Harold’s Story: How a Man Found Peace

Harold’s Story: How a Man Found Peace

 

I made a promise to a longtime friend that I will continue to honor the rest of the days of my life.  What I promised my friend was simple and it only required me to pass his story along to all who will listen.  Writing his story down and publishing the story I hope will spread his words to many more people than I could tell one person at a time.  Today is October 13, 2012 and my friend passed away today.

Now his story.  Harold a good friend of mine for twenty six of my forty four years was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.  He was having complications in June of 2012 with the treatment and was in need of medical intervention.  He was admitted to a local hospital on a Monday with severe pain.  I was unable to visit him until the Saturday of that week.  I arrived at the hospital on that Saturday early in the morning before visiting hours.  I used my status as a doctor to bypass the front desk and was allowed to visit him before the allotted time. When I entered the room he was alone on the commode waiting for staff to assist him in returning to his hospital bed.  Harold’s and my eyes met as I passed the hospital curtain divider as he sat on the commode. 

Normally this would have been a very embarrassing moment for my friend, but something was different in his eyes.  He had lost all self-consciousness about his current situation.   I did not wait for staff to return him to his bed instead I helped him off the commode and helped him redress. He was so weak and frail from the last time I saw at my house on Easter Sunday.  He was always so careful in his appearance and this was a vast departure from the man I have known for so many years.  

I think some context to explain Harold is important here.  Harold was a self-made millionaire he had experienced the best life has to offer.  He had a loving wife and two adult children with many loving grandchildren.  He was always meticulously dressed and groomed.  Harold had everything a man could ask for or dream to achieve in America or anywhere in the world.  However, Harold always had a sense of anxiety and restlessness about himself. 

I could always feel his tension that he only seemed to be able to address by working.  Harold was well known for his maxims and proverbs.  For example he was often heard to say “what’s a half days work? 12 hours.” Harold often would say “when at work is your work done? When the work is done.”  He was a man who through his self-discipline and perseverance succeeded by the criteria most people use to measure success in life.  Yet his restlessness and anxiety always persisted in his life. 

When I moved Harold back to his bed he smiled at me in a way I have never seen before from him.  He looked peaceful and relaxed with an excitement in his eyes.  I have only seen that level of excitement in his gaze when he sunk a 15 foot putt or caught a nice snook.  I sat down in a chair directly facing the end of his bed.  Harold looked at me and said “I have to tell you something amazing.” I was curious and asked him to tell me what happened.  Harold told me that he came in to the hospital on Monday with the worst pain he has ever experienced in his life. 

He stopped and added that he has lived his life as a Christian and attended church his whole life, but he revealed to me that he never really believed in God.  He stated to me that he never prayed to God for anything in his life before that day.  On that Monday as he laid in bed suffering with the most excruciating pain a 76 year old many ever experienced he prayed for the first time to God to help him. 

Harold told that at that very moment as he lay in bed Jesus was sitting next to him in the bed.  He saw the look on my face of surprise and he said “I was not on morphine and as clear as I am looking at you he was sitting in the bed next to me.” He said this with great conviction and clarity.  Harold was a practical and logical man who never in the years I knew him embellished his views.  He continued and said “Jesus looked at me and said to me ‘you are mine I will take care of you.’” He then told me that his abdomen began to swell like a balloon until it sounded like it popped. 

Harold smiled with great joy as he spoke to me.  He said “all my pain disappeared at that moment and I have had no pain since.”  Harold told me that joy he experienced was ten thousand times greater than anything he has ever experienced in his life.  He said “if I had a 25 syllable word I would use it to describe the feeling.”  He described the waves of joy that came over his body.  Harold told me that for the first time in his life he was at peace.  Jesus gave him that peace.  He was a believer for the first time in his life and he believed in Jesus the way he saw others believe. 

Harold was envious of others he knew in his life who believed with unwavering faith.  Now he too had that unwavering clarity and peace that he was in God’s hands.   Harold told me if Jesus wanted him today he was ready and if God lets him live he will spend the rest of his days telling his story.  It was at this time I promised to help him spread his story.  I promised my friend as long as I live I would tell his story to all who would listen. 

Harold passed away today and I was happy and at peace knowing he was happy and at peace.  From the day he saw Jesus until the day he died he never needed any pain medications again.  At his funeral his pastor included in his eulogy that even the doctors at the hospital would bring people in at night for Harold to tell his story because they considered it a miracle. 

I had the fortune of telling Harold that I was going to keep my promise to him just two days before he passed at his home with his wife and family.  I told him how many people I have already told and the news brought a small grin to his face and he thanked me.  I really think I am the one thankful to him.  Harold helped me find more strength and peace in my life and telling his story each time brings me great joy and comfort in my own faith. 

So I ask each person who reads this story to help me fulfill my promise to my friend Harold.  Please tell as many people as you can about Harold’s story and how he found peace.  How the good news of Jesus’ gift is available to all who have faith. Harold wanted everyone to have the joy and peace he gained at the end of his life through his true belief in Jesus Christ.  

God Bless