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A New Heart

Posted in God Stories, tagged , , , , , on February 20, 2015| Leave a Comment »

On March 14, 2014 I had a heart procedure that saved my life.  Eight days after the procedure we were to leave the country on a two week vacation.  At my one week post procedure doctor’s visit I was told that I probably would have died on our two-week vacation if I hadn’t gone to see the doctor and then found and corrected the blockages.  Below is the post that I put on Facebook on March 16, 2014.  I thought I would repost to give context to my post from earlier this week since I have a lot of new friends who may not have heard or read the story the first time.

I am a new heart disease survivor. Two weeks ago my brother-in-law, Keith, and I ran about 3 miles. Friday I had 3 stents placed in my heart where there were 2 – 90% blockages and one 99% blockage. One of the blockages was in the widow-maker. I am so thankful for my family and their faith and encouragement, but I want to acknowledge in the most heartfelt manner my thanks to the Lord for making it clear to move and move quickly.

I want to share a few warning signs for others so you can benefit from my experience.

The first sign that something was not right was getting winded heading up the steps to the daily meeting I attend at 9 am. It was only a few steps but it was enough that I noticed. My thought was that I had to get back into condition. The wild weather this winter combined with lots of long days at the plant had gotten me out of my routine.

The next sign was that I could not run as well when I did run. Keith and I have been enjoying 2 – 3 mile runs over the past several months. It is good exercise and fun to talk about life. But I actually had to stop during a couple of runs. There was one run a month ago that, looking back now, was a clear sign something was up. But I laughed it off and then ran two miles after that convincing myself I was okay, just out of practice.

About a week and a half ago I got home with enough light to run and I did. But the entire run was a challenge. I remember at 2 miles clearly thinking something’s not right because my legs felt like lead and I was laboring with my breathing. I should have said something to Lisa but I didn’t.

Tuesday of this week. The clearest description of what my symptom felt like was to put on a very tight t-shirt. That uncomfortable tightness across your chest that makes it hard to breath. Well I experienced that for 15 seconds going to the morning meeting. A little annoying. That evening I took the wheelbarrow and some tools to the back yard and when I got there I had the sensation for 45 seconds. OK, now I was beginning to be concerned. After supper I took Lisa for a walk and told her what had been going on. We agreed I needed to get checked out.

That night I had a dream. I walked into an open garage on a very windy day. There were no cars in the garage.  As leaves blew in I thought to get a broom and sweep them out. As I began to step in for the broom I noticed a coffee table in the center of the garage with a ball of snakes writhing underneath. I realized they were poisonous and one broke free from the ball and came at me. I knew it was coming to get me. I took one step back and thought to myself, “I’ve got to deal with this.” At that instant my clock alarm went off.  And shouting in my memory was the thought, I’ve got to deal with this.

That morning I was in the doctor’s office. Vitals all looked good but the EKG was A-typical. A call to the cardiologist and I was in their office the next day. I thought a stress test was the next step but after looking at my EKG and hearing my symptoms, the doctor put me in for a heart catheritization the next day. I went in mostly hoping that they would find everything fine, but instead they found and repaired three blockages. An overnight stay in the hospital and I was home before noon on Saturday with 90 mm of SS mesh tubing in my heart. Honestly my head is spinning when I think about the implications.

FITNESS ALONE DOES NOT PROTECT YOU.
For the past 7 years I have become a runner. The past three years I averaged running 15 – 20 miles a week. In preparation for the Cooper River Bridge Run last April I was running 30 miles a week. One of the reasons I took up running was because my Dad had a heart attack at age 54 and I wanted to be sure I didn’t have that problem. I completed the 6.2 miles of the Cooper River Bridge run in less than 49 minutes… I thought I had NO PROBLEMS with any ole heart problems because I was FIT!

STRESS IS NOT YOUR FRIEND.
Over the past few months the stress level at work has increased significantly. While we have been successful in many ways there is still so much to be done… and I take a lot of responsibility for trying to keep my team and the plant progressing. Lately at least 4 different co-workers had asked me if I was okay and they encouraged me to take it easy and not push myself so hard. I realized this morning looking in the mirror how much different I look. I was worn out and tired most of the time and stress was a major reason. This morning I look 5 years younger.

