On a day like today....

If there is one thing I do fairly well......it’s ponder aimlessly the meaning of life (among other things that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things). Today, I have found myself once again spending a lot of time thinking about life; well, not so much about life as I have about death (not to sound morbid).

Grab some tissue, ladies (and gents)……this one’s gonna gett-cha.

I know this married couple who have an amazing story about life and love, close calls and happy endings any T.V. producer would jump at the chance to make a movie about. But, I know them personally, so I get to write about them and pray that one day I can be as good a man as the beloved beau of our story (which is a true story, by the way).

This man has had medical complication after medical complication - heart trouble, kidney trouble, and lung problems - for many, many years. He was given about a year and a half to live when he met his now wife. As they began talking and then dating, she asked him why he wouldn’t marry her. He replied simply, “I just don’t want you to be burdened by a man who’s just going to die soon anyway.” But, she continued to ask. He simply replied the same. But, she was persistent. She continued to ask and ask and ask. Every time, he replied the same. Finally, one day she told him, “I would rather have one day as your wife, and be a part of you, than to have only just known you for however long we have together.” He was smitten, as was she….and they married. They have currently been married 13 years.

With his medical complications flaring up at various times in their life together, the up’s and down’s only made them grow closer. About six years ago, he went in for a visit to the doctor because of issues he was having breathing. Within the hour, a team of surgeons were called in to operate on his lungs. They were completely filled with fluid.......only the doctors were unable to drain them (as the fluid was more like the consistency of tar). As the doctors had his back cracked open, working on his lungs, his heart stopped. So, the doctors had to flip him over, crack open his chest and work on his heart. For what the doctors said would only take a few hours, now had become eight. As the chief surgeon walked into the waiting room, her heart fell. The doctor gave the wife his prognosis........she was grief-stricken and heart-broken. The doctors were able to clean-out the lungs, but he had coded on the table. They were able to get his heart started but now he was in a coma. For months, with zero brain activity, depressed lungs, and extreme kidney failure, he was given no chance of coming out of it. After months and months of prayers and hospital visits, his wife was told that he would not make it through this and that she should give serious consideration to ending life support. Against her better wishes, she granted the doctors permission to pull the plug. She called the family in to say their good-byes. As everyone left, she went in to his room where she had spent countless hours praying and reading to him and talking to him to say one last good-bye. As she knelt over him to kiss his cheek and whisper how much she loved him, he opened his eyes and grabbed her hand……that was five or six years ago and they have rarely left each other’s side. The doctors could not explain why he came back……but she knew it was because their love had withstood so many storms – and she wasn’t ready to give up on him. That was six years ago.

Today, she finds herself faced with a familiar decision. They are, as I am writing this, in the hospital not even a mile from where we work together….and he is in critical condition. His kidneys have shut down and dialysis isn’t working. His heart is failing and the doctors are asking her to call in the family to say their final good-bye to their father, brother, uncle and friend. She said she woke up this morning with such a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

If you are reading this and you are a praying person – please pray for this man and his wife and family. He is such a good man (you just don’t meet many men like this one) – and I am honored to have called him friend. She knows there isn’t much that can be done for him – but I know how my God works. John is a walking miracle who shouldn’t have lived as long as he has – but he has!

Lord, we know our ways aren’t always Yours – and I realize You may want John to come home. If that’s the case, so be it – Your will be done. But, I pray for a supernatural healing, in the Name of Jesus. I pray for strength for Mary and their family. Give them peace that really does surpass all understanding and provide comfort for all of us who know him. He is such a good, good man. Regardless of the outcome, we know You have our best interests at heart and are willing to submit to You, our Creator, our Lord, and our King. May Your will be done. In Jesus’ Name – Amen.


Blessings,
-Stephen!