End of Life Planning with Pastor Rick Craig
No one likes to talk about dying and what steps need to be taken when loved ones are sick. Pastor Rick’s book serves as a guide to help us have those uncomfortable discussions:
-Life Insurance
-Estate Planning
-Organ Donation
-Hospice Care
-Health Insurance
-Funeral Planning
-Social Security Benefits
-Veteran Benefits
-Bereavement Leave
-Miscarraige, Stillbirth, and Sudden Death
Pastor Rick Craig is an expert in End of Life issues.
Most of us fail to prepare for the passing of those we love. In additional to overwhelming grief, many survivors are left to navigate all of the decisions which need to be made.
Pastor Rick Craig goes through the decisions survivors need to make step-by-step wherever you are on your grief/planning journey.
This video (below) discusses how to have honest conversations with family and create a safe place to begin discussions.
Dr. Chuck: Welcome to Spoonful of Courage, I’m Dr. Chuck and I’m here with Pastor Rick Craig, and Rick Craig has written a book called “When It’s Time”, and you can find this book on Amazon. Who needs to read this book, Pastor Craig?
Pastor Rick: Yeah, that’s the best question. So look at it this way, everybody needs to read the book and the follow-up question is why, and here’s why. So, when you have a group of people around any subject matter that either don’t know a lot about the subject, they have a different vision, they have different plan, they have different agenda, you need a facilitator. You need somebody to come in and guide that conversation, so that you find unity in that and there’s discovery. So, each and every chapter designed exactly like that. So, if you had five people, for example, come in and sit down, and they’re going to talk about a subject matter that everybody thinks they know something about, but they really don’t, who’s going to guide that conversation? Well, you bring in the therapist or the facilitator, and you go through the chapter, and there’s talking points at the very end of each chapter to say: we need to talk about that. So when you do that, you’ve got common language, you’ve got a common goal, trying to find an area where everybody could agree to ask questions that I can guarantee you most people don’t know, and then you have a discussion about those. So, it brings everybody together in the book, then becomes the mentor, or facilitator, guiding people in that conversation. It gives them education, gives them talking points, gives them direction, takes away a lot of the confusion, and takes away a lot of the arguments. So, the book is for everybody, but especially when you have groups of people where they sit down and they say, “I have a vision,” and the one beside them says, “but I have a vision that’s different than yours.”
Dr. Chuck: That’s kind of the same with doctors. You know, you get five different doctors in the room and you get 20 different opinions. You know, but in the reality of life, Pastor Rick, families often have disfunction. We’ve all got issues, we’ve all got relational things, we’ve got emotional wounds. What do you tell a family? Maybe someone who’s looking at death? We know maybe they have cancer and they’re looking at death. What will be some tips that you would tell that person as he prepares and tries to- you know it talks about in the Bible how to get your house in order- what would be the main thing that you would tell them? Besides, get your book.
Pastor Rick: Let’s say, for an example, it’s a husband. My recommendation would be sit down with your wife, or whoever those people are in your family, that you can have an honest conversation, without interruption, expressing your desires and needs at the time. Then from that, if you read the book and you read the particular chapters that the discussion is going to be about topically, then you can say, “let’s have a discussion about that, because this is going to guide us through that discussion.” But, that person needs to have safe people, in a safe environment, where they can express what they want for end-of-life. It’s so important, because when that doesn’t happen, everything from that point forward is a guess.
Dr. Chuck: You know, I know you, as a pastor, have seen this so many times and, as a doctor, I see this. There’s often, you know, when those things are not addressed, it just causes a multitude of problems. The family fights over all kinds of things, over inheritance, over all kinds of things. You know, even we talked about burial and all those things. There are so many things and it’s such an emotionally charged time, and so often families become estranged after this. And I love what you said on another segment, that your family either inherits your plan or they inherit your problem. I mean how wise that is, and I think they take home message, the spoonful of courage that I’ve got from all of our conversations, is that we need to start a conversation, and we need to know what to talk about. And that’s what I love about your book, as I read your book, pastor Rick, so many things came to mind that I never had thought about. And so, I really just wan to encourage our audience to check this book out “When It’s Time”, it’s available on Amazon and we’ll have some links for you. Also, check out Pastor Rick’s link at whenitstime.org. I’m Dr. Chuck, and we’ve been here with Pastor Rick Craig. And, Pastor Rick, it’s just a privilege to have you on the show. I appreciate your taking time out of your busy schedule just to sit down with us.
Pastor Rick: Well, thank you very much. It’s been a great conversation, and I just love being with you, Dr. Chuck.
Dr. Chuck: Same here, Pastor Rick.
Pastor Rick: Take care, good to see you.
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Listen to Pastor Rick Craig as a guest on Season of Caring podcast
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For more Spoonfuls of Courage, check out Dr. Chuck’s show Spoonful of Courage TV or buy the books A Spoonful of Courage for the Sick and Suffering: Transforming Your Greatest Challenges into Your Biggest Blessings and Spoonful of Courage: Equations to Find Grace in Life’s Challenges on Amazon.