EATING RIGHT IS NOT A GAME.
In addition to the stress I had some opportunities in my diet. I was not a terrible eater and I had made substitutes over the past few years to go “heart healthy”. I added fish to my diet and lot’s of chicken. Red meat had been a staple but I was down to 2 – 3 times a week usually. However it was more of a game than a lifestyle. If I decided I wanted a cookie, I told myself I’d just run a little extra distance. When I did eat red meat it was a well-marbled rib-eye. To balance it out I began eating the petite portion size. I was not committed to a healthy diet. I assumed that I was fit and my vitals were always very good when I had them checked so it was OK for me to cheat on the heart healthy diet.

REGULAR CHECK-UPS MEANS MORE OFTEN THAN EVERY FIVE YEARS
Okay, I guess I have uncovered another area where I went astray. As I approached 50 I had a full physical. Since then I have had annual screenings where they check my vitals and tell me they look very good.  I had even gotten a little smug… “yeah my heart rate is always real low like that because I’m a runner and I take care of myself” sort of smug.  I am ashamed at this moment but I have committed to being honest and transparent in hopes my experience can help others so there is the truth of it. Last fall I set up a full check-up which I canceled 30 minutes prior because we had some crisis going at work. Having good intentions but not carrying through = 0. The result is exactly the same as never having thought of doing the right thing. In my case a November check-up might have revealed a problem that could have been dealt with in a simpler manner.

OTHER RISK FACTORS: SMOKING, DRINKING, CAFFEINE
For myself the other risk factors have not been an issue. I recognize that they are known to be harmful to me and to a degree to those who would be around me, so I don’t smoke or consume alcohol or caffeine.

As I mentioned before my head spins as I think of the implications… I had a time bomb in my chest getting close to going off… I almost missed the warning signs… I can’t hide behind being “fit” to ward off everything that can take me down… God knows me well enough to know I needed a nudge (OK more like a push) from that dream to move and move quick.

One final thing that I remembered a little while ago and told my wife. On Thursday morning (before my visit to the cardiologist) as I was heading to work I turned on His Radio for a little soothing music. While I was not scared exactly, I was running through my mind the likely paths this would take. The possibility that there was a problem with my heart was high on the list. You can’t help but to think about the what if’s in such a situation? What if I don’t survive and my family has to deal with my loss. About that time a song came on and the refrain repeated God’s words to us – “I will never leave you. I will never forsake you”. As the melody and these words soaked into my soul the tears came. Not tears of sadness, but tears of joy and release. I KNOW that God lives and that He is in control of my life. He has given me stewardship my time on earth, but as I release my life to Him I can trust Him completely. He gave me a crazy dream about snakes at exactly the time I needed it to motivate me to head to the doctor. Today I celebrate the reality of Who He is and another marvelous thing He has done for me and my family.

I cannot praise Him enough… but I’m gonna try!

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My Healer

Posted in God Stories, Prayer, The Father, Uncategorized, tagged , , on February 17, 2015| Leave a Comment »

As some of you know I had a miraculous intervention last March where the Lord used a dream to send me to the doctor where they found and corrected three blockages in my heart with stints.  Since then I have been on medications, I changed my diet, and I have worked to remain consistent in my exercise regimen.  What I did not change until the beginning of this year was the stressful work situation.  I have exchanged what was a stress-filled job with a slightly less stress filled beginning of a new career as a Reliability Consultant.

One week ago today as I was driving to meet two of my three brothers for breakfast I felt a twinge of pain in my chest.  It lasted about 10 – 15 seconds, but it was a real pain right above my heart.  It was not unlike other pains that anyone who is over 50 has periodically, but the fact that it was where it was caused me to take note.  As time went on, I began noticing this pain come more frequently… 2 or 3 times on Wednesday, 5 or 6 times on Thursday.  It was not severe pain, more like a slight crick in my chest.  The pain was not nearly as bad as the thoughts that began going through my head.

