Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Good Grief: Walking with Those Who Grieve - Pile, JOFMM Fall 2004

This past November I received a phone call from my father
who lives in Pennsylvania that has forever changed my life. “Jim,
we have just been told by the doctors that your mother has terminal
pancreatic and liver cancer. She only has a few weeks to live.”
Wow! Talk about a devastating blow that you weren’t expecting.
My mother went to be with the Lord on December 8, 2003, five
weeks after the diagnosis.
What an amazing journey the Lord took me through as I
returned home to be with her during her last few days on earth.
That experience has fashioned a new understanding of loss for me,
as a pastor, as well as one who has known loss personally. As my
brother-in-law, Mike, told me, “Jim, before Mom’s death you have
been able to sympathize with people in your ministry at Grace
Church; now you are able to truly empathize with them!”..

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