I heard about this at the VA this morning.

[Gil Finn]

I heard this the other day at the VA Hospital, it was all the buzz.

They had an old gentleman with cancer on one of the floors who had been there a while as he had no family and was evidently about at the end of his suffering.

He liked to sing with the radio thru the day. He listened to a Christian station and had a pretty fair voice.

Monday night he began about 2 AM to sing ocapella ( by his self)some of those favorite hymns many of us grew up on.

His voice was strong and clear and could be heard all over the floor for the longest time.

After a while I guess he went to sleep when they game him a does of pain killer.

When they came in the morning for his vitals at the end of the shift he was gone.

Man, not only if I could face death with such confidence but live life with such strength of conviction and bear so well the pain and suffering.

It made me ashamed of my many short comings.

 

[planeshavings42]

Me Too

I heard this the other day at the VA Hospital, it was all the buzz.

They had an old gentleman with cancer on one of the floors who had been there a while as he had no family and was evidently about at the end of his suffering.

He liked to sing with the radio thru the day. He listened to a Christian station and had a pretty fair voice.

Monday night he began about 2 AM to sing ocapella ( by his self)some of those favorite hymns many of us grew up on.

His voice was strong and clear and could be heard all over the floor for the longest time.

After a while I guess he went to sleep when they game him a does of pain killer.

When they came in the morning for his vitals at the end of the shift he was gone.

Man, not only if I could face death with such confidence but live life with such strength of conviction and bear so well the pain and suffering.

It made me ashamed of my many short comings.

WOW Gil, you and me both, when I saw your thread, titled "I heard this the other day at the VA hospital", it immediatly got my attention, as my wife and I both use the VA as out health care providers, and was doubly fascinated when I read your thread, YOU ARE RIGHT WHEN YOU SAID YOU WERE ASHAMED OF YOUR MANY SHORT COMINGS, AS WHEN I READ THE THREAD, THAT WAS THE FIRST THING THAT CAME TO MIND AS WELL, I HOPE THAT WHEN MY TIME COMES, MY FAITH IS ANY NEAR AS STRONG AS THIS FELLOWS.

GOD BLESS GIL, DUANE HAMPTON

 

[Nazgul]

Gil
If I could choose the way I die...I can't think of a better one....singing hymns of praise until I meet my maker. I pray it will be that way.

Man, not only if I could face death with such confidence but live life with such strength of conviction and bear so well the pain and suffering.

It made me ashamed of my many short comings

We saw the way he ended his life, but not the way he lived it. I'm sure he had his own short comings (we all do) and things he was ashamed of (I have).
Feeling ashamed is good if it brings us closer to God and His perfect love and mercy...But not if it keeps us away from Him. He knows all of our short comings, even ones we do not. He is not ashamed to love us in all of our un-loveliness. I will take a lesson from this fine old gentleman and keep my attention on God and His perfection and less on my own inadequacies.
I believe there is no better place to learn about life than one where there are those so close to the end of their's....................just my thoughts
God bless you Gil

 

[Gil Finn]

I think the way you in your life says all about who you are no matter how you lived it.

Remember the thief on the cross?

Remeber me when you comeinto your kingdom I think he ask.

 

[N Gauger]

I'm more of "The Gambler" type (Kenny Rogers)

Now every gambler knows that the secret to surviving
Is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
Every hands a winner and every hands a loser ~~ (Life is what you make of it and how you react to each situation ~~ Do you eat the lemon or make lemonaid???)

And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep ~~ 'nuff said

That guy had the secret to "surviving".......... He sung himself to "sleep"

 

[shaygetz]

The Dash Between My Dates

Memorial Day was over now
All had left and I was alone
I began to read the names and dates
Chiseled there on every stone.

The dates that show whether it was Mom or Dad
Or daughter or baby son
The dates were different but the amount the same
There were two on every one.

It was then I noticed something
It was but a simple line
It was the dash between the dates
Placed there, it stood for time,

All at once it dawned on me
How important that little line
The dates placed there belong to God
But that line is yours and mine.

It's God who gives us precious life
And God who takes away
But that line between He gives to us
To do with what we may.

We know God's written the first date down
Of each and every one
And we know those hands will write again
For the last date has to come.

We know He'll write the last date down
And soon we know for some
But upon the line between my dates
I hope He'll write, "Well done."

Poet unknown...

 

[interurban]

And we forget that he is now Home.

All the way my Saviour leads me, what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt his tender mercy Who through life has been my guide? Hevenly peace divinest comfort , Here by faith in Him I dwell; For I know , what e`er befall me., Jesus doeth all things well.