Now some might ask why I didn’t go to the doctor immediately to have it checked out.  Well, I was praying for guidance, the pain was really minimal, I didn’t have any other symptoms, and I didn’t want to be like Chicken Little saying the sky is falling.

Friday night I woke up with some pain.  At that same moment with no words spoken Lisa reached over and put her hand on my head.  I remembered thinking, “Well the Lord has Lisa praying for me, it’s going to be fine.”  When she pulled her hand away I was fine.

Saturday morning I told our daughter Christin who had come down for a weekend visit about it.  She has completed a year of graduate school for Physical Therapy.  She performed some checks and found that I had tenderness in the connecting tissue around my ribs right above my heart.  That made me feel better mentally, but when she asked if I had hit my chest or done something to cause this I couldn’t think of anything.

Saturday was a great day as we visited with lots of family.  The only problem was that the pain in my chest was the worst it had been.  So while Christin’s diagnosis gave me some sense of relief that it wasn’t my heart, the fact that I couldn’t think of what I had done to cause it still had me concerned.

Now I know the Lord is able to make things clear enough that I truly trusted Him to let me know if I was supposed to go to the doctor.  Since He was not leading me to that I knew the answer was either that the pain was not something to worry about or He was about to take me home and He would use my home-going for good in other people’s lives.  That didn’t remove the niggle of doubt that kept trying to creep in periodically, but it did give me a place of faith to stand.

Our Pastor felt the leading of the Lord to change the service on Sunday.  The new message was one of God’s Grace Gives us Freedom.  It was specifically aimed at proclaiming God’s promises that as believers we can walk in healing, deliverance, restoration, and wholeness.  I am a member of the Care Team and at the end of the service all Care Team members were invited to come down front to be ready to pray with people that come forward asking for prayer.  It was also mentioned that if we needed prayer that we were to simply face the other way and other Care Team or staff members would pray for us.

Well I really wanted to pray for others.  But I also had the question about should I get prayer for my heart.  When I went down front I decided I would pray for others and then afterwards I would ask for prayer.  A staff member I had never met brought a young man in front of me and was talking with him.  I couldn’t hear them over the music, but I felt a prompting to go up and join in agreement with them for whatever the need was so I stepped up to lay hands on and pray with the young man.  I did not know either of them and when I came up they already had eyes closed and were praying.  This is what I heard immediately upon stepping up.

“Lord, I know you love Dan (my name is Dan for those who don’t already know) and you desire wholeness in his body.  You have knit his body together and you know how he was made.  I ask now for healing for all stomach and digestive issues (I had also been having some stomach and digestive issues which I had only mentioned to Lisa because they were just a nuisance).  Father I pray for every cell in his body which you have created to function as it is supposed to and that he will know complete health.”

By this time I was weeping because our Father was allowing me to both pray with someone who needed healing, but He had brought forth someone with my name so I was being prayed for too.  I can’t tell you how encouraging it was to know the Lord had orchestrated this.  Afterwards I shared with the staff member my story an we prayed again.

When I came home my daughter-in-law, Jordan came in.  I told her about what I had been feeling in my chest.  She said said, “it sounds like you have Chondritis.  That’s inflammation of the cartilage around the ribs.  I had a friend who would swim in the morning and she would sometimes get that from swimming too much.”  With that she provided the final piece of the puzzle.  Christin had diagnosed me correctly, but didn’t offer the link to swimming.  On the Monday before I started feeling the pain I had swum 32 laps at the Y in training for possibly entering a sprint triathlon this spring.  I even remember pulling particularly hard trying to improve my stroke.

Now I share my stories because I am absolutely convinced that if the Lord loves a lug like me enough to intervene in my life like this, I know that He loves anyone who has read this far.  If you are already a believer take encouragement that God knows every situation and circumstance you are going through and He walks them with you.  He is your healer too.

