Charles Albert Peterson, the Godliest man i know, died this morning at 6:00. he was 93 years old. to describe to you how Godly he was would take me until i was 93 myself, so i will give you the highlights. he was an army veteran, spent most of his life as a ranch hand, never married, but had more friends that he valued more deeply than i could ever dream to have. his list of emergency contacts, which he kept in his wallet listed things like which hospital he liked, his doctor, PG&E, and a few other things, but the first number on it was my dad, who was his pastor for 15 years. my father has been taking extra time lately to visit Charles, since we knew he was dying ( he has had throat cancer for a year now.) he graduated high school when he was 16.he was an expert gardener and was gardening my church's 4 acre lot when we moved to California and kept it up for the first few years.
he told my Dad that no one would be allowed to stand up and talk about his life at his funeral. he wrote that the pastor giving a summary of his life would "suffice." he wanted the pastor to preach. he wanted his life to bring others to Christ, and he wanted his death to do the same.
my dad talked to his care giver and learned some amazing things. first of all, he died today as his care giver was getting ready for the day. Elliot, the care giver stopped in at 5:30 to check on him. Elliot took went away, and came back and Charles had passed. he held on until Elliot had checked.
the biggest thing to me is that Elliot had heard him talking one morning in his room. he had heard Charles saying something along the lines of "Why am i still here? why can't i come home now?" Elliot talked about how Charles was really ready to pass. Charles was not afraid at all of death. he wanted to be with his maker.
that's how i want to be when i get close to my death. i have had conversations with God before, and once or twice it has been out loud, but i always kept quiet enough that no one would hear it. i want to be so close to God that i talk in a full conversation-volume voice to him. i want to be like that so much that I'm crying just thinking about it. about his Heart for God.
in the past few months Charles has not been able to eat. he has barely been able to sip water. he was down to a few sips per day because his throat cancer was so bad. Charles was not afraid at all of death. he wanted to be with his maker. to be face to face with God.
now he is.
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