What the Dying Have Taught Me About Living | The Awful Amazing Grace of God (Grewe)

Learning from Death

"I was afraid of dying, so I became a hospice chaplain," says Fred Grewe.

"I figured if I hung around with Death, made friends with him—at a safe distance—I’d get used to him, and he wouldn’t be so scary. So, for the past nine years I have had the privilege to journey with more than a thousand folks who have gone on to the other side."

Grewe discovered that the time he's spent with the dying, listening to their joys, fears, hopes, regrets, neuroses, fantasies, and more has made him less afraid of his own death, and that he's come to see Death as "the natural conclusion to this first act we call Life." He hopes that in sharing these stories readers will have a similar experience in coming to peace with their own dying—and living.

Praise for What the Dying Have Taught Me About Living

"This post-Pentecostal, Jesus Loving, quarter-time Buddhist has written a book that faithfully puts flesh to stories and emotions to words.”
—Fr. Joel S. Garavaglia-Maiorano, Director of Pastoral Services, Rogue Valley Manor

"A powerful witness to the rawest of human experiences—death and loss. A great gift to those who minister to the dying and bereaved and a testament to the wondrous human ability to grow even in grief and loss."
—Kenneth Doka, Senior Consultant, Hospice Foundation of America

“Interweaving the wisdom of his experience and that of his ‘teachers’, Fred has created a delightful, deeply human and therefore spiritual account of life's lessons. For all seekers who desire to explore how our True Self leads us to unimagined depths.”—Sr. Rose Dowling, Spiritual Director

Read Amazon customer reviews here.

About the Author

Fred Grewe is a board certified chaplain and ordained United Church of Christ minister who works for Providence Hospice in Medford, Oregon. Grewe began his work with the dying in the early 1990s after he lost his best friend to AIDS. He and his wife, Cyndi, live in Ashland, Oregon with their son, Elijah, and a dog named Finch.

Open Waters Publishing
Paperback: 190 pages
ISBN 978-0-8298-1800-0
2014