If you have never met the Lord, I encourage you to reach out to Him right now.  God loves us so much that He sent His Son, Jesus to be our Savior.  He died in our place.  You see God is absolutely Holy and sin cannot dwell in His presence.  If it were left at that we would be doomed to live in separation from God for eternity.  However His love for us is so great that He chose to send His Son to actually live on this earth as a man.  He was perfect and He always lived in unity and harmony with His Father.  But His ultimate purpose was fulfilled on the cross.  Jesus let Himself be captured, falsely accused, judged, beaten, and then crucified because it was the Father’s plan to fulfill the requirements of justice.  And while Jesus was on the cross, God put all sin – every sin that had ever been committed, all sin that will ever be committed, upon His Son,  When Jesus died God judged the sin and the penalty was paid.  On the third day after His death God raised Jesus back to life.  Before Jesus returned to heaven He was seen by hundreds of people.

Our act to have our sins covered in this is really very simple.  We simply recognize that we have sinned, we decide to turn away from our old life of sin and we chose to follow Jesus.  Romans 10:9 says it like this – “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

If this encourages you or helps in some way please let me know.  If the Lord tugs at your heart and you want to talk about what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, please send me a comment and I will be happy to correspond with you.  Jesus loves you and He wants you to know that.

Be blessed and be a blessing today.

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Prayer, Power to Transform

Posted in God Stories, Prayer, tagged , , , , on March 16, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Why do we pray?  The first time we pray is usually based upon our need and our inability to fulfill that need.  It is a cry for help not unlike an infant who can do nothing for themself and must have someone else tend to all their needs.  However just like that infant that grows and matures, so to our prayer, or more correctly our life, should grow and mature as we continue to live connected to God our heavenly Father.  I believe the most important purpose of prayer is not the fulfillment of our specific prayer needs, but transformation.  The consistent, progressive development of the mind of Christ.  2Corinthian 3:18 says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

Prayer is our on-going communication with God who is our Father.  For me the imagery of God as Father is full and rich as I was blessed with a wonderful dad who loved, taught, corrected, coached, and poured life into us all the while looking toward the day when I would be a man and father in my own right.  While not everyone is fortunate enough to have an earthly father who modeled traits that forshadowed our heavenly Father, that does not limit God.  The bible also says He is a friend who sticks closer than a brother and He is a wonderful counselor.  The point is that God is able to meet us wherever we are and relate to us in a manner that begins the transformation process inside us.  That process begins as we begin that conversation with Him called prayer.

Before going further I want to point out that I am not making light of the many other purposes of prayer such as intercession for the needs of others, prayer for guidance, prayers of praise and adoration, etc.  In fact I believe that all of these carry within them the ability to transform us and others.  There was a time when I was engaged in a focused period of prayer with 2 – 3 others for an hour early every morning.  One day after leaving the Prayer Tower and going to work I was flushed with the joy that comes from spending quality time with the Father and other believers.  A little later that morning one of the admin assistants, Chris, asked me if I knew a young man who had worked at the mill.  It turns out the young man, Tim, had felt called to missions and was in Singapore with his new wife and they had just found out he had lukemia with no money and few good options.  I immediately said I didn’t know Tim, but I knew Tim’s Father and that we should go to Him and ask for Him to heal Tim.  We prayed right there and I was totally confident that God heard.  A few weeks later Chris stopped me and told me Tim had gotten to the Philipines and they were planning a procedure which among other things meant he would never be able to have children.  Well we prayed again including asking that the Lord would not make Tim unable to father children.  God answered those prayers over time.  Tim was healed, he was not sterile, he is a father now, and he continues to minister.  I never met Tim personally and I know my prayer was joined with many others in interceding for this young man and his wife.  However I know this on-going prayer with the Father helped build faith for me, for Chris, and for Tim and his family.

