Rev. Percy McCray Discusses Caring for Cancer Patients and Their Families

Jesus said, Blessed are the persecuted, and they are suffering big time right now. This is Bible League International, and 19-year-old Aria was beaten by her own father and violated by local authorities. You know what her crime was? Simply that she gave her life to Jesus Christ after leaving radical Islam. They need Bibles in order to endure and persevere.

And that's why Truth Network and Bible League are teamed up to send God's Word to 3500 persecuted believers around the world at $5 a Bible, $100 Synth 20, call 800-YES-WORD, 800-YES-WORD, 800-YES-WORD, or give at truthnetwork.com. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Roseburger.

This is the program for you as a family caregiver. That is B.J. Thomas. Wonderful song. I've loved it for a lifetime. One of the first songs I learned how to play on the piano. And R.T. Jordan, of course, wrote that, and he's been on our program.

It's just a great song, and it's a great topic for what we're going to talk about in the next couple of segments here. I'm here with Reverend Percy McCray from South Florida, and we're going to talk about cancer and ministering to those who are dealing with cancer and their families. And many times when you hear the cancer word, people just go into almost a paralysis of fear.

It is a harsh, brick-to-the-face diagnosis. And you gave me love when nobody gave me a prayer. Sometimes people were sitting in their oncologist's office saying, you know, nobody's giving me a prayer on this.

But we have a Savior that does, who advocates for us, who is with us through all of this. And Reverend McCray knows exactly what that feels like, and he's doing what he can to minister to those who are struggling with this. So Reverend McCray, thank you very, very much for being a part of the program today. Welcome to the program. Thank you, Peter.

It's a pleasure to be with you and your audience. Tell me your journey first, then we're going to get into how this has been unfolding over your life and over your ministry, what God has called. But tell us your journey first.

Well, I have an interesting journey. Right out of Bible College in Broken Arrow, Tulsa, Oklahoma, I had the opportunity to join a cancer organization, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, now part of City of Hope, with an opportunity to be part of their pastoral care team, very young in its origin. And I was asked by the organization to somehow create an atmosphere and an environment where spirituality and faith was very much part of the clinical experience of all cancer patients and their caregivers, if they were so inclined. And so began almost three decades ago now, working inside of a clinical environment with cancer patients. And then three years ago, I had the opportunity where I was diagnosed with early stage colon cancer. So for many years supporting cancer patients and their caregivers, praying with and supporting them through very difficult scenarios and situations, I had the opportunity to walk that walk along with talking the talk. And so as of today, I'm doing well and fine. My prognosis is fantastic. But I do certainly have a very different vantage point now knowing what it feels like to be told the words that you have cancer.

And it is a journey that requires love, support, and understanding and insight. What do you feel like has changed with you over these years as you have spent a lot of time with cancer patients and their families? What has changed for you from that young right out of Bible college student to now? And how have you grown, adapted? What have you learned about God's provision? What are some insights that has happened over these last several years for you?

That is a great question. You know, fresh out of Bible college, you're young, you're frisky, and you're ready to preach, and you're ready to call down fire from heaven and etc. But the reality was that I had to learn how to really exercise patience. Working with the cancer community, I often tell people, cancer journeys is, in many cases, it's a marathon and not a sprint. And of course, we're conditioned as pastors and in our faith communities, you know, we are there to kind of give instantaneous messages and exhortations and, you know, and see the power of God do and complete scenarios and situations in a much more quicker fashion. But hospital healthcare ministry to patients, cancer patients requires diligence and patience and really long suffering. And it's one of the reasons why there are not many people who are very engaged in cancer care ministry, because it requires a commitment of time.

So I had to learn how to be patient and to work with and work through the scenarios of supporting cancer patients that took time, in many cases, for them to see change and progression, and to be there through the thick and thin and the grind of a day, a week, a month, and a year, if you will. You know, as a recipient of a lot of pastoral care over the years in hospital, a lot of pastors would come in hot to the room or to us. And by that, I mean they come in and they're waving prayer cloths and prophesying and yelling out scripture and, you know, everything in their brother.

