Last night I took care of an 80-something year old gentleman. Background: he came in with chest pain that had resolved by the time he got there but he had taken a medication called Nitro that helped the chest pain but gave him a headache. His blood pressure was also very high: 200s/100s when he arrived. Most likely he was going to have to stay in the hospital.
I took care of him for a few hours and as time passed he seemed to be getting more and more anxious about what his test results would show, whether he had to stay in the hospital and how long that would take. All of these are legitimate concerns and I tried to keep him updated as best as possible.
At one point we reached about as much of anxiety as he could take and he started to break.
My heart went out for him. Something about him spoke to my spirit and I don't know what it was but I felt compelled to speak with him about his anxiety. I asked him, "Have you every tried to manage your anxiety through non-medicinal methods? Like music, or yoga? Do you believe in God?"
There it was. I asked him. I felt like I needed to tell him to cast his cares on Jesus, that he couldn't do it all himself.
He answered by question with, "Me? Believe in God? NO. I am an atheist."
Well no wonder my spirit was reaching out to him!
He told me about his past in a few minutes and how much death had been around him and asked me what I made of it. He said my faith is a belief, just like anything else, to help me feel better. He asked me why my religion was superior to others and why I was right.
And he told me not to cry. hah, nice afterthought.
I told him, "You know what? I don't know why all those things happened to those around you. But I do know that God is still in charge. He does intervene in our lives on a daily basis, I have seen it and it strengthens my faith. God gave us our own choice to choose whatever we want and thats why we go to war with other countries and thats why there is a lot of wrong in the world. People wrong others all the time, due to their own free will. But God can intervene and does many times."
"I know that the religion you believe has a lot to do with where you grow up, who your parents are, whether you live in a country with freedom of religion or not. I have traveled to many different countries and seen many people practice their beliefs and it is like you said, many beliefs are just that, beliefs. Believing in something does not mean that it is true."
"But let me ask you this... have you seen a God that loves his followers, his people, so much that he has compassion on them? That he loves them so much he would die just so they could be together?
Right when we were getting to to good point, I had to give him some pain medication and then he answered me by pointing to his IV and stating, "THAT is my divine intervention! THAT is the good stuff."
Bummer...
Although his answer was slightly amusing, I was very saddened that I hadn't provoked thought in his mind about how loving our Lord is.
Right before he headed home, (yes he put up a big fight about staying in the hospital and the doc finally let him go home) he grabbed my hand and said, "I don't normally take advice from people, especially about things like this, but... I will try to keep it in mind" and he pointed to his head and smiled.
I hope he does