I have heard people say that God answers prayer with a “Yes”, a “No”, or “Wait”.  I know for a while I suscribed to this simplified explanation and on a rudimentary level that can be applied.  However this simplification of prayer tends to reinforce a picture of God as Santa Claus… “Yes, here is your present”, “No, this is not your present”, or “Wait it’s not your turn for a present”.  In our early days of walking with Him God may seem more like Santa – a distant, benevolent giver of gifts, but in reality He is so much more.  And He wants us to become so much more than consumers of gifts.  His goal is that we become obediant loving children who are being changed into the likeness of His Son, Jesus.

While yes, no, and wait may apply it is always accompanied with a conversation – if we are still and take time to listen.  I’ve just had a major decision come up.  I have been praying for guidance and asking a few close friends to join with me in seeking God’s will.  Well the answer came, but it was wrapped in a conversation with the One who loves me more than I can even imagine.  While I am happy to have a clear answer, my joy is even greater that I am a child of God Who is intimately involved in my life.  And even better He is continuously working in my life to transform me.  I know I am still far from where God is taking me.  Those who know me well can still see plenty of work for God to do, but He is making progress.  And so it is with all of us.  God wants to work in us, He wants to converse with us.  He wants to love us in tangible ways that we can see, feel, and hear.

I encourage you to take time to just tell God what’s on your heart today.  He already knows but He likes to hear it from you.  As you pour this out read His word and listen for His voice.  He will speak life into you.  He will transform your places of pain into places of victory because He loves you!

Be blessed and be a blessing.

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Hearing God

Posted in God Stories, Holy Spirit, tagged , , on June 15, 2011| 9 Comments »

I had never really thought about it too much, but as I was speaking with a wonderful brother yesterday, he asked me exactly how God spoke to me.  I had related the following story to him.

When we moved to Tennessee we owned a house in Louisiana that we had purchased 4 years earlier.  The economy in Louisiana was in a decline when we moved and houses were not selling.  We had no money to purchase a home with until our house in Louisiana sold.

We looked at houses in Tennessee on our first visit to the area in January.  The realtor had our list of “needs”, our list of “wants”, and the price we could afford when our house in Louisiana sold.  He showed us 20+ homes that first visit focusing upon our needs and the price range we gave him.  None of the houses enticed us.  At the end of the day he took us to a house that had our needs and wants, but it was listed for twice the price we thought we could afford.  As we left the home that day I asked Max, the realtor, “Do you think $*** could buy this home?”  To which he replied, “That will never touch this house.”

Well I took the job and we moved, with my wife 7 months pregnant.  (Guys, my wife was very good about it, but I don’t recommend that as a general rule.)  We ended up in a two bedroom apartment with our 2 children and the 3rd soon to arrive.  We continued to look for a house and praying for our house in La to sell so we could actually consider buying a real home.

Child #3, Christin, arrived in early May and now there were 5 of us in a two bedroom apartment.  In our search we continued to focus upon our needs and the price range we could afford.  However we were drawn to the house that we couldn’t afford that met the list of needs and wants.  (I just want to point out the wants were not extravagant… I wanted a basement and Lisa wanted 4 bedrooms.)

On a Saturday in mid June we were driving around town with my parents showing them the few homes we were considering AND the home we liked but could not afford.  As we parked in the driveway of the home we liked another car pulled in behind us.  It turned out they were the co-builders of the home as well as neighbors.  We visited with them and they took us through the house.  We were so engaged in the conversation with them as we exited that it wasn’t until we got to the cars that we realized Christin was inside the house asleep in the living room.  We never discussed any business aspects of a purchase and while we liked Steve and Nancy, there was nothing to make us think we were closer to the purchase of the home until our house sold in Louisiana.

That Sunday night, or more precisely at 2:22 am Monday morning, I woke straight up with a clear sense of the Lord’s prompting.  My first thought was that God wanted me to pray for someone or something so I rolled out of bed onto my knees.  As I waited a few moments for the Lord to lay someone on my heart, it was quiet and nothing came to my mind.  So I prayed, “What is is Lord?”  To which the Lord spoke very clearly to my heart, “Dan, I am going to have you say special things to special people.  And to prove that I am going to take care of your house today!”  I said thank you Lord, waited a few more moments and then climbed into bed where I slept well until I got up quite joyfully the next morning.