What have you learned over the years about approaching a room of suffering? You're absolutely correct. And it's just a lack of understanding and knowledge with regard to coming into an environment and not being part of the environment. And that's a huge delineation.

And you're exactly right. In many cases, cancer patients are mentally, emotionally, and certainly physically, they are suffering through processes, being poked, being prodded, being medicated, you know, enduring, you know, significant procedures. And so one of the things that's important to understand, and I hope that there are some pastors and faith leaders that are listening to me today, is really understanding the fact that coming into an environment of suffering definitely requires a different pace, a different rhythm, and a different cadence.

You know, not just kind of walking through the front door and kind of doing what you're used to doing in a pulpit on a Sunday morning. Because in many cases, cancer patients simply mentally, emotionally, and physically are not able to even engage with that type of rhythm. They're tired, they're exhausted, you know, their attention span, you know, wane, you know, they're sleepy, they're tired. So again, it's really, what I had to understand with regard to that, and I remember my first couple of experiences, you know, I came in with kind of a fiery exhortation, just as you articulated, and two minutes into that, the patient was found asleep.

And it wasn't because I was boring, it was because they were tired, and they were medicated, and so they simply drifted off. So it's really understanding, first and foremost, allowing the patient to drive the bus. If there's nothing else that I'll say today, is that we need to allow the patients to dictate the time, the temple, what they want to talk about. When we come in with our pre-emscribe, you know, scriptures and thoughts and, you know, prophecies, that may very well not be the thing that the patient is ready for or interested in hearing, but we never stop to take time to find out what they wanted to hear, what they wanted to talk about, what was on their heart. We must allow every cancer patient to drive the bus and dictate the tone and tempo of the conversation. And that may take several visits for us to really establish a rapport and a relationship that is meaningful for them.

And we do make mistakes coming off the street hot, as you said, and we need to really adjust that. I remember when my wife first lost her right leg, eventually she lost her left leg as well, but this was back in 1991. And this young man came in and he was trying to be helpful. He was a peer support kind of guy, and he really wanted to be helpful.

I'll never forget this. And he wanted her to, you know, to not feel afraid of the stigma and see a prosthetic leg and so forth. So he showed her his prosthetic foot. He had one below the knee, just like hers, and she had not been fitted yet for a prosthesis, but his foot looked like he had tied it up behind the car, drug it down the road for a while, and then shot it with the 12 gauge. I mean, his foot was just beat up, you know, and Gracie was just like, she's just bursting to tears. She's like, this is what I'm going to have to wear, kind of thing.

And of course it wasn't, and she wears all kinds of great legs, but it's one of those things where he was showing things like that. And you caution people about not sharing horror stories of previous persons with cancer and things like that, not overpowering people. Unpack that a little bit. Absolutely.

First and foremost, I would encourage that individual, he needs to upgrade his prosthetic if he's going to show it to someone, number one. But exactly right. One of the early principles of hospital ministry that I learned is, do not share horror stories or overwhelm or overpower a cancer patient or anyone in a healthcare scenario.

Again, they simply may not be mentally prepared or ready for that. And as believers and as Christians, ministers, you're right, we have great intentions, but our intentions can be poorly received because we don't understand the dynamic of where that person is. One of the great things about the ministry of Jesus is that he always came down to the level of where people were.

He didn't try to bring people up to where he was. As a great example, the woman at the well is probably one of my favorite stories, because he came down on her level. He understood her social dynamics. He understood the climate and the scenario of her backdrop and her story.

And he met her where she was. And so we have to meet patients where they are. And in order to do that, we first have to do a little query. We need to understand, we need to hear from them first before we delve into... Many of us go into the hospital setting with kind of a pre and scrap script of how we're going to address and start a conversation that is the first major mistake that we make. You throw your script out, you don't have a script. You come in with a blank slate and you allow that patient to help set the tone of what it is that they want, what they desire, and where they are willing and ready to go.

And you cannot do that by just walking in the front door. I know that we have the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, but we need to take time to allow that individual to unpack some things. How are you feeling today?

How are things going for you? And allow them to kind of give you some messaging points that then you can be again to attack or address. But just going in and just kind of assuming what someone needs to hear or see is a fatal mistake.

