Come Holy Spirit, Don’t Let Him Walk Off The Dock

We were sitting behind my brother’s house looking at the canal when he asked, “Are you going to be mad at me if I walk off the end of the dock?” I thought for a moment and said, “Nope.” He said, “I can’t handle another grand mal seizure. I have had two in the last few weeks and they are more than I can stand as the pain is crazy.” I said, “I understand, do what you have to do, but I’m not going to hang around and watch you, so I’m going upstairs for a while and will come back and fish you out of the canal.”

So I went upstairs and watched Mike’s wife, Peggy, and his daughter Rae Ann eating lunch with my wife, Laura. They asked if I was hungry and I said something like, “Not really.”  I sat down on the couch and watched the clock on the wall. When 30 minutes had passed, I said, “I’m going down to check on Mike and see if he is ready to eat.”

To say that I had some anxiety is like being a frog who accidently jumped on a gator’s nose. I slowly walked down the stairs and eased around the corner where we were sitting and, what do you know, there sat my brother. I said, “What are you doing?” he said,” What do you mean?” I said,” What happened to walking off the end of the dock?” he said, “OH, I knew I forgot to do something!” I said, “You hungry?” He said, “I sure am!” I said, “Let’s go eat lunch.” He said,” Sounds good to me.” And we walked back up the stairs and that was the last time he ever walked down to the dock as he wasn’t physically capable.

Mike’s home was on stilts about fifteen feet above ground as he lived in Pierre Part, Louisiana, where flooding was common. The living quarters were only accessible by a long set of steps that spared Mike from taking his own life.

Mike had a glioblastoma brain tumor, that is considered a kiss of death, and for most it is terminal soon after it is diagnosed. Mike had lived about 18 months as he had his first seizure from the tumor the previous year’s Valentine’s Day and had fought a monster battle until now in late July of 2006. He had known that he was terminal for a long time but had to a great extent, disregarded it, as he just continued to live out his life one day at a time.

A few months earlier, that Spring, he and I joined some friends of mine fishing in the Everglades. Mike had gained about 50 pounds and was not real mobile as he had equilibrium issues, but man, he was excited about fishing in the Everglades and we had a blast.

I made fun of him as he had to give himself shots in the abdomen a couple times a day and had to roll up on his back and look for a place that wasn’t bruised. There weren’t many. I told him he looked like a giant bullfrog, and that I was going to get a spear and let some air out of him. We cried laughing, as it was ridiculously funny looking.

When we got in the boat each morning, he was in his element as he lived on the water and fished all the time, but had not been fishing for over a year. It was scary watching him move around the boat as I knew we would be fishing him out of the mangroves at any moment but he never fell out of the boat.  He just did what he was created to do. He caught fish and I rejoiced.

Mike had accepted Christ a couple years earlier and he wanted to become a Catholic and join his wife, Peggy’s church in Pierre Part.  I sent him Philip Yancy’s book: “The Jesus I Never Knew”, and he really enjoyed it. We were being prepared for a great spiritual journey that culminated with Mike entering the Kingdom and me drawing closer to the King.

So, now I will fast forward to Mike’s last couple of weeks. I was spending as much time as I could with Mike the last year of his life, as I wanted to be with him as much as possible. It’s hard to explain that I always loved my brother, but never to the degree that I loved him now.

I found myself in moments of relentless heartache and couldn’t understand why.

Peggy was suffering at a level that I couldn’t comprehend, but she fought the battle with him without complaint. And in our suffering, if we are paying attention in the least, God shows up to confirm in us that He is in the situation with us.

This whole experience with my brother was a big way that the Holy Spirit said,” Surprise, I’m right here!” Mike had gotten to the point where he could not read as his eyes were in constant motion while open, so he would insist on me reading the Bible to him over and over.

One day he said, “Read Matthew to me.” So, I sat beside his bed and began reading, and as usual, heard him breathing heavily as he did while sleeping. I was never sure if he was asleep or not but I knew that he was totally relaxed. Once I finished reading Matthew, I asked him what do you want me to read now and he said, “Read Matthew to me.” I said, “I just read Matthew, were you even listening?” He began to laugh and said, “Read Matthew to me.”

So, I did.

A few minutes into it, he started breathing heavy again. So, I decided to pray over him for a while, and standing over him with my hands out stretched over his body I began to pray, to pray for healing, restoration, peace, strength, wisdom, mercy, everything that came to mind in the moment. Then, it happened, I began to pray aloud in the Spirit as the Holy Spirit poured His words out of me, and it was totally out of my control. The King was speaking His peace into our spirits and it was beyond belief, AWESOME!

Mike woke up at some point and said, “What are you praying?” and I said, “I don’t have a clue, what was I doing?” he said, “I don’t know but my mother-in-law prays the same way over me.” I said, “Really? It blows my mind, because I couldn’t stop, it just came out!”

I knew what it had to be, but the church I attended at the time never spoke of the gifts of the Spirit and I was absolutely ignorant with the exception of what Paul had said in the Bible and that was a long time ago and no one told me that it still applied to us. Go figure!

But, I was determined to find out all I could and when I got home I called a close friend and mentor, Jane Kilgo, and she told me to not stop, that the gift of tongues was the Holy Spirit speaking through us and that He will also guide us in the development of our prayer language. I was enthralled!

Mike passed into the Kingdom on August 12, 2006, just before sunrise accompanied by angels. A few days earlier just before passing into a coma, he told Peggy that he saw a couple of guys in the room and asked her their names. She called me immediately and said, “There’s angels in the room! Can you come back?” I had just gotten home and I grabbed my clothes and headed back to be with him when he passed. Peggy and I were standing beside his bed trying to figure out if he was still breathing as she had heard a loud breath before I ran into the room and we knew he was gone.

We cried and prayed.

The hospice nurse arrived a couple hours later and asked me if I wanted to give Mike his last bath, and I rejoiced in the experience.

I gave Mike’s eulogy at his funeral, as I had asked the Priest of the church where the funeral was held if it was OK with him to talk about Mike and make a few comments to all of his friends. The Priest was very kind and generous.

Oh, this is where life gets interesting.

Guess what happens when you let a Pentecostal speak in a Catholic Church? Especially one that had just started praying in the Spirit, voraciously.

I gave my brother’s eulogy as a fisher of men and then I spoke the unthinkable. I preached on the “priesthood of all believers” and told the people that if they need an advocate to drop to their knees, cry out Jesus and He will be there before they finish His name. That goes for you too!  The Priest of that church came over to me afterward and said, “Thanks Steve, our people need to know that it’s not necessary for us to be present for every prayer. They should pray. That was great!”

Jesus loves all of us and I know this emphatically as I’m one of His favorites! Ha!

THOUGHTS OF THE HUNTER KIND:

God reveals Himself to us in all kinds of circumstances if we are open to His Spirit. I didn’t have a clue what praying in the Spirit was and prior to my experience I would have probably laughed at the thought.  I believed that it was fake, or hocus pocus nonsense. And God must have had a chuckle when the Holy Spirit took over my spirit and spoke through me in His language. I was flabbergasted and excited, and I still am today! Get all that the Lord has for you as you are one of His favorites!

Prayer of the Hunter Kind:

Matthew 9:36,  “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

Holy Spirit, pour yourself out on me, give me a greater manifestation of Your compassion for the least, last, and lost.