As I brought Lisa her coffee in bed, I told her exactly what had happened and exactly what the Lord had said.  I remember her response, “So the Lord is going to take care of our house this week?”  “No Honey, He said He was going to take care of our house TODAY!”  I left for work fully expecting our realtor in Louisiana to call and say the house had sold.

About mid-morning Helen tracked me down and said Dan, you need to call your realtor.  I grinned and said, “I knew you were going to tell me that today.  Did Jimmy (our realtor in LA) leave his number?”  She told me not Jimmy, but Max, the TN realtor.  I remember thinking, I wonder what Max wants.  Maybe Jimmy called Max and a deal is going to work through Max.

I called Max and his first words were, “Boy, you’ve really done it.  Who have you been talking to?”  Well I was totally thrown off.  I thought we had done something wrong by the question and tone he used.  I asked what he meant and was something wrong.  He said “No, nothing is wrong.  Did you talk with anyone this weekend?”  Well the lights started to come on, “Yeah, we went by that house we like and we met the people that built it.  Is there a problem?”

“There is no problem.  All I’ve got to say is that you must have friends in some pretty high places.  Those people want you in that house!”  We made an offer that morning and by the end of the week we had a contract on the house at the price Max said wouldn’t touch the house.  On top of that they offered to let us rent until either our house sold or my company’s relocation package began helping pay the interest portion of the house in LA.  As I have said before we couldn’t buy a home until we had resolution to the house in LA.  (It was 4 years before it finally sold by the way.)

God had spoken and what He said He backed up in a very real and tangible way.  Now I want to analyze this a little to get at a few points that make up my understanding of how God speaks or perhaps more accurately how we hear or understand God.

First of all, the bible is full of instances where God speaks or directs people.  The vast majority are people who are “His” people: Abraham, Moses, the prophets, the apostles, the new testament prophets such as Agabus, etc.  (Balaam I would put in the category of God speaking to, but not necessarily in the same category as children of God.)  There is nothing in scripture that indicates that God would stop speaking or directing His people.  Therefore, I see no reason not to believe that He still does.

Now there are numbers of people today who claim to “hear from God”.  Unfortunately some we hear about are making pronouncements that do not square with scripture.  That is one of the key characteristics that I believe the Lord has impressed upon me, God cannot lie and He cannot sin.  Therefore if we hear a voice telling us something that is counter to scripture, we question the voice because the scripture is God’s will revealed.

My friend Phil asked does God speak in an audible voice.  While I believe He can, my experience has not been an audible voice, but it was very clear and distinct words.  As my story above demonstrates it can be specific directions with exact, verifable information.  In my experience, this type of specificity is a bit more of the exception.  The norm is a sense of peace as I am contemplating an action or decision that affirms “this is the way, walk in it” and a lack of peace when considering other options.  I will give examples of this in a later post.

Saying this is not an audible voice doesn’t rule out some important aspects of what it is like when God speaks.  First off, there are times when it carries significant emotion… love, empathy, urgency, these have all been associated with things the Lord has spoken to my heart.

Sadly, I have to admit that God’s speaking does not always mean that I have obeyed.  I understand that God speaking is through His Holy Spirit who indwells the believer at conversion.  The Holy Spirit prompted me to stay and talk with an instructor after a training session one time years ago.  On the first day of the week long class, Sid had given us an exercise to draw a lifeline.  I had drawn mine with a step change which I explained as being my conversion experience.  Sid kind of used that as a point of “poking fun” at me for the rest of the session.  On Wednesday he wrapped up class 30 minutes early and asked us all to stay for drinks and discussion.  The Holy Spirit very clearly let me know to stay and talk with Sid.  But I rationalized that I didn’t drink alcohol and I had a project going on at home and so I did not stay.  The next day Sid let us know at lunch that he wasn’t feeling well and that he was going to the emergency room to get checked out.  That night Sid died.  This happened about a year after we moved into the new home that God had miraculously provided.  And I had failed to remember the first part of what God spoke that night… “Dan, I am going to have you say special things to special people…” I grieved the Holy Spirit that day.  I have confessed and repented of this, but as with any sin there were consequences suffered.