So we need to allow the patient to give us a sense of the direction that they want us to go in and that will require some time and that will require some inquiry and that will require some diligence and some patience. You know one of my favorite verses is Job 2 13 and it said his friends came and they sat with him quiet for seven days because they saw his suffering was great. And all too often today people don't know how to be quiet with somebody for seven minutes. And it's okay to just kind of sit with people isn't it?

Yeah it is. The greatest availability, one of the biggest things that people share with me and have shared with me about cancer patients and supporting them is well I don't know what to say. I'm not sure what I should say or not say. In this particular case being present goes a very long way. Your availability can be your greatest ability when you don't know what else to say.

Be present, be available, and simply be silent and allow the presence of the room to dictate the tone and the tempo. It's perfectly fine to do so. Absolutely. We're talking with Reverend Percy McCray. He is, he's got a great podcast healthhopeandinspiration.com healthhopeandinspiration.com. We're going to talk some more when we come back from the break.

This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the Caregiver. Healthy caregivers make better caregivers and this program is designed to help equip you to be healthy.

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An independent associate. In the midst of the valley, in the midst of the valley, there stands a friend. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rosenberger and that is my wife Gracie. Thank you for that, Pat, for playing her on that one. That's the song she recorded many, many years ago. Every now and then I go back and listen to it. I'm like, oh, baby.

I just love that voice. Hopeforthecaregiver.com. Hopeforthecaregiver.com. We are talking with Reverend Percy McCrae and he has an extraordinary ministry to cancer patients and their caregivers at Cancer Treatment Centers of America and you can go and learn more about him at healthhopeandinspiration.com.

I hope you will. He's got wonderful insights on what it's like to minister into this very, very difficult valley, as Gracie was singing, in the valley of the shadow of death. And the valley of the shadow of death is a very frightening and sometimes very long place. And we as believers are called to go in there with people. That's the whole point, to go into those dark places.

And as he was saying before the break, some people say, well, I don't know what to say. That's okay. Scripture knows what to say.

You don't have to worry about that. You just show up. Somebody's asked me one time about a ministry to folks that are suffering.

And I said, well, it's the three S's. You suit up, you put on the righteousness of Christ, you show up and you shut up. Suit up, show up, shut up. You don't have to fix this, but companionship, believing, praying companionship during this is what people are crying out for. And Reverend McRae has been blazing this trail for many people for a long time in doing this. I want to pivot just a hair, Reverend McRae, and talk a little bit about the people in the room with you when you go in to see the cancer patient and you look around the room and there's a family member or so forth. Where does your head and heart go when you turn to them? That's a great question because in many cases if you're visiting as a minister or pastor or church member, the first thing that you need to be aware of is who's who in the zoo, who's in the room, who else is in the environment. You need to take stock of the temperature of the room, the climate, and you certainly need to befriend whoever else is in the room. Yes, you're there to see the patient, but you also need to try to establish as quickly as you possibly can with whatever amount of time that you may have some sort of quick rapport with their visitors and acknowledge them. I've seen many people walk into a room with a patient and completely ignore their caregivers or their other visitors and it's very off-putting, quite frankly, and so you need to establish what's going on.

There may have been some type of very deep or emotional conversation that was being taken place or interaction with that other person, so you need to understand the temperature of the water that you're entering into so that you do not create any type of weird energy because you need to understand that there's something else going on there. So where your head and your heart needs to be is first acknowledgement, hello, my name is so-and-so, so-and-so, and you are, and allow that individual to kind of give you some sense of it's okay for you to come in and be part of what we're doing right now. I've seen, and it's unintentional, I've seen people who have been unintentionally rude spiritually and disregard who else is in the room.

I'll give you a great example. I entered into a patient's room that I built relationship with, and his dad was there to see him, and his dad was of another spiritual orientation, and his son said to me, he said, this is my dad, Reverend McCrae, who I've been telling you about, and I want you to tell him why he needs to get born again, and his dad looked at me with a certain look, like if you dare go down that road with me, and so immediately what I did is that I did just the opposite of what the son asked me to do. I befriended his father. I ingratiated him.

