May I?

One of Harborside’s prayer partner couples – you know, a husband/wife team that prays for those who ask at the end of each service . . . well, they recently extended their prayer time. In a healthcare home.

While visiting their loved one, they noticed an attending nurse – normally bubbly – was not herself. Almost depressed. At the right moment they asked about her apparent despondency.

Quietly she explained the dire condition of her young child. She confessed it was difficult to focus on her patients knowing her own child was critically ill at home.

The prayer couple – Phil and Julie – asked if they could pray for her. Instant hesitation.

After some thought, the nurse suggested they step out of the hall into a room to have prayer, which they did. After their prayer, the nurse expressed appreciation and gradually opened up.

“You know,” she reflected, “in all my years as a nurse no one has ever done for me what you just did.” Hearfelt appreciation. A lifetime memory.

How often in our lives do we experience that loving question, “May I pray for you?” Probably seldom. Will this distraught nurse ever forget this totally personal question and prayer? Probably never. Will Phil and Julie forget it? Probably never. “May I pray for you?” is a life-changing question. Not in-your-face, but flat out personal.

“May I die for you?” A question even more life-changing. Full force in-your-face. Die for me? You’ve got to be kidding. A question so unlikely, we can’t imagine a situation where it would be asked. So improbable that we stifle a laugh.

Peter sternly revolted at the news that Jesus would die, “Never, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” [Matt. 16:23]  But Jesus made it clear, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” [Matt.20:28]

After the fact, Paul expressed this amazing real-life: “We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.” [Rom 5:7,8 The Message]

Like the distraught nurse marveled, we repeat, “No one has ever done for me what you just did.”