives.” I asked for healing. But in that moment something told me to take that prayer in a different direction. (Was it my thinking or from God?)
His name was Robert. Weeks later, I looked up the meaning of his name—“bright; shining”. When my prayer had changed direction that day, I spoke of our ignorance in what we ask for, and added that while we ask for complete healing, what we really want is for God to be glorified in us. We want the good reason He put us on earth to be fulfilled. I believe no detail about any of us is left to chance, not even our names.
His name was Robert. As we parted company, I told him that this would not be the last prayer I ever prayed for him. He said simply, “Thank you." I prayed only seven more times for him and he was gone. I believe the man whose name means ‘bright’ and ‘shining’ shines on now and forever.
Since my brief moment with Robert, I have entertained many thoughts—this one I share with you: when everything seems to be falling apart around us—our country, our social lives, even our own bodies, we may think that what is happening is just terrible, a waste, and meaningless. But God says the hard situations we face are producing a special kind of glory (a bright shining glow) unique to us, just as the trials are different for each of us. It matters not whether it’s physical sickness or pain, persecution for believing, a life that never quite made it to where we wanted to be, or whatever bad thing we’re facing, it is meaning-FULL. So that we may shine on forever with a glory like our Creator.
Please, carefully consider this: “Our light and momentary troubles are in the process of achieving for us an eternal glory . . . so we fix our eyes not on what we see, but on what is eternal.
(From II Cor. 4:16-18)
©️Copyright 2020 Gary Landerfelt;MyPericope.com
#Christian meditations; ChristianWriting
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