I told him how much his son loved him and spoke about him and how it was such a pleasure to meet him, and I was so glad that he was there, and it diffused his defensive posture immediately because he was not ready or willing to have that discussion at that moment in time, so you must understand and take assessment of, again, using the metaphor of who's who in the zoo, who's there, who else is in the environment, so that you can respond and react accordingly. Part of being able to do that involves a skill set that some people may not think they have and some people quite truthfully don't have, but clearly you do. When did you discover that you could read the room? Yeah, that's a great question.

You're right. I came with an ability and an acumen to do that based upon the previous work that I was involved in, and people who are listening will laugh at this because they won't see the connection at all, but I used to be a car salesman in my previous life before I got into the ministry, and part of being an effective salesperson is the ability to create rapport and relationship and understand the dynamics of the people that are sitting in front of you before you just delve into trying to sell them something. The five principles of salesmanship is first introduction, create rapport and relationship, gain common ground, to ask the needs of the customer, and then you make a sale to them, but you cannot do principle number five until you've done one through four, and so I came to that environment with that background and that skill set, but to your previous point, everyone can learn how to do that if they understand the psychological movement and steps of that and why it is important because you cannot sell or present anything to anyone who you first have not properly introduced yourself to, you've gained some type of relationship and rapport with, nor have you asked or found out what their needs are.

So when you understand the psychological steps there, anyone can begin to adapt that to their life and to their personality, where then you can begin to learn how to read, if you will, the room or the environment. You know, I love how God uses all of our life experiences. He's a carpenter.

He doesn't even waste the sawdust, does he? And I remember my first job when I was a teenager, and it was cleaning horse stalls, and my brothers say I'm still sometimes in the same job description, but no, I have four brothers, and my friends Tommy and Betsy, they had a big pig farm down in South Carolina, and I remember having to clean that pig stalls out and everything else, and they still laugh at me for that, and they listen to this program, but you know what, you learn a lot when you're cleaning out a stall, and you learn a lot about life when you're scraping pig manure off of a barn floor, and you learn what you don't want to be doing for the rest of your life, I promise you that. Well, this is something I have seen when people come into our room and they don't realize the dynamics going on before they open the door to that room, and you know, when Gracie's there, like this particular stretch she was just on for 10 weeks, well, that's her whole world, is that room, she can't get up and move around, she can't do anything without help, and she is locked up in that room, and it doesn't matter how many flowers you put in there, or how many cards, or you know, how many times I swung by Chick-fil-A to bring her a big gallon of sweet tea, we don't have Chick-fil-A in Montana, well, we do way up in Kalispell, I think, but there's not anyone, there's no Chick-fil-A within five hours of us, and she's a southern girl, and she likes sweet tea, and so, you know, it doesn't matter how many times I swung by and brought her something like that, you're still in that room, and dark thoughts can overtake people, and when somebody comes in hot, they got to be aware of what just may have happened, and I'll give you an example, and I want you to respond to this, a friend of mine's a pastor, been one for 50 years, and right out of seminary, kind of like the way you were with Bible college, he was going to go on a pastoral visit with a guy that was kind of his pastoral mentor, and he'd never done anything like this before, and he said, I'm going to go visit a cancer patient, this guy's had a pretty rough go of it, and I just want to prepare you for tubes and smells, and it's going to be pretty rough, and he kind of gave him a good preparation for it, and my friend said, and this is down here by you, when it was happening, he was down here in Miami area, and he said, pull over, and the guy was, my friend at the time, was only maybe about 22 years old, and he got out of the car and threw up by the side of the road, and he hadn't even gotten to the hospital yet, you know, he was that nervous about it, and I get that, and so I think that's the level of, but he watched as his mentor walked in, and it was just, you know, his old hat, well, it is old hat if you've done it before, the first time it's going to be a little weird, and a little bit nervous, and you're going to feel unsure of yourself, and this is where we lean on the word of God, and we saturate ourselves with that, talk about that with you, because I know there have been times when you've gone into this, and you were feeling unsure, uncertain, scared, nervous, awkward, all those kinds of things, and you look at family members who maybe have red eyes, because they've been sitting in the corner crying, or they just, they may have just had an argument, I don't know, have you ever walked in on a couple, just had a fight? Absolutely, without a doubt, so the scenarios that, all of the things that you've just articulated is real-time scenarios of going into a hospital healthcare environment, and I've seen all of those and then some, and so with that being said, you are exactly right, the key to this first and foremost is, whatever it is that you thought you knew or understood about that dynamic is just a mere small tinkling of whatever that reality is, they are, yes, there are smells, you may even actually visibly see some things that will be off-putting, someone with, you know, some of their face missing, or their throat, I witnessed a person bleed out with, because of their carotid artery that ruptured right in my presence, etc, etc, and so this is where, to your point, first and foremost, you are going to have to be steeped and grounded and rooted in truly the love of God, in order to be able to see humanity compromised on a level where there may be disfigurement, where there may be unpleasant sounds that you will hear a cancer patient make, groaning in pain, and etc, and so the primary dynamic that's at work here is that you need to first be prayed up, you need to be fully, I tell people this all the time when I do all of our trainings, or when I was doing our trainings for training churches and pastors on how to do hospital and cancer care ministry, is that at the end of the day, you're going to have to be completely aware of the fact that you may see and hear something that you've never seen or heard before, and that is going to have to not be the deciding dynamic of why you are there. You are there because you are leaning into the love and the hope and the faith of God, that today, I want to be the hands and the feet of Jesus, and what would He do in this situation which will help to ground you in those moments that may surprise you and catch you off guard. Good words, and I've got one more series of questions. I want to put you on the lightning round for the next segment, Reverend McCrae. This is Peter Rosenberger. This is Hope for the Caregiver. We're talking with Reverend Percy McCrae, and he is bringing an extraordinary journey and ministry to help minister to families dealing with cancer, not just the patient, but the whole family. And Health, Hope, and Inspiration is his website and podcast. Go take a look.

