Grandpa died this morning

I praise God that I was able to be here to visit with him last week. He's been in poor health for the last four or five years, and in extremely poor health the last two. Last March I was invited to perform at the Pastor's Conference for the Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends Churches on the Oregon Coast, which I just finished. Only the Lord knew that accepting that invitation would allow me to spend time with Grandpa, during his final days. They will always be very precious to me. Joyce and I led him to the Lord early in the dying process, and I was so glad I could pray with him and remind him of his faith in Jesus, and how much God loved him and was looking forward to spending eternity with him.

The day before I left for the Pastor's Conference he was sitting up in bed and he just kept smiling at me. I sensed that he was saying thank you for assurring him of eternal life.

I received the news on the way into my performance, and I'm so glad I did. The night before a woman had preached on the missing pastor. One of the ways she said that the pastor is missing is when he or she is emotionally unavailable: when struggles are not expressed breakthroughs cannot be shared. It seemed clear that I was to put her sermon into action. I told the group that Grandpa had just died, and I asked them to pray for my family. Several laid hands on me and a fellow prayed a beautiful prayer over me and my family.

Later, during the workshop I was leading I presented enacted prayer, in which a real prayer request is expressed through a pantomime. When I asked for a request, someone asked if we could pray for Grandma. Different pastors took on the roles of Grandma, Mom, Dad, me, God, and Grandpa. God directed the family members to comfort Grandma. The woman playing Mom brought food, the man playing me prayed with her and showed her scripture, and the man playing Dad pointed to Grandpa with God. It was very healing for me, and so very encouraging to know that my family was prayed over in such a powerful way.

When we were debriefing the enactment the man who played God said that he felt very conflicted. He wanted to celebrate and dance with Grandpa, but at the exact same time he wanted to comfort those left behind.

Isn't it great that God isn't human. And isn't it glorious that He chose to be human.

If you would like to pray for my family, send an email to RichDrama.CharlesOSwingle@blogger.com. It will appear on CharlesOSwingle.blogspot.com, and will be a great encouragement to my family.

In Christ Alone,
Rich

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