Would you ask this question?

So I know there's a lot of heavy stuff out there, but this is something that I have been convicted of this past weekend and need prayer for wisdom and courage.

As you know, I work in the Neurosurgery ICU at University of Kentucky. Being a Level One trauma center, we get the sickest of the sick, and many do not make it.

I had a patient last week, not much older than myself. His father was a pastor (like mine) but my patient, we'll call him Bob, may or may not have been a Christian. Anyway, he was in liver failure due to past drug and alcohol abuse. His dad told me that he was trying to straighten himself out, stopping the drugs, but had kept on drinking. Bob was in bad shape.

His dad just kept telling me that he wanted Bob to wake up one last time so that he could ask if Bob had accepted Christ. His family could let him go after that.

Bob did not wake up. After a grueling 12 hour shift of trying in vain to maintain a decent blood pressure and oxygen saturation while juggling continuous dialysis, vent changes, and multiple vasoacitve drips, I passed off my patient to the oncoming nurse. An hour after I got home, Bob coded and died.

Bob's dad never got his question answered. And so here is my question: Is there someone you love who if they were at the brink of death, you would have to ask, "Can he please wake up so I can ask if he's accepted Christ?" Would you ask that question?

I know I would. And so, friends, pray for me. Pray that I have the wisdom and courage to ask that question before it gets too late. That the Lord leads me to the proper place and time, that He prepares the soil of my loved one's heart to hear the Gospel.

And pray for you too, that we will never have someone wonder that about us. That we live daily in a way so that there will be no questioning, no pleading to God for one last chance to share the Gospel. And that we take on every moment like it's the last.