Sitting down in the hospital waiting area, slumped in the chair, Jeremy was soaking up what he heard from the doctor. Confused and grieving were probably the only words to describe how Jeremy felt. He had just heard from the doctor himself that he only has at best, 6 months to live for he has cancer of the stomach. At 30 years of age, Jeremy could only think one thought - it is unfair.
Having only started embarking on his journey as an infant pastor, he wasn't worried about dying to early. He was worried of not being able to complete his calling to be a pastor to reach out to those who haven't heard the word of God. Jeremy didn't worry about dying at 30 because he walked by faith and deep down in his heart, he knew if 6 months was all he got to live, that must have been planned by God.
The 6 months the doctor predicted, to Jeremy was the 6 months worth of precious time God gave him to reach out to those he had no opportunity to have heard the word of God. He felt it in his heart that he was going to be driven by faith to reach out to as many as he could.
6 months an counting, Jeremy went to almost every village and uncommon rural areas to speak the word of God and to provided social services - providing education in make shift schools, educating them about personal health, providing stationery and basic needs to those rural areas. Any other free time was used to spread the word of God. Jeremy was relentless in his effort, fueled by the faith he had in God. As the days passed, with the clock ticking, Jeremy could feel his strength slowly being siphoned from this body like a leaking bottle of water but those around him saw a greater fervent in his efforts to spread the word of God.
Towards the end of the sixth month, Jeremy was already bedridden after the cancer slowly spread to the liver. Even while he was confined to the bed in a pitiful state, he never gave up and all the nurses could only watch in wonder has he continued to have weekly cell group sessions in his hospital ward. Some curious onlookers would join in and sometimes nurses doing the night shifts joined in to listen to what Jeremy had to say. Even kids who were in the junior wards would pop by every now and then to absorb some inspiring words of God, channeled through him as a servant of the Almighty (as Jeremy always put it). In a matter of weeks, Jeremy pretty much became the in-house pastor at the hospital he was confined to.
On the very last day, where he laid pale on his bed, gasping for breath, he knew God was coming to take him home. He simply waited in bliss for the angels to come and take him back to God whilst singing hymns of praise and worship. Even at that stage, Jeremy kept on saying one thing repeatedly - "One more Father, please let me save just one more before You call me into your arms. One more........". As he repeated that line over and over again until his very last breath, he told the doctor he could see two beautiful angels by his bed and said, "ah Doc. The angels have come to get me. Worry not as I feel no pain but internal bliss as I go back to my Heavenly Father. Thanks for everything.......". On that very day Jeremy passed on, his family was present by his side, members of the church were there, nurses who took care of him were there, nurses who heard the word of God from him were there, kids who he preached to were present, even the janitor who mopped the floor who passed his room every evening was there. Most of them, if not all of them had tears in their eyes.
6 months of life to Jeremy was like a gift from heaven. In that 6 months, Jeremy walked by faith:-
Converting more than 50 people;
Touching the lives of almost everyone on the same floor as him in the hospital, giving them words of grace, inspiration and wisdom;
Saying more than 300 prayers for new born babies in the hospital;
Ministering one wonderful couple of nurses at the hospital, who studied in the same university, worked in the same hospital and fell in love with each other;
Gave hope to more than 150 old folks at the senior citizen side of the hospital; and
When on to be with the Lord knowing he did all he can for God in the 6 months God gave him.
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P/S:-
I never really understood what walking by faith was all about and neither did I really understand how some people can have such strong beliefs in the unknown and blindly put their trust in the most abstracts of things.
But when I heard about young Jeremy, it was not just an eye opener but it was a real life example of "walking by faith". Really putting your absolute trust in your belief and letting it drive you to where it points you.
Don't get me wrong as I am not trying to promote Christianity here because I have complete respect for the religions of others and have no intention to belittle the plethora of religions that are out there. My point is that there are things, objects, items or beliefs that can drive us - you and me into doing the things we do so passionately with absolute conviction, which simply leads me to conclude that sometimes we simply need something to believe in to give us the drive, whether if its love, passion, interest or even God and I think that is probably what it means to be walking by faith..........
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