I believe most people would agree that when you have been on a long, extended journey, you come to a point when you just want to go home. The traveling becomes so tiresome, and the weariness reaches to the very depths of your soul. Dad has come to that point.

As I stood beside his hospital bed, holding his hand, we talked about the hard decisions that he had made. I told him I still firmly believed that God could heal him. I believe with all my heart he can still have some good days at home. He shook his head and said he did too, just like Christ healed the man in Mark 1. But in his weakened voice, Dad said, “But if it’s not God’s will, I know His strength will sustain me.”

The thing about a long, tiring journey besides the weariness is the wondering. You look back on the journey and you wonder what good has come from the struggle. What was the purpose? Sometimes we may never know until the journey is over. Here, too, we just have to trust God does have a plan and a purpose.

Paul had that hope in God. Although he had experienced all kinds of difficulties in his journey, (see 2 Corinthians 11:23-28), he persevered. And Dad has persevered for almost six years on his journey.

My hope and prayer, and I know it is my Dad’s as well, is that his journey will do what Paul said in Philippians 1.

¹² Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, ¹³ so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the praetorian guard and to everyone else, ¹⁴ and that most of the brothers and sisters, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. ¹⁵ Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill; ¹⁶ the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; ¹⁷ the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking that they are causing me distress in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. But not only that, I also will rejoice, ¹⁹ for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, ²⁰ according to my eager expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. ²³ But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; ²⁴ yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sakes. ²⁵ Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that your pride in Christ Jesus may be abundant because of me by my coming to you again. ²⁷ Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear about you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;  Philippians 1:12-27 NASB

Dad, you have been an inspiration. You have shared the gospel through preaching, through living, and through the imprisonment of your sickness. And yes, because of your faithfulness to God, His strength will sustain you. I love you, Dad!