• I Want To Go Home

  Contributed by Johnny A. Palmer Jr. on Dec 11, 2011 (message contributor)

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  Scripture:  None

  Tags:  Death

  Denomination: Baptist

I WANT TO GO HOME

Fred Smith, an influential Christian businessman was seriously ill in the summer of 2004. He was hospitalized, semiconscious, and not expected to live.

Periodically he would mutter, "I want to go home, I want to go home." After an emotional family conference, the family concluded they should respect Fred’s wishes and allow him to die. They agreed to remove him from dialysis, knowing that his death would come in a few days.

For the 36 hours, Fred’s family sang, read Scripture, prayed, and said their good-byes. Fred seemed to get worse; he went into pulmonary failure and choking aspiration. His daughter Brenda sat with him at midnight, begging God for answers.

Fred awoke. Brenda quietly told her dad of the family’s decision to follow his desire to "go home." She explained that he would slip into unconsciousness and then step "from here to there."

Suddenly Fred’s eyes were wide open: "Home? I didn’t mean heaven; I meant Parkchester [his house on Parkchester Drive]." Laughing through tears, Brenda quickly called the doctors to reschedule his dialysis, and Fred returned to what he called "the washing machine." A year later, while still prepared to go to his heavenly home, Fred was happy to be at his current home in Dallas.