Perchance God has let me live to do this one thing more!

It was the last patient of the day, and I almost didn’t go and see Ricardo because he was in such agony. They had been unable to contain his pain that was secondary to back surgery, which was palliative for his metastasized cancer. He had been unable to be moved without screaming, due to his pain, and wanted to just be left alone by everyone. Ricardo’s prognosis was extremely poor, and death was imminent. I decided to see him, against his spoken request to the nurse to be left alone, in hope that prayers might work where medication had not.

I entered the room, and Ricardo was lying very still and taking very short, gasping-type breaths. His pain was obvious! I introduced myself and acknowledged his pain and sickness. He was obviously not an American, and I asked him his nationality (this is not something I have ever asked before, and I am not sure why I asked it this time). He told me he was from South America. I asked Ricardo what brought him to America, and he told me he had worked his whole life as an international salesman, and they had moved him to America to be closer to their corporate headquarters.

I was about to offer prayer when Ricardo asked me what faith I was. When I told him I was Pentecostal, he responded that he too was Pentecostal.  He told me that he had bought a lot of books, Bibles and literature to mission works that he had helped start in South America, while traveling there for for his company. Ricardo stated that he had helped start several missions with the literature, books, and materials. He began to talk about the wonder of his work and the importance of the changing power of Pentecost in people’s lives. While he did not consider himself a preacher, his money and contacts were able to start countless missions in the jungles. It was his most rewarding legacy. He seemed to light up as he talked about this work.

It is important that you remember that through all of this Ricardo is making small, gasping breaths to try and control his pain. Each Spanish-accented and whispered word jarred Ricardo’s body and heightened his pain, making him difficult to understand. I wanted to stop him, but there was something therapeutic in his talking about his love for the work of God in South America. There was something pure and holy in this dying, old man, who had taken over the entire conversation while I sat and listened.

At some point in Ricardo’s talk about his love for the work of God, a change began to take place, and if I might be so bold, it seemed as if angels began to lift up this man and gave him strength. Ricardo’s whispered words of pain became stronger, and it was as if he had become free from the bonds of the world. He began to speak as a prophet and began to speak into my life words of life, hope, and strength. He began to speak out about my ministry as a chaplain and to confirm God’s call and anointing in the path that I am walking. Ricardo identified my fears, doubts, and obstacles that would have been impossible for him to know. He assured me that God would go with me, provide for me, and that God had a great work for me to do that would include a harvest of many souls.

After about ten minutes of speaking into my life and story, Ricardo reached out his thin, frail arms and laid his hands upon me. He spent another five minutes praying for me while speaking in tongues, asking God for His anointing and blessing upon my life and ministry. God’s presence seemed to flood into the place as Ricardo prayed. Surely we had found a holy place together in the presence of God. As the patient prayed loudly and boldly, I began to speak quietly in tongues as a physical anointing poured over me, warming me from head to toe. The one ministered to had become the minister for the one who had come to minister.

Spent, Ricardo collapsed back in the bed, once again gasping small breaths of pain. We sat there together silently for a while, and then he said, “Maybe God has let me live to this point that I might do this one thing more before I die!” Ricardo would die feeling that he had lived to accomplish a great task, and indeed he had. His words would impact my ministry for the rest of my life, and therefore many shall be blessed by the words of this dear South American brother. These words seem inadequate to describe this experience, but if I live another fifty years, I will not forget this experience.