Leo, A Dying Man
January 9th 2008 05:28
Leo is dying.
“Yeah, hi Pastor Bill,” Leo weakly greeted. “I’m not too great, Sir, not great at all, really.”
“I’m sure that being in a hospital makes you feel depressed, Leo,” Pastor Bill said with a smile. “We hope you can be up and around in a few days. Then, you’ll feel better, I’m sure.”
Shaking his head negatively, trying not to cry but failing in his attempt, Leo added, “I don’t think so, Sir. Nobody told me this, but I came to the hospital to die, not to get better.”
“Now, don’t be too sure of that, Leo,” Mary Ellen kindly scolded. “You know that the doctor said that some people with emphysema have recovered.”
“You’re wife is right, Leo,” the pastor’s wife chimed in. “Oh, I don’t think we’ve met yet, but I’m the pastor’s wife, Emily.”
With a weak smile and some coughing, Leo tried to respond. “Glad to meet you Mrs. Thornton. I guess I should have been in church a lot of times, especially when Mary Ellen invited me to revivals and special services. I always told her that I had important things to do, though.” Leo’s emphysema caused him to cough several times. His breathing was labored and uneven. Everyone could see that he was suffering a lot to get a good breath of air.
Mary Ellen helped him by holding a paper tissue to his mouth to help catch the drainage and protect others from the mist of his coughing. “Take it easy, Dear. Pastor Bill is here to pray with you if you don’t object.”
“He can go ahead if he wants to, but it’s too late for the likes of me,” Leo replied.
Emily and Bill both attempted to speak at the same time. Finally, Emily allowed her husband to talk first. “It’s not too late, Leo. That is why I came here. You are alert enough to know what you’re doing. You’re able to reason with us. This is a perfect time for us to pray with you.”
With a slight sneer on his old face, Leo said, “You don’t know me, Bill. None of you really know me completely. Only Mary Ellen knows more than the rest of you.”
“That is perfectly true, Leo,” the pastor agreed. “We don’t know you. What we do know is that you’re a human with human needs and human desires and a human nature. Being human makes you and me a lot more alike than you seem to realize.”
Shaking his head and trying to disagree, Leo announced, “I’m not a good man, Bill. You have no idea what I’ve done in my lifetime. God has no place for someone like me.”
“Leo, there’s nobody on this planet who does not need to be saved.” It was Emily, putting in her views. “Maybe you have not heard of my own past, before I met Jesus. I don’t want to dwell on those things, but I can tell you that I was not a good girl inside my heart.”
“And me, too,” Bill added. “Now, I am a pastor in the little church where your wife goes, but I used to go places and do things that Christians have no business doing.” After a short pause, he continued, “Then, I met Jesus. That made the difference in my life.”
Getting a bit perturbed, Leo countered, “You Christians think that the little nickel and dime wrong things that you did were bad. Yeah, they were not what Christians should do, but that doesn’t begin to compare with my life. I have things that even my wife doesn’t know about. I would not want her to know what I’ve done secretly.”
Mary Ellen tried to show no emotion upon hearing this from her dying husband. “I know, Dear. Not that I know exactly everything that you’ve done. Still, I know that you were not even trying to live a Christian life. You don’t ever need to tell me some of those things.”
The quietness for several long second was awkward. Finally, Mary Ellen offered to go down to the hospital cafeteria for some coffee. She clearly was uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation.
“Let me go with you, Sister,” offered the pastor’s wife. “Do you want some coffee, Bill? How about you, Leo?”
“Sure, bring me some coffee,” Bill replied, handing his wallet to his wife. “And bring us some sweet rolls if they have any.”
“I don’t think they want us to bring food to patients,” Mary Ellen said.
“Pshaw, bring whatever you like. They don’t care so much what a dying man has for his last few meals,” countered Leo.
After the women left the room, Leo began talking more seriously to the pastor. “I have things in my past, Bill, things what my wife does not know about.”
“OK, Leo. You can talk to me if you want,” Bill answered.
“I think you Christians use the word ‘restitution’ sometimes, meaning that some things should be repaid or returned. Right?”
“Yes, Leo. As much as is in our power, we need to make things right with other people,” the pastor answered, repeating, “as much as is in our power.”
“As a farmer, I have had access to other people’s barns when I went to work there. I have picked up things that I knew were not mine, little things. I don’t even remember some of them any more.” Leo was opening his heart somewhat on his deathbed. “Even if I remembered, I am not able to go to the owners now and make restitution.”
“God knows all about those things, Leo,” explained the pastor. “He also knows your inability to change your present situation and go make things right with your neighbors. I am sure that God will not hold that against you, considering your circumstances.”
“And what about things that I keep doing, things which are not right?” asked Leo. “What about my cigarettes and alcohol? Those things will send me straight to Hell, I’m sure.” Tears and a broken voice revealed Leo’s fears.
