My Friend Donald Cowling is Dying, I am a little Busy (May 11, 2018)

Gun Watch ^ | 11 May, 2018 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

My friend is dying in front of my eyes and I can do nothing but say a few words now and then. He exhibits no sign of awareness or understanding. I have been told that hearing is the last sense to go as the body shuts down. I have been praying for him for years. He has been an agnostic for 80 years. When I told him I would be praying for him when this started in January, He said he could use all the help he could get.

I have known Don for about 48 years. I met him when I was a young college student at the University of Wisconsin, probably in the spring of 1970.  We met when I joined the UW pistol team. The team shot against a local league of pistol shooters, to practice. Don was one of the very best shots in the league. He had been on the University pistol team in the early 1950's, but worked for the University full time when I met him.

Cancer (Lymphoma) has caught up with Don. He was vigorous and active until January of 2018. He turned 84 in April.

I have been witnessing to Don, but he has not told me he has asked God for help or has accepted Jesus as his savior.  He has not been an aggressive atheist. He has allowed for the existence of God. Now he is beyond communicating with me, dying next to me, an arms length away.

God can hear both Don and me.

I pray that God has opened his heart as he comes closer and closer to death. I told Don not to be the "stiff necked" person, but to ask for help.

Don is not dying impoverished. He had plenty of money that he did not spend. It is an object lesson in the transitory nature of this world. His example has sobered me and made me realize that I have much to do so as not to be a burden on my family. 

Please excuse this very personal vanity.

Death comes to all of us. No one gets out of this life alive.

It is difficult to see a friend die.

If my writing seems reduced, bear with me. Don will not be with us much longer.
I feel duty bound to spend time with him.  Don can probably hear me, and I know God does.

Any prayers would be appreciated.


Dean Weingarten

[pax_et_bonum]

Praying for you and Don.

I’m so sorry that you’re losing a dear friend.

[editor-surveyor]

.
There comes a time when the body's resources are too exhausted for a normal recovery, and intervention of the spiritually alive is the only chance for life.

James 5:

[13] Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
[14] Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
[15] And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
[16] Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

[Delta 21]

Lord God in Heaven, please have mercy on your servant and son Donald Cowling. May Dean and Donald both be wrapped in your peace of understanding until we can all rejoice in your presence. Amen.

[imardmd1]

Writing, OK. Writhing over this dilemma, no.

If the gospel has been faithfully presented, the ball is in the hearer's court, not that of the herald.

Dean would do well to give it up entirely to the Lord and go about ones own business, be it palliative or just seeing to the needs of his family members or of other willing responders. As long as you try to keep your fingers in the pie (so to speak), God is willing to leave the situation alone.

He is not going to share His Glory of doing the saving with you.

[Joe 6-pack]

Prayers for Mr. Cowling and all who love him...

[Norski]

Note: that prayer for your friend - it contains words and promises of God, from His word. After my praying for the salvation of someone for 11 years, the person came to Christ within one week of my beginning to pray binding and loosing prayers, as in Matthew 18:18 “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in Heaven. “. If you have other unsaved loved ones (who does not?) it may be fruitful for you to begin learning them... if you wish.

Here is one of the very informative videos on the subject. If you want to watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_XPcp9f6rU

Please do not reply to this post, as you have enough to take care of at this time. Just know that prayers are joining yours for the eternal life of your friend. Goodbye for now.

[IronJack]

If you friend hasn’t turned to Christ and is now unable to do so, maybe the Almighty will hear your plea on his behalf.

You’re a good man for caring so deeply.

[Pathfinder]

What a good and faithful friend you are.

Prayers to and for both you and your friend.

May all involved feel our Lord’s presence.

[Maudeen]

AMEN AND AMEN

[Equine1952]

Godspeed Mr Cowling. I believe prayers from fellow Christians count. His is a situation similar to my fathers when dad passed. They both have good advocates.

[hanamizu]

I have been told that hearing is the last sense to go as the body shuts down.

---

My mom lost her hearing over the last six months of her life. I finally bought her an amplifying device which did allow some communication with her. But oddly, a couple of days before she died a friend came and visited her and said she was able to hear just fine without the amplifier. Someone who deals with the dying (hospice) told me the dying often experience a ‘last hurrah’ shortly before death. I hope your friend’s passing is painless and peaceful.

[Midwesterner53]

I pray that he had a chance to ask for forgiveness and mercy.

[MomwithHope]

prayers up!

[Irish Queen]

"We are praying for the soul of a dying man. There is no more Holy prayer than that. God is listening and God is answering."

What you said bears repeating.

What a sacred honor it was for me to be there when my Sweet Hubby went home. What a comfort to know that after the last breathe on earth, the next breathe is in the presence of the One who knows and loves us best. Yes, thank God, Jesus is our champion.

[Manly Warrior]

Dean;

You can gently relate the Gospel to your friend. He hears, and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. The words of Jesus have power, spoken by a friend in love, and as an agnostic, he likely wasn’t a hater of God, just unconvinced.

Dying men often have a change of heart as time comes to an end and they are aware of the prospect of facing eternity.

Blessings

[Big Red Badger]

If God answered Only one prayer
I would be convinced He would
Answer Yours.

[marktwain]

At 4:20 p.m., I took Norski’s advice (from a PM). I took Don’s hand and witnessed to him. I told him God loved him, and I loved him, and that he only had to give up his pride.

I told him to trust Jesus as his savior. I said we all made mistakes and needed salvation. I told him to ask for God’s help and forgiveness through his Son, Jesus.

Then I had to visit the bathroom. When I came back, I sat down, and Don stopped breathing. It was 4:25 p.m.

I am a skeptic by nature, but the timing of Don’s death, right after I followed Norski’s advice, seems providential.

Don did not give me any signal that I could detect. He simply stopped breathing and died.

Thank you all for your concerns, prayers, and advice. Don is gone now. I told some of his friends, and I told them what happened at the last.

[Mom MD]

The prayers of the righteous are powerful indeed. Do not give up but continue praying for your friend and reading Scripture to him. We can only plant the seed,it is not up to us whether it takes root. But your faithfulness will be rewarded by the One who gave all for you regardless of the result.

[infool7]

Prayers for Don, you and Don’s family.

May the Saints and Angles gather near, may Don glimpse the eternal as he approaches, repent of his sins, desire forgiveness and accept the Mercy of our Dear Lord and Savior Christ Jesus and may heaven and earth rejoice in finding what had been lost.

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