Ravi Zacharias' daughter pays touching tribute to her father

Naomi Zacharias posted a video tribute to her father, Ravi Zacharias, just days before the family announced that no other treatment options were available for the respected apologist's advanced cancer.

In the heartfelt message, Naomi, who serves as the director of Wellspring International, sported a hat with the message: "I love my dad."

"I'm in more casual attire today, primarily because I am proud to let you know that I do love my dad very much," she said in the video tribute that's now posted on Zacharias' Instagram page.

The tribute featured a virtual performance by Metro Music Therapy of their rendition of Zacharias' favorite hymn, "How Great Thou Art."

At the time, Naomi and her parents were in Houston, Texas, where her father has been undergoing treatment at MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Zacharias has been battling a rare form of bone cancer since March and was recently informed by doctors that there's nothing more they can do.

On Friday, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries shared a health update from Zacharias' eldest daughter, Sarah Davis, who is also CEO of RZIM. "We have just learned that while the tumor in my dad's sacrum has been responding to the chemotherapy, the area where the cancer metastasized has actually worsened," Davis wrote. "His oncologist informed us that this cancer is very rare in its aggression and that no options for further treatment remain. Medically speaking, they have done all they are able."

Although Naomi Zacharias' video message was recorded before her father was discharged from the hospital, it wasn't posted on Ravi Zacharias' social media platforms until Monday. He thanked his daughter for her words as well as the Atlanta based singers of Metro Music Therapy.

Music "can call forth life" and "honor both life and grief," Naomi said in the tribute. She thanked Metro Music Therapy for sharing the song with her father.

"I want to thank you guys so much. Mallory Bailey, Laura Haley, Haley, Kevin, Camilla and Maria, I want to thank you for this labor of love. This act of love. I don't even know how you guys did it. With at all my heart, we're so grateful to you. Thank you for your friendship," she said. "Thank you for what you did for him, for breathing life into his soul. It truly was food for the soul. It blessed him, it blessed us, and we wanted to share it with you guys because we know that it'll bless you too.

"I got to sit next to my dad and push play and see the look on his face as he heard them using their beautiful voices to sing for him — singing for him and singing one of his favorite songs of all time Words that he knows and has clung to four years and words that he knows and clings to even today," Naomi said.

Courtesy of The Christian Post

News
Faith in difficult times: lessons from 1930s Britain
Faith in difficult times: lessons from 1930s Britain

Architectural historian Steven Brindle talks to Christian Today about the faith that shaped 1930s Britain, the churches that supported struggling communities and what lessons the decade might have for us today.

Campaign aims to mobilise 500,000 Christians for Christmas outreach
Campaign aims to mobilise 500,000 Christians for Christmas outreach

Shine Your Light is aiming to mobilise half a million Christians to share the gospel with five million people across the UK this Christmas, with more than 2,000 churches already signed up, organisers say.

The Church of England should repent for previous calls to ban 'conversion therapy'
The Church of England should repent for previous calls to ban 'conversion therapy'

The Church of England's uneasiness about the government's ‘conversion practices’ bill is a perfect lesson in the old adage, 'be careful what you wish for,' writes Dr Martin Davie.

Leaked Home Office report links 'Christian extremism' to traditionalist beliefs and immigration concerns
Leaked Home Office report links 'Christian extremism' to traditionalist beliefs and immigration concerns

An internal Home Office report lists concerns about immigration, multiculturalism and changing social values among the characteristics associated with what it calls "Christian extremism", it has been reported.