I don’t always get it right, but I know that God has covered my sins and failures with the precious blood of His Son, Jesus.  I missed it with Sid, but I am trying to be obedient and listen to what the Lord says.  Sometimes He will speak in a manner that is riveting.  Sometimes it is a gentle nudge.  Sometimes it is through scripture that ignites within me.  Almost always His voice is accompanied with His peace.

I have to end for today, but I will visit this topic more since I feel a burden to share reasons we may struggle to hear His voice.  Please let me know if you read this.  I would be happy to engage in a conversation.  I am a sojourner as you are.  Traveling with others is much more enjoyable than walking alone.

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Tornados and the Grace of God

Posted in God Stories on May 8, 2011| Leave a Comment »

Our daughter Christin recently led a group of college students on a short-term mission trip back to Chattanooga, Tennessee where we lived for 18 years and she went to middle and high school.   Planning for the trip took about a year.  She arranged for the group of 32 students and chaperones to help at a children’s home, a homeless shelter, a nursing home, and a rescue mission.  What they were unable to plan for was the timing of the tornados that ripped across the southeast 5 days before they are arrived.  Chattanooga took a severe hit from the storms.  One of the areas hit was Cherokee Valley not far from Christin’s school.  Here are two of Christin’s stories from their trip. 

When we arrived in Chattanooga we began to follow our plan by going to the ministries that we had already arranged to help.  Since we had a large group we split into two teams and met with the leaders at the nursing home and children’s home.  All of our team was really motivated and we rapidly completed the tasks that were given to us.  At the children’s home there were a lot of tree limbs and clean up from the storm, but nothing like what we were to see a little later.

Because we made such good progress in our tasks, the suggestion was made to provide some storm relief in Cherokee Valley where a tornado had actually touched down and destroyed many homes.  So the next day we split up again with a group heading to Cherokee Valley the next afternoon.  When we got there we met at the small local church that had just barely been spared.  We met with the pastor and offered our services.  He was cautious at first and only gave us some “safe” jobs.  As we earned his trust he took us to an area of the valley that had been badly damaged. 

It’s hard to describe the damage and the overwhelming sense of loss.  On the side of the hill was a home that had sustained some damage, a little lower down was a home that was about half gone and across the street was a concrete pad and some cinder blocks where a trailer home had been a week prior.  In the matter of a few seconds these peoples’ lives had been radically changed, in some cases forever.  It was very sobering.  Our instructions were simple.  Pick up whatever we found and put it into one of three piles.  Anything wood that would burn was one pile, whatever was metal was a second, and anything that was of a personal nature into the third.  While the scope of damage made this daunting, we simply laid our hands on the first thing that was within reach and we began.

With 7 willing souls we made better progress than we initially expected.  Before long we had the grounds around what had been a home sifted into the three piles, but we had a problem.  The front wall of the home had fallen over and was covering material that we couldn’t reach.  The wall was essentially intact so we all got together and began lifting.  Although it was hard we were able to flip the wall over and continue our work.  About this time the owner of the home arrived – Ms. Bryson, the “mayor” of the valley.  Ms Bryson is 86 years young and I hope I am as spry at 86 as she is.  Ms. Bryson was called the mayor for the simple fact that she had lived in the valley longer than anyone else having arrived in 1949.  And for the entire time, 62 years, she lived in the same home… the one that was essentially a pile of ruble now.

We said we were sorry for her home, but we were glad she was unharmed.  Then she told us how she came to be alive.  Even though she had lived in the valley the longest she was by no means one of the old folks.  She said that it has been her habit to visit the old people in the valley to sit with them and provide the care that she could.  On the day of the storms she left her home at 4:00 pm to go sit with an elderly gentleman of 89 years.  By 4:30 pm her home was no more.  But by the grace of God she would have been in her home and in all likelihood would not have survived. 

