Why John McCain Chose Comfort Care

John McCain died last evening.  It was only one day after his family announced that he had decided to discontinue treatment for brain cancer.  John McCain chose comfort care.  Comfort care is a term I have become familiar with during the ten years I have worked part-time for a hospital chaplaincy service.  Comfort care means the patient has decided to cease treatment for a terminal condition.  Instead of prolonging the suffering the patient, or in some cases the family, decides to keep the patient comfortable and let nature take its course.

I think John McCain was able to peaceably make that decision because he knew Jesus.  While John McCain’s religious roots were Episcopalian, he and his family worshiped regularly at North Phoenix Baptist Church.  While he never talked much about his faith, he privately acknowledged the how his relationship with God had impacted his life.   McCain once stated that his faith in God was reinforced when he was kidnapped and tortured by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War. He scratched the first seven words of The Apostles’ Creed on his cell wall, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty” and prayed fervently while incarcerated.  One of John McCain’s best friends in the Senate was Chuck Schumer.  In a recent conversation Chuck Schumer asked John McCain about his relationship with God.  “I am okay with God,” he responded.

Believing in God and acknowledging Jesus as our Savior allows us to place ourselves into God’s hands when a medical crisis or emergency arises.  We realize that not even death can separate us from the love of God.  We are always people of hope.  Heaven awaits those who know and confess Jesus as their Savior.  As the end draws near we can be at peace.

I have always believed that the strongest testimony that we can give to unbelievers is found in the manner in which we handle death.  We are always people of hope.  We might grieve and mourn, but we also rejoice and praise God for the victory that has been won.  That faith heritage needs to be passed on from generation to generation.