October 4, 1940 - February 24, 2009

We prayed this over Johnny's lifeless body Tuesday morning.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.

4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, [a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Indeed, his chains are gone (as the video below proclaims). The man who gave me back my life surrendered his Tuesday at 9 AM. I can't believe he's gone, but I believe more than ever in God's amazing grace.

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In The Arms of the Angel - Sarah MacLachlan and Josh Groban

[This is from last year.]

We were alone in the hospital room but he didn't acknowledge that I was there. A few moments later I looked up from my laptop and John was staring right at me, not that vacuous stare but what looked like a "Hey, what's up?" stare. I quickly put the laptop on the night table and went to his side.

"Hi there!" I wanted to asked him how he felt but I decided that would be a stupid question to ask of a man with severe ALS trying to recover from a heart attack who hasn't been able to talk in a month. I learned my lesson many months ago when I flippantly said "Get well soon!" He laughed at me then and said, "Get well? Really? No one with ALS gets well, Jimmy."

So I went on to say that I've been praying for his alertness and strength to return. I soon realized that he hadn't been looking at me at all. His eyes that I thought were looking right at me were still looking...where I had been, only they were more fixed now than before. And I wondered what he was looking at. Nothing? Something paranormal?

I remembered my grandfather saying that my late grandmother was standing at the end of his bed summoning him. My paternal grandfather, who never had a shred of Alzheimer's or other senility told us matter-of-factly, "She's asking me 'What are you waiting for?'"

I have no idea what my friend is looking at. But I do know that he is in some twilight zone between the realms of the known and the unknown. Science, with all its bells and whistles, can only look at a man in his state, physically recovering, yet mental capabilities unknowable, and say, "He's in the arms of the angel."

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