She went on to relate about another one of her neighbors in the valley.  This friend was actually in her home when the storm struck.  She had been reading her bible and had knealt down to pray when her house was blown away.  She was lifted by the tornado and carried outside, but she was not seriously injured.  When the neighbor went back into her house looking for anything that she could salvage she found her bible with a nail through it holding it to the floor so that it did not blow away.   It was open to chapter 1 of Job where she read – The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. 

As Ms Bryson was finishing this story Kara, one of our team, came up with a bible she found in the midst of Ms Bryson’s home.  It turned out to be the bible of her deceased daughter.   What a blessing to Ms Bryson and a blessing for us to be there to help and celebrate with her.

Well after these encouraging stories we moved on to help in the clean up with renewed enthusiasm.  Ms Bryson had a cinder block storage building against the hill at the back of her property.  It had been knocked over but it wasn’t shattered.  (BTW – I found what I now consider one of the neatest tools ever – a sledgehammer.  I think a sledgehammer would come in handy during exam week for stress relief.)  With it we made short work of the cinder blocks.  And under the walls we found TREASURE… we found glass momentos that weren’t shattered, pictures, and other momentos.  In the midst of all the devastation we joined with Ms Bryson in celebration of His Grace… for the sparing her and her neighbor when by all rights they should have died, for providing these two bibles, and for new friends who were expressing their love in a tangible way by helping the people of the community begin to recover from their loss.

Christin has several other wonderful stories from her trip.  The point that I take from this is that the most important ability is often Availability.  These young people made themselves available to the Lord and specifically asked for Him to use them.  And He honored their request.  When we are obedient we can be confident that God will use us in HIS ways to accomplish HIS marvelous purpose.

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A Walk with Cancer

Posted in God Stories, Prayer on May 7, 2011| 1 Comment »

A small group of 15 of us within our company at locations across North America joined together in prayer from March 9 – April 24.  We shared stories of God’s faithfulness, we looked at scripture, and we strove to be Jesus’ hands and feet in the places He put us during this time.  This blog is an outcome of that time. 

This blog is a means to continue sharing the faith with friends and co-workers.  For a few weeks I will post some of the more memorable postings from the our Easter 2011 journey.  I will also add new content. 

The posting below was from Day 3 in our Easter journey and describes the faith of a young woman battling cancer.

I took off yesterday to work a leadership conference at our church.  It was very exciting to see that many leaders, 2700, from all around the world gather to learn about how to more effectively minister.  I worked as a volunteer – meeting, greeting, and helping wherever I could.  I feel like I have 60 new friends from the many conversations that I was able to have with folks.  

I believe one conversation in particular was God-ordained for our prayer group.  The young woman, Jennifer, is 30 years old with a bright smile and dark curly hair.  As we spoke she alluded to how God has been so present for her especially through her treatments.  I asked and she shared that she is a cancer survivor with a year of clean readings.  I asked her long term prognosis and she said that her doctors told her it would return in 8 – 10 years, but she was totally convinced that the Lord who has brought her this far will see her through whatever lies ahead.  I asked about her beautiful curly hair (I once had a head full of curly hair too… once long ago it seems) and she told me it was one of God’s gifts to her AFTER the treatments.  She lost almost all her hair, but when it came back it was curly.  She had never had curly hair before.  

Now all of this was greatly encouraging for me, but then she got to the part that I think is for all of us.  She said that as she went through the treatments she continued to work.  At some point during the process her co-worker in the next booth told her.  “I just want you to know that your faith and strength have been such an encouragement to me.  They have made me look at my life and I realize I want what you have.  So I have gone to church and I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour”.  WOW!  And Jennifer then told me, “I don’t really want to go through the cancer and treatments again, but if God can use me to bring 3 – 5 people to know him through my cancer, then I think that is a great thing.”  A double WOW!

Lord Jesus, give us the kind of faith that says “Yes Lord, No matter what the cost”.  Give us the kind of witness Lord that causes people to look to You.  Give us the hope Lord that allows us to see the bigger picture through Your eyes.

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