How to Die

Sobering and moving and satisfying recounting of my grandfather's death. Worth pondering.

I wish you could have met him.

Here's the bit about his last sermon ever, 6 months before he died.

In the last six months of his life, Ray periodically had 10 – 15 minute emergencies when he fought desperately to get air. “When those periods were over, more than once he said, ‘This is God’s gift to me.’”

In January 2007, Ray was invited to preach his final sermon at a church on the verge of a split. “The pastor had gone into heresy and he invited people to follow him after he was kicked out,” Anne recalls.

Ray, concerned about his breathing and physical stamina, told Anne, “Pray I won’t cough when I’m preaching.”

In the service, Ray climbed the stairs as soon as his introduction began, so he could regain his breath before he began to speak.

“It was a powerful sermon about love in the body,” Anne recalls. “The Lord was so kind. He never coughed once and nobody left the church. The Holy Spirit used that sermon to convict them that they needed to stay together.”

HT: Eric Ortlund