Prayer for Pankaj

Sheba came back last night after having done rounds at the JSK centre. We only have one person admitted - Pankaj - and she said that he is really ill.

It had been a good day for us as a family - we went out to Dombivili for a time of common worship together with others from the various house-fellowships we are part of. It was a challenging and uplifting time - and wonderful to meet up with some dear friends again and make new ones too.

After a late afternoon nap I was with the kids while Sheba went over to do her rounds.

Pankaj had come to us as a last resort after his uncle in Kerala tracked JSK down on the internet. His immunity is very low and we admitted him at the Jeevan Sahara centre late last week. Sheba has diagnosed him to be suffering from tuberculosis - among other things. Pankaj continues to have high fevers - but has regained his appetite and is sleeping well for the first time in months. With the loving care our nurses and others are giving him - as well as the listening and prayers we are hopeful, but still conscious of the grim fact that Pankaj could pass away soon.

It was this feeling that Sheba came back with last night. She asked me to go over and pray for him. And to anoint him with oil.

I did.

Walked over in the darkness of a Thane night, past vegetable vendours at the corner and people across the street digging into samosas and bhel puri, past the motely huddle of rough-and-ready shops that abut the JSK centre. Walked through the bright blue sliding metal grille of JSK and into the small space where our inpatients are cared for.

I had just started talking with Pankaj and his father when the mobile went off. An unknown number so I decided to take it - and walked outside into the night to talk. It was an acquaintance who said that he has a friend with HIV who is very sick. Can he bring him for treatment. I told him to come on the morn with his friend and all the medical papers he had. Then headed back in to be with Pankaj and his Dad.

Pankaj is a large young man. Mid thirties. Well built - looking bloated and pale. His skin a maze of rashes. His moustach full but drooping. Sad, veiled eyes. He was lying in the bed. His small father seated on a chair - hand wearily on head.

We talked. I told him that we were hopeful but also concerned. I told him that Sheba had asked me to come and pray for him and asked his father to read out a passage from the Bible in Malayalam. The copy we have has very small text so the Father said he could not read it. I handed it over to Pankaj who read halting the while lying down the following words which we find James 5.13-16:

Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

I explained that our heavenly Father loves to hear us talk to Him - just like I love to hear Asha and Enoch talk to me. And even more so when they are in some kind of problem. I also shared that we are told to ask church leaders to come and anoint with oil and pray. Not that there is any 'magic' in the oil - I told them - but because God's word says so and we want to humbly obey what it says.

I had a small container of oil with me (coconut oil from the tree outside Amma and Appa's house in Vishakapatnam - prosaically stored in an old Ponds cold cream container). I told Pankaj and his Father that the leadership of our churches had asked me to be one of the leaders and so I wanted to pray for him and put the oil on him. He was willing. I did.

I walked back out into the night. The prayer of faith will make him well. How big is my faith? Pretty small. But I want to obey my Master. And know that if he can accept the faith of a small child - he can accept the desperate prayer for healing this dear sick man.