I got a chance to just sit and talk with dad for quite awhile.  I asked if there was a passage he wanted me to read and he instantly said Colossians 1.  He stopped me as I started to read at verse 9 – pointing out that this is the prayer that Paul was praying for the Colossians:

⁹ And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; ¹² giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

After I finished reading dad’s comments were something like this (probably out of order, based only off my memory [so paraphrased/reworded], and missing some anecdotal bunny trails):

Notice that Paul wasn’t praying for their health, financial needs, etc.  Part of the reason that Christianity in America is so anemic is because we never get past health, finances, etc.  We can pray for these things, but we’re missing the point.  Paul prays for a filling knowledge of God’s will, spiritual wisdom and understanding – and that they would walk well, etc.  God didn’t give me cancer so that he could heal me and get the glory – He’s got a bigger plan and it involves using this to get us closer to Him.

I don’t want people praying just for my healing.  We should be praying for God to use this in all of our lives to do what Paul prayed for.

It was really encouraging to see him sit on his hospital bed, concerned that his children would miss God’s real working here.  He wanted to make sure I was praying rightly, thinking rightly, and talking correctly with his grandchildren about what God is doing with this.