“Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16)
Last September, Dee and I made an extremely difficult decision to switch churches. The toughest part was leaving behind our “small group” made up of people that have become like family. For decades, biweekly between the months of September and May, we’d get together to worship and pray with and for one another. The prayers offered up there I firmly believe changed the trajectory of many lives for the better.
Back in 2015, an older gentleman, Mike, joined our group and we hit it off right from the start. Mike was a prayer warrior – if I knew Mike was praying for us, I just had a deeper peace that whatever the situation was, it was going to work out for the best. Mike also had the best memory I’ve ever been around – he even came to know my schedule better than I did. Oh, the many times Mike would check in on my dermatology appointments (some much better than others) – “I’ve been praying for your appointment coming up on X date”. One time I made the mistake of trying to correct him on the date, but after a double check of my calendar, he of course had the date right all along.
Unfortunately, Mike had his share of health challenges too. A few years ago, at the peak of one of my crazy work schedules, I made one of the better decisions I’ve ever made and decided to put that all aside and drive Mike to his colonoscopy appointment. Not only did I wind up driving him there, but I wound up being in his room before and after the colonoscopy. I was even there when the doctor informed him that he had colon cancer. Although it was an extremely difficult situation, I was thankful to be there. It helped our already strong bond get that much stronger. Better yet, within a year the cancer had completely disappeared!
Fast forward a couple years, sharing our departure with our church group members was extremely difficult, but the grace it was handled with – especially from Mike – will never be forgotten. Unfortunately, a few months later, we received news by email that his colon cancer had returned and the prognosis was dire. In February, I cleared my work schedule once again to connect with Mike for lunch on February 4 and 25. On the 25th, Mike beat me to the restaurant - as I saw him sitting by the hostess stand, I had a sense deep down in my soul it would be the last time I’d see him. I savored our time together even more, we prayed together, and I gave him a long hug goodbye. We had one more chat by phone that I’ll never forget, but on April 6th, Mike passed away. The feeling of loss has been immense – especially as I think about all the prayers that he lifted up along the way that I know impacted our lives so deeply.
The Sunday before his funeral, Dee and I decided to go to the restaurant that I last saw Mike. It was certainly with a heavy heart as I opened the door and looked over to the seat by the hostess stand. Instead of it being empty, imagine our surprise, when we saw an older gentleman that looked just like Mike! Neither one of us could believe it, and I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn’t him. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Mike, but as fate would have it, he would wind up sitting in the booth directly behind us. We never talked, but as Dee and I were waiting for the check, the Mike look-a-like stopped our waiter and asked him if there was anything he could pray for (for him). He proceeded to tell the waiter about his church (which had ironically enough just become our new church home this past September).
And just like that another amazing God moment had been delivered. Just as I was feeling sad about Mike not being around anymore, I was reminded that the one he was praying to, the Lord Jesus, always is...who was loving enough to let us know that even though Mike is no longer around, there are those like him that still are, go to our new church, and even look just like him. :)
PS: Right after I finished writing this, I had another amazing God moment. An email just came in from our former church that contained a link to a eulogy of Mike that was shared at his funeral (1.5 months earlier) with a glorious picture of him smiling: https://www.redeemerbiblechurch.com/post/known-and-loved.