A few weeks ago, my old friend Nate posted on his Caring Bridge site that he was going into hospice. I’ve known Nate for about 25 years, all the way back to our days as students at Southern Seminary. Our wives were both singers and became sweet friends on the worship team at our church. Our roads have long since taken us in different directions–mine to professoring and pastoring in Louisville, Ky and his to being pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Amarillo, TX for nearly 20 years.
But over these last three years, he’s been in an all-out fist fight with advanced stage cancer. On March 6, he posted this note to his congregation:
Unfortunately, my body is running out of steam. Because I am so weak, I’m not mobile any longer. Even trying to sit up is impossible… Every time I do, my BP drops to the point where I either faint or I begin to get so light headed and have to lay right back down.
This leaves me in a tough place. Ultimately, dialysis is what has kept me going as I am in renal failure. And since I can’t get up, I can’t do dialysis. Truth is, I don’t want to “live depended” on dialysis anyway.
I returned home from the hospital last night for the last time. While only the Lord knows the number of my days, I don’t expect a long drawn out battle.
Choosing hospice care is what needed to happen. So many have been (and are) praying for miracles. Please know, I am ready to go to Jesus. So please pray that God would be gracious to us in the time I have left.
On Sunday Morning, we’ll show a short video during the church service, but please understand this is a busy weekend as my kids are in town.
Some things have not changed.
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- I am confident that He who began His work in me, will be faithful to complete it (Phil 1:6).
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- I am confident that God is able go guard what He has in store for those who’ve experienced the new birth in Jesus, and that by His power, He is able to keep me for that inheritance (1 Peter 1:3- 6.
So much more, but these truths bring me great comfort and hope.
Love you!
Nate
The next day, I had the opportunity to talk and pray with Nate over the phone. I told him how much the words he posted meant to me and countless others. I told him that I know he may not be feeling super strong, but his words surely did honor the Lord.
I had been to preach at Nate’s church a little over a year ago. When we talked then, he told me about all the suffering he had faced with cancer, and it was significant. He told me about starting to talk to Amy about her and the kids’ lives after he was gone. He hadn’t given up, but he was planning for them. He also told me about what a challenge it was to experience the Lord’s nearness in the midst of this trial.
Nate is not the only one to have experienced such difficulty. Anyone who has read the Psalms knows how intense suffering can sometimes bring bring with it a sense of isolation and abandonment:
How long, O LORD? Wilt Thou hide Thyself forever?
Will Thy wrath burn like fire?
Remember what my span of life is;
For what vanity Thou hast created all the sons of men!
What man can live and not see death?
Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?
–Psalm 89:46-48
He confessed that while he had been trusting the Lord through his battle with cancer, it was nevertheless a struggle. So my prayers over the last year, have not only been for his healing, but also earnestly for him to experience the nearness of the Lord.
When we spoke on the phone three weeks ago, Nate told me that the last month had been different. The Lord had shown up and given him peace, a real sense of His goodness and nearness. I was hearing the voice of a man who had been with Jesus and who was ready to see Him. My prayers and his were answered. The last thing he said to me was “Talk to you soon.”
We received word from Amy on Tuesday that Nate’s race had finished. Yesterday was the funeral at Trinity Baptist Church. Today is the burial. What a beautiful tribute from his congregation in the funeral service. The men who spoke bore witness not only to Nate’s faithfulness as a preacher of the word but also to his love for the congregation. Amy and the kids were there on the front row. It was beautiful.
In her book The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom talks about how her father helped her to face her fear of death–not only of her own death but also that of loved ones. She writes:
Father sat down on the edge of the narrow bed. “Corrie,” he began gently, “when you and I [take the train] to Amsterdam-when do I give you your ticket?”
I sniffed a few times, considering this.
“Why, just before we get on the train.”
“Exactly. And our wise Father in heaven knows when we’re going to need things, too. Don’t run out ahead of Him, Corrie. When the time comes that some of us will have to die, you will look into your heart and find the strength you need-just in time.”
Nate Magloughlin (1976-2026). Husband, father, son, brother, faithful pastor, my friend. Talk to you soon.
