On Their Deathbeds

The husband of a former colleague converted to Christianity on his deathbed. The colleague is a Christian and the husband is either an atheist or a follower of Chinese folk religion. While dying, I heard the colleague invited the pastor of her church to the house several times; to preach, I suppose; and a few times when he was asked if he would like to convert, he declined. Only towards the end when he breathed his last did he nod his head; and here nod means literally nod; and the husband thus was given a Christian burial. Nevermind if you are skeptical about the nod; the muscles of the neck of a weak, dying man might give way and that may not be a nod of approval; but I do like the idea of pastors visiting dying people. They are a big consolation to both the dying and living. Buddhist monks probably don't to that; at least I haven't heard of monks visiting dying people to preach; to chant maybe if the Buddhist family invite them over; and neither have I heard of people converting to Buddhism on their deathbeds. Not that this matters.