Thad

My friend Thad, from Hope Lodge, died this past Tuesday.

Thad and his wife, Martha, were the first people I met when I went down to NYC this winter. They were friendly and encouraging. They had been there for quite a while. They were a wealth of information to each of us new comers on the ninth floor. We learned about where the Fresh Market was and the best way to get there, the bus route and the best subway route to Memorial, different local sights that were free and the good restaurants around the area. And they were always at the social gatherings that Hope Lodge organized every week. If it was nice weather we would sometimes meet on 67th street as we walked back and forth from the subway to the hospital.

They had a wonderful faith and optomistic trust in their Lord and Savior, Jesus. The last time I saw him, he was in the hospital himself, struggling with an opportunistic infection, but his concern was for his roommate who was in his twenty's and gravely ill. The last thing we did together was pray with each other.

He had a cancer that only young men in their twentys get. He was in his sixties. They were puzzled, they had not seen this type of cancer in men his age. The same protocol, which is very successful in young men, was prescribed, and it seemed to be working. They had to send him home after six months though when his tumors started to reappear.

A. B. Simpson said that, "the greatest need of our souls and bodies is to know Jesus personally, to touch Him constantly, to abide in Him continually." Thad continues on that journey he had started and I know someday I will see you again, my friend. The hope of the resurection, it is precious to us. But it is still sad to be without him for family and friends. And I pray now that Martha would feel His presence and continue to grow in His love and mercy.