{"id":2782,"date":"2012-06-29T10:05:13","date_gmt":"2012-06-29T14:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=2782"},"modified":"2012-06-29T10:09:27","modified_gmt":"2012-06-29T14:09:27","slug":"the-smile-of-a-saint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/06\/the-smile-of-a-saint.html","title":{"rendered":"The smile of a saint"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I received the call at 7:30 tonight.\u00a0 John died at 6pm.\u00a0 I was at Universal Studios Theme Park with a group of\u00a0people who are mentally challenged.\u00a0\u00a0There was no way for me to run over to help\u00a0comfort the family because I could not leave the people who were at the amusement park.\u00a0 So we talked on the phone for about 20 minutes.\u00a0 His sister shared the pain and suffering he endured in his last hours.\u00a0 I talked to her about the visits we had together in the last two weeks.<\/p>\n

John started attending Special Gathering of Melbourne–a ministry within the mentally challenged community–about 10 years ago.\u00a0 He soon joined the choir and helped each week\u00a0to set up the room for worship.\u00a0 A man of few words, he depended on his smile to portray his deep feelings of love, joy and satisfaction.\u00a0\u00a0Two years ago, John went to the nursing home because he was expected to live no longer than a few months.\u00a0 Two weeks ago, Hospice was called in and the family was told that\u00a0the cancer which had been gnawing at his physical body for years was finally\u00a0destroying his fragile frame.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday of last week, I had gone into his room and softly touched his arm.\u00a0 He opened his eyes and looked up.\u00a0 His smile was gone. His eyes seemed larger because his face was gaunt and thin.<\/p>\n

I knew his time was short.\u00a0 “You’re ready to go home, aren’t you?”<\/p>\n

John gently shook his head.<\/p>\n

“You know it’s going to be a wonderful homecoming.\u00a0 You’ll see your mother and father.\u00a0 You’re going to be\u00a0really happy.”<\/p>\n

“I know,” he whispered.\u00a0 I prayed for him and left.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Another member was convolesing\u00a0in the same facility.\u00a0 She’s a young woman who is confined to a wheelchair and doesn’t speak.\u00a0 The next day I came back to visit both of them.\u00a0 I knew Christine would want to see John; but I didn’t think it was useful to have her see him in the weak and sick condition he had been in the previous day.\u00a0 Before going to her room, I stuck my head in the door of John’s room.\u00a0 The room was bare.<\/p>\n

Shocked, I went to the nurses’ station.\u00a0 “Where’s John?”<\/p>\n

“He’s in the television room, watching TV,” she said, grinning and\u00a0pointing to the gray headed man sitting straight and tall in his wheelchair.\u00a0 When I came into the TV room, he smiled and waved to me\u00a0by lifting his fingers from the arm of the wheelchair.\u00a0\u00a0After a few minutes, I wheeled Christine into see him.\u00a0 She had a stuffed yellow chicken toy to give to him.\u00a0 Together, they giggled and played with the chicken that cheeped like a biddie.<\/p>\n

We prayed with him and left.\u00a0 That was the last time I saw John but it won’t be the last time that I will see him.\u00a0 He was smiling as he waved good-bye to us.<\/p>\n

I think John is singing somewhere in heaven right now.\u00a0 I can’t wait to see him healed and whole.\u00a0I know from the reactions of our members when we talk about heaven\u00a0that they look forward to the time that their minds will be made whole.\u00a0 I often ask myself.\u00a0\u00a0What will our members be like when they get to heaven?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Who have you lost to death?\u00a0 When you are with a person who is about to reach the threshold of death, are you able to talk to them about dying?\u00a0 What do you say?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I received the call at 7:30 tonight.\u00a0 John died at 6pm.\u00a0 I was at Universal Studios Theme Park with a group of\u00a0people who are mentally challenged.\u00a0\u00a0There was no way for me to run over to help\u00a0comfort the family because I could not leave the people who were at the amusement park.\u00a0 So we talked on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,20,182,40,312,186,49,16,8,4],"tags":[690,21,696,14,7,699,715,701,13,689,6],"class_list":["post-2782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-church","category-disability","category-faith","category-heaven-2","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-church","tag-death-and-dying","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disabilities","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-simple-scriptural-truths"],"yoast_head":"\nThe smile of a saint - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/06\/the-smile-of-a-saint.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The smile of a saint - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I received the call at 7:30 tonight.\u00a0 John died at 6pm.\u00a0 I was at Universal Studios Theme Park with a group of\u00a0people who are mentally challenged.\u00a0\u00a0There was no way for me to run over to help\u00a0comfort the family because I could not leave the people who were at the amusement park.\u00a0 So we talked on…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/06\/the-smile-of-a-saint.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-29T14:05:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-06-29T14:09:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/06\/on-phone.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The smile of a saint - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/06\/the-smile-of-a-saint.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The smile of a saint - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"I received the call at 7:30 tonight.\u00a0 John died at 6pm.\u00a0 I was at Universal Studios Theme Park with a group of\u00a0people who are mentally challenged.\u00a0\u00a0There was no way for me to run over to help\u00a0comfort the family because I could not leave the people who were at the amusement park.\u00a0 So we talked on…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/06\/the-smile-of-a-saint.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2012-06-29T14:05:13+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-06-29T14:09:27+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2012\/06\/on-phone.jpg"}],"author":"Linda G. 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