We'll be right back. I'm Peter Rosenberger, and many years ago when my wife Gracie became a double amputee, she saw the importance of quality prosthetics. She saw the importance of a support team and people that could help her regain her life after losing both legs. And she had this vision of creating an organization that would help others do the very same thing while pointing them to Christ.

And for more than 17 years, we've been doing just that. We purchase supplies, we send equipment, and we train, and we send teams over to West Africa. We've been working with the country of Ghana, several clinics over there now, and each week more people walk because of Gracie's vision. In 2011, we launched a new program outreach to family caregivers.

Drawing on my now 36 plus years as Gracie's caregiver through a medical nightmare, I offer insights I've learned all of it the hard way to fellow caregivers to help them stay strong and healthy while taking care of someone who is not. If you want to be a part of this, go out to standingwithhope.com slash giving. Standingwithhope.com slash giving help us do more. At Standing with Hope, we're reaching the wounded and those who care for them. Standingwithhope.com slash giving.

And it gives me a purpose for my life. Welcome back to Hope for the Caregiver. This is Peter Rozenberger. This is the program for you as a family caregiver.

That is Gary Chapman, and you can hear my interview with him on our podcast. Go out to hopeforthecaregiver.com and see more about that. There was a great interview talked about his father taking care of his father with Parkinson's and then cancer. And there is a treasure at the end of this narrow road we're traveling in. And we all deal with various things along that road that are very painful. And that's why I'm very grateful that I have Reverend Percy McCray here with us today. He's been dealing with this for 20 years, 20 plus years in cancer care ministry. And he has a lot of resources available free to you. Go out to his website healthhopeandinspiration.com and you can download some of these things if you feel that you are led to minister specifically in this area with cancer patients. We're all called to minister to others. Jesus was very clear on that.

Sick, naked, hungry, thirsty prison. He's pretty clear on it. And there's no ambiguity. And you know, what part did he stutter in? He didn't.

He was very clear on this. But some people may not be called specifically to this with cancer ministry, but if you feel this is tugging at your heart, this is the man you want to go talk to and get some insights from him. Reverend McCray, I wanted to build on some of the things we were talking about in the last segment. Oftentimes family members are struggling with a multitude of things and they have to go through their own journey with it. And do you find that a lot of them are trying to apologize for or cover up or they're embarrassed about what their loved one is going through or whatever sounds and whatever's going on in the room and all that kind of stuff?

