Most everyone in
Lexington knows “Durango.” I learned a
few years ago that while everyone calls him “Durango” he prefers his given
name, Kenneth. Kenneth lives in Bob’s
Board House on Main Street in downtown Lexington. He is a fixture at American Legion Baseball
games and the Davidson County Fair.
Years ago he rode a bicycle all over town and beyond.
Jimmy Snyder has
been a good and helpful friend to Kenneth for many years. When I found out that Kenneth needed a medical
procedure at Lexington Medical Center, I thought it might be a good “trial run”
for FaithHealthNC.
The preparation
for the procedure has recently changed and when Kenneth told me he wasn’t sure
what to do, I looked at his instructions and it took me a while to figure it
out. This happens often with
medicine. Part of FaithHealth is helping
people understand their medical orders.
Early
Monday morning I picked Kenneth up from his apartment and took him to Lexington
Medical Center. Jim Tate, our FaithHealth Administrator had sent out an
email last week explaining the need and had an immediate and positive response. Gary Wikstrom had volunteered to pick Kenneth
up after his procedure, so I had written down Gary’s phone numbers and also
mine, but the nurse told me somebody had to be at the hospital during the
actual procedure. I told her that I would stay and then called Gary to
let him know what was going on. He came
right on to the hospital. We were both there when Kenneth came out of the
procedure and we talked to the doctor.
Gary
took over, taking Kenneth home and getting him settled. Gary also
provided a meal for Kenneth and later in the evening, Michelle and William
Hopkins also brought him a meal. They also
called him and checked on him.
Kenneth
called me that night. He was thrilled with all the attention he received and
went into great detail telling me everything that was brought to him to
eat. He told me that would last him for several days. Then he said,
as only Kenneth can, “Thank you for all the nice things you did for me
today.”
The
greatest gift we gave to Kenneth was not transportation and food, although that
was very important, but we surrounded him with love and support—and that meant
more than any medicine or medical procedure.
Kenneth’s words: “Thank you for all the nice things you did for me today”
echo as a blessing and a challenge. Isn’t this what Jesus had in
mind when he talked about building the Kingdom of God?
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