About this episode
The episode discusses a personal experience of a minister dealing with a member's impending death and the unique request for prayer made by the member's wife.
Throughout my formal ‘preacher’ education, I was privileged to take all sorts of classes; biblical studies, histories of various churches and groups, and, especially interesting, were the classes that dealt with the ethical situations one might encounter in the ministry. These helped this young minister greatly, of course, but my classes did not prepare me for everything. About 15 years into my ministry, I was called into the hospital Emergency Room; one of my members, a man named Wilbur, had had a massive stroke, and it was obvious he was not long for this world. His wife was there, and we talked for some time. Finally, it was about time for me to leave, and I asked his wife, Imo, if we could pray together. She said, “Of course,” and I asked her, “Imo, how would you like for me to pray?” We both knew the grim reality of Wilbur’s situation. She pondered for a few seconds, and finally she grabbed my hand, and said, “Could you pray that God would take him soon? He’s gone, so there’s no point in asking for anything else.” I was relieved, of course, but a little taken aback, because no one had ever asked that of me before. We prayed as she requested; I gave her a brief hug and went…
Topics covered
- prayer
- ministry
- ethical situations
- grief
- faith
Keywords
- God
- hospital
- stroke
- conversation
- spirituality
Mentioned in this episode
Places: Independence, MO
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