A Boy Challenges God

Week of April 27, 2014

 

It started like any other day for Jay, a nine -year-old, but what happened next would change his life in an instant.

 

Jay’s parents had moved into a new subdivision in Woodhaven Woods, Michigan. The homes were new and had flat backyards with no fences. All the yards backed into a wood line fifty yards deep. It was a great place for a youngster to grow up and play.

 

Most of the trees were hardwoods, like oak and maple, tall and straight. That is all except one. As Jay remembers it, that tree was forked about four feet up. One side was badly decayed and hollow near its base while the other was solid and healthy.

 

Jay describes that afternoon as very windy with lots of threatening clouds but it wasn’t cold and it wasn’t raining. He was standing in his yard when he challenged God. He doesn’t know what prompted him. What goes through a nine-year-olds mind anyway?

 

“I saw the trees swaying and I said, ‘Ok God-You knock over a tree and I will never doubt you again.’

 

Within seconds there was a loud crack. Even though I was some distance away I could see it was the forked tree that had fallen.

Some adults gathered around the forked tree as I ran over to see. It was then I saw that it was the solid half of the forked tree that had cracked all the way to the ground. Surprisingly, the decayed half was still standing by itself. You could look right through and see light on the other side. I don’t know what was holding up that half of the decayed tree. It looked as if it would fall over at any minute so the parents were keeping the children at a safe distance.

 

I thought about it later. God knocked over the strong but held up the weak. You could read into that.

 

The weak half of that tree never did fall on its own. Some men cut it down later to insure it wouldn’t fall on anyone.

 

I didn’t tell a soul about what I had said for the longest time. I guess I thought this was between God and me.

 

Until now, decades later, I have only shared this experience with a few others for fear of being seen as bragging or worse.

 

But there is no doubt in my mind that God felled the strong half of that tree that day.”

 

Jay Hessler

Woodhaven Woods, Michigan

Lump in my throat

          

Week of April 21, 2014

 

During a routine physical examination my family doctor found a growth in my throat. He sent me to a specialist who determined it was a five cm tumor that was in such a difficult area of the throat that he recommended another specialist to do the operation. The encouraging news was that the doctor felt it was likely benign.

My position on a local hospital board lead me to see another qualified surgeon but he would not do the surgery but referred me to a surgeon in Texas who he said was considered the best in the nation for this type of operation.

I became very nervous by these developments and my 23 years of working in hospital administration did nothing but increase my anxiety. In short, I became a nervous wreck. This heightened the concern of my adult children who had not seen their dad in such a state.

My online research revealed the potential after effects could be permanent numbness of the tongue, paralyzed facial muscles, speech impediments and vocal cord damage. Now I was a babbling fool worrying about all these possibilities over which I had no control. My research about the hospital and the surgeon gave me some peace of mind but they were both in Texas and I was in Florida. My adult children wanted me to have to operation closer to them so they could be with me.

 

For the next five months I delayed the inevitable and this was taking a toll on me. I was waking up in the middle of the night in fear of dying. I even rationalized not having the operation if the rate of growth of the tumor was slow enough I could avoid having to remove it. However, reality set in when it became clear that the tumor was blocking my nasal passages and affecting my breathing when I was in certain positions. I was my own worst enemy.

I could see the Lord was trying to help me though other people but I was trying to stay in control. One night I woke up struggling to breath. I got out of bed and fell on my knees and cried out; "Lord I can't do this on my own. I am lost without you. Lord please take control."

During the next week my son David who is a pastor of a church in Massachusetts and who was not expected to make the trip to Texas was able to rearrange his schedule and said he would be able to fly to Houston and be with me. Shortly after this my other son Robert told me he would be with me when David had to leave. I knew this was the Lord showing me that he was in control and working things out.

I flew to Texas for pre-op testing. My confidence in the surgeon was very high. However, he said from the Cat Scan he could see no clear method of removal without the need to split my jaw to gain access to the tumor. He further stated that a group of other surgeons he meets with for pre-op review were all in agreement. The operation was scheduled in two weeks. I was devastated.

I returned home mad about his findings and determined to find another surgeon who would do it my way and remove the tumor without breaking my jaw. I was playing doctor again and trying to take control.

This time being a little more aware of the negative effect of my taking control, I called my Pastor Brian and asked for another prayer session with the church elders.

We arranged the meeting and I tried intensely to convince everyone that I needed their support to find another way. One of the elders, responding with love and compassion  sent me  to yet  another ENT specialist. He refused to do the operation but did offer to pursue other surgeons at Moffit Hospital (in Florida) and Massachusetts General (near my sons).

After making those appointments I woke up one night with and even worst breathing attack. Once again I was back on my knees.I had tried to take control again and I failed again.

