it was a very sad week

This past week was a very long and sad one.

The 47-year-old husband of a friend of mine passed away on Wednesday afternoon. He had suffered the rupture of two anuerisms on Saturday, May 3 (his oldest daughter's 11th birthday). After struggling for life for over 10 days, he was finally starting to gain ground on Tuesday. Then, in the night that night his wife was at his side when his blood pressure suddenly, unexplainably, dropped to 20/20. She was there as they tried to revive him. She was there when his eyes went blank and, in her words, she knew she had lost him. Shortly thereafter (after tests to confirm), he was pronouncec brain dead. It took a few more hours for his strong, otherwise very healthy body to shut itself down.

Even as I type this, my heart aches for his widow and her two daughters, ages 8 and (just turned) 11. Watching the girls at the rosary and funeral, I know that reality has not fully set in with them. Each did, however, write a short rememberance (eulogy) for their dad that was read by someone else at the funeral. Since he was so involved in parenting and taking care of all three of "his girls," their lives have all just changed drastically.

I weep for their loss.

I weep because as much as we pray for healing for people before they die, we do pray for their resurrection when they die prematurely. In this case, I did, but only within the limits that were afforded me to do so. There was no faith or belief system within which to work with the widow or other family members toward that end. To his widow, her husband was gone when the life left his eyes and he was pronounced brain dead. In her realm of reality, she had to face that awful fact and move on.

Not until we begin talking about and teaching that Matthew 10:7-8 really means what it says will we begin to see this happen on a regular basis.

"And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." (emphasis added)

Unfortunately, while most who profess to be Christians do believe (to at least some extent) in praying for the sick, many still do not believe in casing out demons. The same will remain true with raising the dead. But, we have to start teaching about it. Otherwise, we will continue to lose too many people prematurely.

Lest you think I am totally "strange," know that there are people already doing this today. There are many stories - even stories here in the U.S. - of this happening. However, it is still only the "radical few" who will dare to pray these prayers -- or even make opportunity for them to be prayed. The only way to change that is to begin to inform and teach the Body of Christ that this is not only possible, it is a command given to us by Jesus, Himself.