Good Friday

Holy Week 2020, Dad wasn't getting any worse, but he wasn't improving either. Mom asked the nurse whether they were trying to wean him off the ventilator, but the nurse told us that it's not even a consideration because Dad needs it so much. The nurse also said that it's going to be a long road; one patient has been on the ventilator for 25 days!

On Good Friday, Dad's blood pressure was low again and they had to manage it with medication. Just as critical was the fact that Dad's lungs still hadn't cleared. I wrote in my e-mail to our friends "On this Good Friday, I think about Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, who walks through the Valley of the Shadow of Death with us, and I am grateful for the hope we have. Easter is coming!"

That afternoon, the hospital social worker called to tell Mom that she could talk to Dad that evening. It's the first time Mom was able to talk to him since he was reintubated, and we were thrilled that the hospital had worked out a way for Mom to call him! Dad couldn't talk back because he was heavily sedated and on the ventilator, but the aide held the phone to his ear so that Mom could speak to him. We hoped that hearing Mom's voice would help Dad to know that he wasn't alone.

As I thought about Good Friday and Dad, I found myself in tears as I realized that Jesus had faced the same things on that Good Friday 2,000 years ago that Dad was facing now. COVID-19 had so damaged Dad's lungs that he was fighting for every breath (with the help of the ventilator). Jesus, too, fought for each breath as He hung on the cross, but instead of having people rally around Him to try to save His life as Dad had, He was condemned to die by people who hated Him. And then I thought about the loneliness. Dad was so isolated and alone--no one he knew was there to hold his hand or encourage him to keep fighting. Jesus, too, was left to die alone on the cross. Yes, John and His mother and some of the other women were there, but they were powerless and they had no concept of the emotional pain Jesus faced as His Father turned His back on Him.

Those thoughts gave me hope because I knew that Jesus had been there before Dad and He knew and understood all that Dad was facing. In fact, Jesus faced even worse on the cross, and He did it because He loved Dad, and me, and the whole world.