I arose the next day in obedience to the Lord and called my son and asked him to meet me in Houston for the operation. The morning I left, my daughter gave me some helpful scriptures for reassurance. (Psalm 34:11-18 and Psalm 55:22)(1Peter 5:6-7) and (Colossians 3:15).

I returned to the surgeon who had scared me out of my wit but I was confident the Lord would answer my prayers and guide this surgeon to remove the tumor without breaking my jaw.

The night before the operation I met the surgeon for the final briefing. He again emphasized that I should be prepared for the jaw splitting. He did not want me to wake up in recovery and be shocked by my condition. Knowing the Lord was in control and would answer my prayers, I looked the doctor in the eye and said; "I know you must do what you think you must do but I believe God will show you another way!" He smiled but said nothing.

I prayed that night along with my son. There were hundreds of people praying for me in three different churches. The operation was performed the next day and I woke up hours later in Intensive Cara... without having a split jaw. The operation was successfully completed by the Great Physician guiding the hands of my Texas surgeon.

What I didn't know was that my surgeon was also a believer and he was willing to be guided by our Lord. When he went to operate he noticed a slight opening and he was able to massage the tumor with a finger into a position where he could remove it.

When I was discharged the surgeon said to me, "prayer does get answered."

I can testify to that. Praise the Lord

Robert Polimeni

Sarasota

An Easter Miracle

Week of April 13, 2014

 

Good Friday Jack was working out at the gym, as he often did. Without warning he collapsed on a weight machine and slid to the floor. A cardiac nurse happened to be working out nearby. She normally would not have been at the gym at that hour but a schedule change at work allowed her to be at the gym. (Go Figure) She had the presence to remove vomit from Jack’s mouth which cleared his air passage. Jack, unconscious but breathing on his own was rushed to a nearby hospital.

 

I the emergency room Jack remained unconscious, a couple of times the doctors lost a pulse. He remained in a coma. The doctor told his wife that a cat scan showed no activity…if he regained consciousness he probably would be a vegetable. Jack’s youngest daughter, Colleen, a high school student, told her mom not to believe the doctor.

 

“Our God is bigger than that,” she said. Later after the rest of the family arrived Colleen found her way to the Chapel. She was alone. She prayed for God’s healing power. She said she clearly her a voice in her head say, “I will restore those (brain) cells Sunday to glorify my son’s resurrection.”

 

When she reported this revelation to her family she was met with skepticism, heads shaking in disbelief, and eyes rolling. The next day Jack was still in a

coma and on life support. Twice Colleen, in talking to her dad, got such a strong reaction on the monitoring machine that the nurses came in the room. The second time she was asked her to leave the hospital room. She insisted her dad was going to be ok. “You don’t know my God or my dad,” she told the nurses as she left.

 

The next day, Easter morning, there was a banging at Colleen’s bedroom door. It was her little brother reporting that ,“Dad woke up.”

 

An excited Colleen, while driving to the hospital stopped at every convenience store she passed to exclaim ,“Behold the Lamb of God, my dad is healed.”

 

She arrived at the hospital to find her dad sitting up and being his old feisty self.  What she had heard in

the chapel came true that Easter morning.

 

Jack Reilly

St. Maries, Idaho

Facing destruction

Week of April 6, 2014

 

In 1946, I was stationed in the Aleutian Islands as a chaplain for the United States Air Force. Our particular island, Shemya, was shaped like an oyster and was just large enough to have one important airstrip.

 

One night a tremendous earthquake broke open the deep water of the Bay of Alaska and sent tons of surge water (a tsunami) toward our island. The high flood water, higher than our island, was to hit us at 3 a.m.

 

We had 3,600 men on the island, but only one surface craft for 200. The idea of evacuation was abandoned.

 

Hundreds of men and officers gathered in the chapel on the high side of the island. Our highest elevation was about eighteen feet and we were warned to expect about forty feet.  Every light was on in the chapel. We had both large and small prayer services and the men periodically sang songs of all faiths and wrote letters. Many men sat alone thinking of their families and what the impending death by drowning would be like.

 

At about 4 a.m. the wave came. There was a strong gush of wind and high water, but nothing like the predicted 40 feet. The island of Adak, lying 400 miles to the east broke the wave in two, with one half going into the Bearing Sea and the other toward Hawaii.

We were spared. Lots of water (ranging from15 to 18 feet) and a lot of mopping up, but there were no casualties. Not a single life was lost.

 

The water came as far as the Chapel steps. Our faith had been lifted by total trust and dependence on God, and he came to our rescue.

 

Lionel W. Nelson, USAF retired

Shemya, Alaska

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 Reprinted with express permission of the Sarasota-Herald Tribune.