I know you have. How do you help ease them through that process? How do you help them calm down and just be okay that you're there with them?

You're absolutely right. The caregivers often have very significant dynamics that they're working through mentally and emotionally. Caregivers need to be cared for and we need to remember that. And part of that is in many cases you may actually need to do some separate ministry to the caregiver out of the presence of the patient themselves. Many caregivers are postured to be in a protective mode and to be in a mode of strength because they don't want the patient that they're caring for to see them vulnerable. But if you are able to pull them aside and have some private time with them, then you are able in many cases to kind of get beneath the veneer of that and really get into some of the dynamics of what they're going through.

And you are right. In many cases they are embarrassed, maybe even ashamed and they're trying to protect and cloak a scenario. But in many cases, cancer, particularly with cancer patients, caregivers are also struggling with guilt in some cases. Was it my fault?

What did I do wrong? How did I add stress into this person's life? So they are also dealing with issues maybe that may require some forgiveness, some confession. And so you need to be able to be sensitive to the fact that the caregiver may have some very unique dynamics that's separate from the patients themselves that needs to be ministered to. And can you build rapport, relationship and trust with them that will allow them to kind of pull down the veneer and allow you to have access to some of their mental, emotional and spiritual needs.

But they do and they are struggling and in many cases they are not being addressed. Well thank you for that because as one who has not been addressed, that is refreshing to hear because people don't know what to say to the caregiver either. There are times in my journey with this that I've encountered people with pretty brutal stuff. And Gracie and I of course are no stranger to it. But sometimes there are some things I encountered that's intensely more brutal at that moment than what we live with. And we saw this some at Walter Reed when we spent a lot of time with Wounded Warriors and so forth.

