A few weeks ago, a Lumberjack beard, some thick reading glasses, black coffee, and a leathertop Bible described my Sunday morning teacher, Cam Giannette. Mr. Giannette is a successful man, father, and leader in the Church. Despite the beard hiding his smile on early Sunday mornings, you can always tell he is happy to be at Church.

An unclear strand of Covid caused blood clots in his lungs, and the odds were against his life. “It could be that day, seeing God’s face. It caught me by surprise,” Mr. Giannette had told me. “I was actually excited about seeing God.” Hearing those words felt surreal; and he is right. It was hard to process what he was telling me, it’s not an everyday conversation. “Whatever was going to happen was God’s will” is another thing he said that caught me by surprise. Of course, he was heartstruck to leave his family, he knew they were going to struggle without him.

Mr. Giannette is a very wise man, and he’s always been good at answering religiously involved questions. I asked Mr. Giannette what his thoughts on life were during his near-death experience. He told me his situation happened so fast, and he had to quickly make up his mind. Being a Christian, he told me he was able to find peace, and it helped him through the rest of the week. It is really interesting to me. It takes a strong man to be laying on your deathbed, peacefully. Mr. Giannette recognized the outcome was out of his hands. 

Sunday the 9th of January, the day our interview took place, Mr. Giannette was holding a leathertop Bible, thick reading glasses, but he was clean shaven. I always knew when he was smiling, but now that his beard was gone, I could see the joy in his face as clear as day. Mr. Giannette was exhilerated to be at Church as usual. He looked like a totally different person without his beard, and at first I didn’t recognize him. He told me he felt young again.