I was at my first posting as a house-officer. For the first three months, I was sent to a semi-rural hospital in Victoria, Australia. One of my first patients, Mr. John, afflicted with terminal cancer, lay jaundiced, lethargic, floating in and out of consciousness. Filled with excitement as a young doctor and zealous for the Lord, I tiptoed into his room one afternoon to find out whether he was a believer. Holding his left hand in both of mine, I managed to pop the question nervously...

"Mr. John, do you know where you will go when you leave this world?"

No answer. He opened his eyes a wee bit, stared at me and closed them once more.

"Mr. John, which church do you attend?"

He reopened his eyes, looked at me with drooping eyelids, and replied slowly and deliberately,

"...a golder staircase leading to heaven...many people walking up, angels walking up and down...no such thing as Methodist, Baptists...all the same..." 

He must know the Lord Jesus! Hurray! Tears rolled his cheeks as we talked about death and dying for the next few minutes. But then I had to go for one of his relatives popped his head through the door. We parted, after recognised each other as children of the Father whom he would meet sooner than I. How I wished I could ask him to "Hello" to my Jesus when he saw Him face to face! Almost in tears, I left his room and prayed, "Father, thank You for such depth of fellowship in Your Son."

For Meditation and Prayer:
Matthew 18:20