I recently held my fourth meeting in Delbarton, WV. The mother of the Brother (Doug) with whom I stayed had been battling cancer for about two years. On Monday (the day the meeting started), she left to go to Chicago to have an MRI to determine whether the cancer tumors had shrunk. On Tuesday evening, Doug's wife called to say that his mom had passed out and fallen at the hotel. They immediately took her into the hospital. Early the next morning, she began to bleed internally. By mid-morning it became apparent that Doug and his dad needed to go to Chicago ASAP. Sadly, it was a long trip, because the doctor told them she was dying. They arranged to bring her back on Saturday aboard a medical flight and put her under hospice care so she could die at home. On Friday evening, Doug and his dad were prepared to fly back to WV and get things set up at home. They missed their flight, and that evening, around 8 p.m., Sister Christine "Tena" Curry passed away. She was a good Christian, wife, mother, and grandmother. This article is dedicated to her memory and the powerful example she left by the way she lived and faced her impending death.

The internal bleeding stopped on Wednesday night; her blood had clotted. The doctors told Doug and his dad that she was a "ticking time bomb," because the bleeding would begin again, and she could not survive. The doctors told her she was not going to make it. Sister Curry replied: "that's fine; I'm ready to go." Before Doug, his dad, or one of her daughters arrived, Christine told her daughter-in-law, Mary, exactly how she wanted things done and what needed to be done at home. Mary wrote it all down in case she passed away before her husband and children arrived in Chicago.

When her husband and children arrived, Sister Curry told them exactly how she wanted her funeral arrangements to be handled, right down to her dress, and not to put any shoes on her feet! She asked that there be no singing; it would be too difficult for the family. Sister Curry had been part of a small group that often sang at funerals. Make the service brief for the family's sake. Where to be buried? On the hill beside their home was fine. Just one request-please put flowers on my grave from time to time. At home, there was some unfinished business that needed attention. Christine gave instructions about what needed to be done and who could take care of it. Doug told me that as she lay dying, her husband of 53 years, Harold, read Psalm 23.

How does a person face death with such clarity, confidence, and lack of fear? She knew she had done her best, and she trusted in the promises of her God. It was my privilege to conduct her funeral. I read Proverbs 31:10-31 and 2 Timothy 4:6-8. Sister Curry's life mirrored the teaching in these two passages. As I considered how to comfort her husband, children, grandchildren, and the brethren who loved her, I thought to myself-Christine made it easier by the life she lived. Harold, Doug, Gloria Jean, and Anita will all miss her. But they'll never forget how she faced the final stage of her journey-with confidence, unwavering faith, thankfulness, and courage. May God help each of us to prepare ourselves to leave with that same type of courage.