Saturday, 16 February 2008

• Celebrating the Life of Dudley Mays

  It's been a month since our beloved pastor passed on to be with Jesus after an 11 month fight against pancreatic cancer.  There was no funeral home viewing last month, but a memorial service planned for February 17, tomorrow, which would also have been Pastor's 65th birthday.  So tomorrow night at this time we will be finishing up the celebration service of Dudley Mays' life in the company of his family and our church family and friends. 
  

  
  Some may ask why God didn't heal Dudley.  We sure prayed hard and long and our faith level was high.  We did see God perform miracles in Dudley's life throughout the past year as he fought this battle.  It all started with a severe digestive illness back in March, which turned out to be a blocked bile duct, which exposed the pancreatic cancer.  Most victims of this disease never find out they have this form of cancer until it's too late for any treatment and are told they have just weeks to live, maybe a month or two.  So Dudley found out at the very onset of this, and his prognosis of beating this was good.  Everything was still contained and surgery and chemo could take care of it.   To open up the bile duct, a stent was put in, which held up for a little while. When that collapsed, Dudley went through some things that could have killed him right then and there.   The stent caused a blood infection, which caused his kidneys to shut down, which resulted in a stroke, all within 2 days back in the Spring.  He became paralyzed on his left side and there was talk of dialysis for his kidneys.  Miracles started manifesting as his kidneys suddenly worked normally again and all paralysis left him to where he was back home in 2 days able to play guitar again!  These days when you have a stroke, you can get this "clot buster" treatment to help heal your brain of the damage and restore all movement.  Dudley could NOT get this treatment because of the kidney situation.  So the Lord totally healed him of the effects of the stroke!  Another potentially lethal condition was exposed through all this as well... he had a weak heart valve that would have never been able to take the chemo treatments.  He underwent open heart surgery within a month and came out of that feeling stronger and better then he had felt in years.  A few months after chemo and radiation treatments, he received a report that all the cancer seemed to be gone, and we were all rejoicing!
  
  So when we heard in December that the tumor was growing again and that cancer was found in his liver, it was hard to understand what God was doing here.  Surely He didn't do all those miracles in Dudley to just take him in the end, did He?
  
  It comes down to the fact that God is sovereign.  He knows the number of days for each of us.  This was Dudley's time to go be with Him.  The blessing is how Dudley got to spend the last year of his life here on earth.  A year that could have been filled with paralysis, dialysis, and much pain, was actually spent with as much quality of life you could hope for with being that sick.  He was able to golf, travel, preach, and continue to minister to his flock WITHOUT ANY PAIN up until his last few weeks.  And he never had pain, even up until the very end.  THAT is another miracle.  He was joking even in his last moments he spent alone with his wife.  He was ready to go, she was able to let him go, they hugged, and he left... just like that. 
  
  So tomorrow night we'll come together to worship our God, see pictures and videos and hear stories and remember the life of our pastor, our friend Dudley Mays.  I will miss him always, but will also smile when I think on where he's at right now and always!
  
  Below is his obituary...
  
  

  
  

  
  MAYS PASTOR DUDLEY EDWARD, JR.
  

  Of Scott Twp., finished the work his Father God had for him and was called Home on January 17, 2008, he was 64. He was a devoted husband, loving father, caring Pastor and loyal friend; he will be deeply missed. Above all things, he loved the Lord Jesus with all his heart. Dudley was born on February 17, 1943 in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, the son of Dudley and Charlotte Mays, both deceased. He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Winnie Mays, his son and daughter-in-law Chris and Pam Mays, and his three grandchildren whom he dearly loved, Ashley Stephens (husband Dylan), Heather Serrano (husband Daniel) and his precious Silas. He is also survived by his sister Charlotte Breeden of Milan, Tennessee. Dudley was trained as a highway designer and worked for PennDOT until 1980, when he heard the call of God to become a Pastor. After retiring from PennDOT, he pastored New Life Fellowship Pittsburgh for 26 years until his death. Dudley recently said the desire of his heart was realized when his son, Chris, answered the call to become the next Pastor of New Life Fellowship. Among other things, Dudley loved music, golf, the Steelers and Pitt Basketball. He also liked to fish and hang out with Silas. For several years he assisted coaching the track and field team at Chartiers Valley High School. His request was to have his body donated for medical research in the hopes that others would benefit from his death as much as they had from his life. A Memorial Service is being planned for mid-February. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to New Life Fellowship, 920 Lorenz Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15220. The family would like to extend their gratitude to all of the skilled staff at all the various facilities who cared for Dudley during the past year, especially those at the Center for Compassionate Care run by Family Hospice and Palliative Care.
  
  

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