A South Carolina man in hospice care was granted his final wish last month when he was baptized in a 60-gallon hospital tub to shouts of “hallelujah” and “amen.”
Jenis James Grindstaff, a cancer patient who has few days left on Earth, was in at-home hospice care last year when he grew a desire to be baptized before he died.
“I’ve always loved Jesus,” he told KMBC-TV.
Grindstaff, though, did not want to be sprinkled. He wanted to be immersed.
Due to his medical issues, he couldn’t be lowered into a traditional baptismal and he couldn’t be baptized in a traditional tub, either, because he wouldn’t be able to get back up, WHNS-TV reported. Thus, a local hospital and chaplain came up with an alternative plan: baptize Grindstaff in a specially designed 60-gallon hospital tub that would permit him to walk in and sit down before it is filled.
“The rest of his family – his brothers or sisters – have been baptized,” said his son, Craig. “And for some reason or another, he just never got around to getting it done.”
Said another son, Jim, “He’s always read the Bible, but he had never been baptized. He wanted to show he believed more than anything else.”
Grindstaff was an air traffic controller for 25 years and also served in the military.
He was transported to Spartanburg Regional Hospice, where, in December, chaplain Terrell Jones baptized Grindstaff in…
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