We have hope
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send you a password reset link.
Faith Fitness
Bro. Sam Kaufman
I walked into the hospital room the other night not knowing what to expect, or what precisely to say.
As a minister, you sometimes run into these situations, but you rely on God and know that He has heard your prayers to help you be a blessing to someone you have never met, but you know is suffering immensely.
A man I met a couple of days earlier asked me to visit his friend in the hospital.
His friend told me the man suffered from diabetic ulcers that initially appeared on his feet and moved up. The man had to have his right leg below his knee amputated.
His friend said he couldn’t find any other minister to visit him.
It wasn’t by chance, I believe, that I met this man. He pulled up to the lake me and my boys were at and walked up to us. As he was leaving, I asked him how his life was going and if he needed prayer.
That opened a lengthy conversation regarding the Bible. We prayed a couple of times and Mike asked me about going to visit his friend, Kelsey, at the medical center.
I told Mike that I would definitely visit Kelsey. Mike told me his situation and how the diabetic ulcers had spread.
A few nights later, my family and I traveled about an hour to the hospital. My wife and four kids stayed in the visiting area initially and I went alone to Kelsey’s room.
I prayed for God to give the words to say.
I opened the door to his room and saw a relatively young man (40) who was asleep. I situated a chair to sit on. When I moved the chair, Kelsey opened his eyes.
He stared briefly, perhaps realizing I was the man who Michael said would visit him.
I introduced myself and we began to talk about how I met Michael earlier in the week. We talked about fishing, his life and his current situation.
Not only is he diabetic, but he also has heart issues and other complications. His kidney situation from diabetes led to dialysis.
He just lost one of his legs from the knee down. He said it feels like the whole leg is still intact. He’ll go to cross the leg and remember part of it is not there anymore.
He told me he is tired of fighting.
The idea of doing a family devotion in his room came into my mind, so I called the whole family in.
My 13-year-old son, Abraham, said we should do the devotion from the New Testament book of Philippians.
I felt like the third chapter would be appropriate, but I also felt like sharing some words about how Jesus suffered like no other to provide us forgiveness and the hope of eternal life.
In the third chapter, Paul writes, “…but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
I told him about forgetting the sinful lifestyle from the past and focusing on a spiritual relationship with Christ that will lead to eternity with God.
Yes, we will suffer physically in this life because of sin. But thanks be to God that we have hope and spiritual life through Jesus.
That is something to press toward. There is hope in that type of forward progression in God that will eventually lead to Heaven if we remain on that path.
We prayed for Kelsey and sang songs to conclude the devotion and our visit.
God’s presence is truly amazing. No doubt, Kelsey was encouraged, and a smile appeared on his face in the midst of what has been his worst physical suffering.
