Kirk Steele and Collin Virgo enjoying a game of cricket.
Proverbs 18 verse 24: A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticketh closer than a brother.
The first night I went to Steele in hospital, I was so afraid to go alone. I wasn’t sure I could face it. We had been communicating initially by text because he was too weak to talk, and I rushed back into Kingston immediately when he told me what the illness was. I begged Howard to go in with me when I was going… I got there ahead of him but Noelle came and got me at the door to the ward and walked me in, squeezing my hand reassuringly.
John 15 verses 12-13: This is my commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
We had a very long talk that night after everyone had left. I didn’t say much. I needed to hear everything that he had to say, and he had so much that he wanted to share with me. I left so late that night I was surprised the nurses didn’t throw me out. They came in every now and then and peeked or checked on him, but they gave us our brotherly bonding time.
Proverbs 17 vs 17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
He told me, in detail, about the moments that lead up to his ordeal and his consequent hospitalization, and his current state of mind. Despite the illness and hospitalization, He said he had never been happier. He said he had never been so close to his family nor had he ever before felt so loved by them and felt as loved for by his friends. He was happy; his heart was full.
Romans 8 verses 38 and 39: For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
He was quite profound in the way he shared with me the fact that he had made things right with the Lord, and that he could feel the blessing and had found a new found inner peace. He spoke about a nurse who prayed with him everyday and had given him some encouraging spiritual texts to read. He had been given a chance and he wasted no time this time around; he was grateful that he had been able to turn his life over to the Lord.
Revelation 14 verse 13: Blessed are those which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
He told me he was going to allow the illness to take its natural course. He was not going to go through any unnecessarily intrusive operation or surgery; he was not going to fight any chemo-aided battle. He was confident and comfortable with leaving everything in the Makers hands, and he had no difficulty accepting whatever that divine plan would be.
Psalm 23 verse 4: Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me
There were a couple people who he knew that I would know really meant a lot to him as friends, who had not yet heard of his illness. He charged me with the responsibility of breaking it to them, and I told him I’d try to do it as gently as possible but on the condition that he would give me the latitude of doing it on my own time. He was never one for too much excitement, and he knew he could trust me to pace it for them as best as possible.
Isaiah 25 verse 8: He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away the tears from our faces…
He spoke directly about me, Backie and Howard. He also believed that this happened to him to have a positive influence on the three of us, especially James. He wanted us to do our best to try to live our lives as wholesomely as possible; he wanted us to let go of any and everything we might be holding on to that could be preventing God from having his way with us. He wanted us to look after the entire crew, to look after each other, to look after Noelle. He said he had accepted a simple fact; that he knew he was going to die.
Job 30 verse 23: For I know that thou will bring me to death; to the house appointed for all the living.
He never ever knew what his medical bills were. He laughed while telling me that Noelle would not even allow him to think about it. He told me how moved he was when Mr & Mrs Nicolls left the Bahamas immediately upon hearing that he was in hospital, not even waiting on Noelle to tell them anything. He reminded me how often over the years he had been touched by the kindness to him by Mr and Mrs Nicolls, but that their behaviour this time around took the cake. They had left no stone unturned, no wish nor desire not granted, and they seemingly thought of EVERYTHING. He asked me to sit a bit closer; as he became very emotional when he was talking about Noelle’s persistence, dedication and commitment. He said he never knew and never could have known otherwise love like this.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls for he has no one to help him up.
He told me a few people to bring to see him. I told him I wouldn’t say anything to Christina as yet because I didn’t want her to be too upset by it especially as she was in the final trimester of her pregnancy. I reminded him that I would soon link Toomer and Roxann since they were abroad, and Mr. Dolphin too. I couldn’t bring myself to break the news to some people, especially over the phone. Aunty Flo who we had lunch and dinner by almost everyday; Miss Pam with whom before her husband Country died last year, we had our jerk pork (and chicken for Backie) at least every single Friday night for the past six years rain or shine. Luddy, his neighbour at Musgrave Mews with whom he had become really good friends; Marky our mechanic; Miss Millie, whose legendary Poker Boxes bought us dinner so many nights when we were broke; his colleagues on the Executive and Central Committees of G2K who not only liked but had come to respect him so much. There are more people… but he had one consistent message for all of us that’s summed up nicely by these two pieces, which I’ve derived from the quoted sections from the Bible:
Do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. If the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. It is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident in knowing that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, and would therefore prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. Corinthians 4:16-15:8
Psalm 116 verse 15 tells us that “Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints”. Psalm 37 verse reminds us to “mark the perfect man, and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace”. In light of the fact that Steele had given his life to the Lord, and was saved and baptized, we can boast and shout the question asked in 1st Corinthians 15 verse 55 “O death, where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory!?” As painful and difficult as it is for all of us to accept our brother’s death, he became a true and devout Christian and was saved. The book of Hosea Chapter 13 verse 14 gives us a promise made to the saved by the Maker himself “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death.”