Doc McCallum

Luke 22:44, “And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

To me this is a story of murmuration… of God moving many in concert to reveal himself.

I called a friend of mine, Tammy Carmichael, out of the blue the other day to see what is going on in her life, and in the conversation she told me the story of her grandpa passing away. His name was Doc and he was a federal game warden.

Apparently Tammy and Doc’s relationship was strained the last couple years of his life and she didn’t have much if any contact with him. Doc was not known for any kind of religious zeal, and has his body no longer could function as completely as his mind wished so his attitude became that of an ever increasing grumpy old man. Perhaps this attributed to the lack of numbers or people willing and able to speak on his behalf at his funeral. Or perhaps he simply out lived all his friends. I don’t know the answer, but Tammy, his estranged granddaughter, would speak at his memorial.

What would she say? How would she describe his final rest? What positives were there to learn from in his life?

As she pondered the Holy Spirit said to her something to the effect of, ‘remember the garden of Gethsemane. I was not sweating blood because I was afraid of the cross. I was sweating blood praying those of little faith, and those like your grandfather through to heaven.”

As it came time to bury her grandfather he had purchased a humble plot that had apparently been sold twice. To make up for the mistake the funeral home offered the family any other spot. Knowing Doc loved the outdoors and water the family picked a spot near a pond. It was after her grandfather was buried that Tammy noticed her loved one had been buried in the section the Cemetery called “The Garden of Gethsemane.” She didn’t pick the plot, but immediately in front of it was a statue of Jesus looking down on her grandfather's grave.

Murmuration. 

Selah