“Don’t take this wrong, Leo,” began Pastor Bill. “I am sure that God does not send anyone to Hell for smoking or using alcohol.”
Leo’s face showed a degree of shock and disbelief. After a few seconds, he said, “Bill, surely you don’t condone smoking and drinking!”
“Of course, I don’t condone any bad habits,” Bill explained. “My point is this. God is most concerned with our relationship with Him and His son, Jesus. That is what God sees first. I believe that those are the major criteria used to determine our destiny for eternity.”
“So I can go on smoking and still go to Heaven, only if I believe in Jesus? This does not seem right to me.”
“I believe that you will begin cleaning up your life whenever you let Jesus become the center of your attention,” the pastor explained. “For some people, the smoking or the drinking or other bad habits may continue for some time while other people stop those bad things as soon as they become Christians.”
“So, those bad habits are not right for Christians?”
“That is correct, Leo,” the pastor agreed. “Our thought life, our outward activities and our priorities change when we fall in love with Jesus. Our habits are included. Sooner or later, Christians learn what Jesus does not want in their life styles, and they change to please Him.”
The women returned with some sweet rolls and coffee. Everyone lightened up in spirit for a while, enjoying the good tastes and the degree of fellowship that they were beginning to have.
Although the conversation had changed, Leo was still thinking deeply. Pastor Bill could discern that Leo was trying to think things through.
“Perhaps you’re getting tired, Leo?” It was a question and statement, all in one. Regardless of what she had heard Leo say earlier, she wanted what seemed best for him, whether it was rest or someone nearby to talk to.
“No, don’t go yet,” Leo quickly responded. “I will have a lot of time on my hands later. For now, I am glad that you’re all here with me. It means a lot to me.”
Bill felt that Leo wanted to talk but was not sure what he wanted to talk about. He asked, “Leo, you have something on my mind, something you want to talk about?”
A slight smile formed on Leo’s thin, pale face. “You see everything, don’t you?”
“I try,” answered Bill.
“You know, it doesn’t seem fair, someone like me who had many chances to go to church, to pray, to change my life. I could have been a better man, a better husband and father, many years ago. I thought, though, that my drinking and other bad things were making me happy. They really did not bring much real joy or peace to me, though.”
Emily spoke up, “Sin is deceptive, Leo. The Devil blinds us to the important things if he can.”
”I see that now,” Leo replied. “I’ve been blind for a long time, and now it’s too late.”
“Too late for what?” Pastor Bill asked. “Didn’t you hear what I said when we first came here today? I told you that it’s not too late.”
A bit angrily, Leo said, “I’m on my deathbed. We all know that. I’m no good to God in this shape. My life is nearly gone, and I have nothing to offer to Him.”
“Bill opened his Bible and asked, “Can I share something with you from God’s Word, Leo?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“There was a man in the Bible, a dying man. He was not as old as you, or I think he was much younger. He was probably stronger than you are now, but he was dying.”
“Who was he?” asked Leo.
“I guess we don’t know his name,” the pastor answered. “We do know that he was dying. He knew for some time that he had been doing bad things, but he did not stop doing them until he was put into jail. Of course, he had no opportunity to do wrong when behind bars.”
Leo’s attention was entirely upon the account that Pastor Bill was telling about. Who was the man? What was his condition? How was he dying? Did God really forgive him and make him a Christian?
Seeing that Leo was completely into the story, Bill went on. “This man was not able to make restitution. He was being punished for being bad. He’s one of the thieves on the crosses. You remember the story, Leo? Jesus was between two thieves on the cross? One of them asked Jesus to forgive him and remember him in the future.”
“I remember something about that,” Leo confessed. “He became a Christian when he was dying?”
“That is right, Leo,” the pastor happily shared. “Jesus told him that they would be together in Paradise. He was telling the poor dying thief that he would be in Heaven as soon as his body died.”
Mary Ellen moved closer to the bed, “Do you want to pray, Dear?”
Leo gave no immediate response. Clearly his mind was trying to sort out the information that he had just heard.
“Leo, you’re in a better situation than many people. That is because you know that you are dying. There are people who die suddenly, unexpectedly. They don’t realize that death is just around the corner for them. You have ample opportunity to get your account settled with God before you die. Lots of people have no chance at all to pray.”
“That’s a good point, Bill,” Leo acknowledged. “I can’t kneel, not even here on my bed, but I’d be glad for you to help me pray for God to forgive me.”
A few days later, Pastor Bill spoke to his little congregation plus several strangers who were present for the funeral service of Leo. They were acquaintances and family members, many of whom seldom entered a church building. He told of the thief on the cross and compared that person with Leo. They had one important element in common. They both became Christians shortly before their deaths.
An open letter was read near the end of the funeral service. It contained a message from Leo. In this letter, he invited anyone to come and find Jesus to be as close a friend as anyone could have.
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