But there's other times I've talked to people and afterwards I just have to take a knee you know and I have to go off by myself and just catch my breath and take a knee. Can you share maybe one of those times with you that was just so difficult that you had to dig deep into God for this? Oh there have been many occasions and many times I can recall very vividly a rather young woman 28-29 years of age beautiful and she was experiencing end stage processes with her cancer and she was with her mom and she looked up at me and with these beautiful blue eyes and with a big tear coming out of her eye and she said Reverend McCray please help me to understand why is it so hard to get healed. And it broke me down. It literally took everything that I had within me to stand there and to love up on her and to hug her and I did what we needed to do. I provided her with ministry and then when I left out of her presence I literally had to go out of the building and go get in my car just to regroup and regather after hearing this this just beautiful young woman who basically was at the stages of of passing away asked me the most difficult question I've ever that I was ever asked and that was why is it so difficult to get healed and then I had the privilege of officiating her her funeral and I remember my legs feeling like rubber at the podium there was 3,000 people there waiting to hear what I had to say and I said Lord if you don't speak through me today I don't know if I'm going to be able to do this it was just so emotionally difficult but yes and for people who are in this industry for lack of a better word ministry there is a dynamic that is called compassion fatigue that we have to be mindful of and that we have to to be intentional about in terms of taking respite and disconnecting when appropriate so that we can be rejuvenated just as Jesus did most of his time Jesus spent time alone after he spent time with the crowds ministering and feeding and and and and and ministering to the flock then he said that he would slip away quietly where he could kind of rejuvenate and allow the Holy Spirit to to reinvest back into him energy and strength and power so there have been many times that I've had to do that and just simply get quiet and still and go sit across the street in the park and just kind of gather my thoughts absolutely you know in the last few moments I'd like for you to go a little bit deeper on that one because I I have a working belief that true ministry will cost you something every time if you're walking away from a sermon or a ministry encounter and you're just ready to go and just have a good time and just you know yuck it up with everybody else you know yuck it up with everybody else you kind of have to wonder how effective were you because true ministry is really going to cost you and you do need to slip away quietly you did need to have a few moments just to collect your thoughts in your heart because you're pouring out your heart and you're you're joining with the the sufferings of Christ which is looking at this broken world and seeing it for what it is Jesus looked out over the masses and he was moved and and I I think that the more we walk with Christ in this the more we share in those sufferings and share in that compassion that he had and also that groaning that he had over the brokenness of all of this and so in the last just few moments would you just talk a little bit about that of the cost of ministering to people who are suffering and their families and the the what what what since even though your legs are rubber what sends you to that pulpit what sends you back into the next hospital room well you you are a thousand percent correct anyone that is truly called to the ministry and the service of humanity on behalf of the kingdom of God they will have to invest and they will have to give up something in order to do that and to do it effectively and to do it well and I also passed through the church from for many years also while I was also working in the cancer care community and I remember one day that I had to come to terms with the fact that I couldn't do both because of the mental and emotional and physical exhaustion and just the the deposit that had to be made on a consistent basis and understanding that you don't just get to skip through you know the tulips and and quote a sermon and then you know sing a hymn and then you receive an offering and you go home that that you carry those people with you there are there are parts of you that you lead that you invest in the in the hearts and the souls of those that you come in contact with and they they are part of your your being so there is a cost and and so I believe the apostle Paul said it best that I have I have spent and been spent for you I have spent all that I have for you in in giving you the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and so there is a cost to be paid there are you know you can't cross that river without paying the toll uh and so for any young minister that is listening to me today uh there is a cost to be paid it's worth it at the end of the day for sure there's no question about it I wouldn't do anything differently but you will you will have to invest a part of who you are your mind your soul your emotions uh some people have said to me at times that you're you're too too serious you're too melancholy uh and I've had to tell people but at the end of the day I carry the burden of of a hurt and dying world and like the compassion of Christ you can't just walk and see that and experience that and just go and sit down and say that everything is okay that that is going to impact you and it should impact you and it should leave some sort of mark or scar upon you as Paul talked about his stripes that he received there are stripes that we receive for the calling for the high calling of God in Christ Jesus and certainly to ministry to the to the hurt and to the sick and to the dying but know at the end of the day that there is no greater cause worth having than that and that you will be rewarded for that and I'm grateful that God called me faithful and I try to live up to that and be faithful to that calling every day thank you very much reverend Percy McCray health hope and inspiration.com he's got resources available for you please go out and take a look at what he's doing get involved cancer treatment centers of America is where he's been ministering and he is doing this he's on the front line of this to people who suffer in their families Pastor McCray thank you for being a part of the program I really do appreciate it thank you my friend and I look forward to coming back seeing you anytime in the future God bless you thank you hey this is Peter Rosenberg did you know that you can recycle used prosthetic limbs no kidding we've been doing this at standing with hope since 2005 for six years I did it myself out of our garage and sometimes on colder nights I'd sit by the fire in our den and I'd be surrounded by a bunch of prosthetic legs that have come from all over the country and I would disassemble them and store the feet the pylons the knees the adapters the screws all those things that can be re-salvaged and repurposed to build a custom fit leg then a wonderful organization in Nashville partnered with us to help take it out of my garage in my den and into a better system this is CoreCivic CoreCivic.com now they are the nation's largest owner of partnership correctional detention and residential re-entry facilities and they have a lot of faith-based programs and I'm proud to say that standing with hope is one of those programs and has been now for over a decade inmates volunteer to help us disassemble those used prosthetic limbs reports show that inmates who go through faith-based programs are better equipped to go back into society and the recidivism rate of returning back to prison is so low they don't want to come back and society doesn't want them to come back and faith-based programs are a big part of that and that's something that CoreCivic really believes in and we are so thrilled that standing with hope is one of those programs I remember the first time we started an inmate looked at me he said I've never done anything positive with my hands until I started doing this program with standing with hope another inmate told me he said I never even thought of people with disabilities until I started doing this and it's it's an extraordinary partnership and very moving to see this see we can do so much with these materials but a lot of family members have a loved one that passes away they don't know what to do with the limb they'll keep it in a closet or sometimes even worse they'll throw it away please don't let that happen please send it to us through standing with hope standingwithhope.com slash recycle standingwithhope.com slash recycle and let's give the gift that keeps on walking