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Almost Frozen : Down but not out!

Let me share with you a story that physicians at a hospital in Marshfield WI are labeling a miracle. By all accounts my father-in-law should be dead.

He’s 88 and was taking his normal daily walk around his home in Wisconsin one cold day in winter. A short time later he was found face down in a snow drift. A review of the police report indicated he was lying in that snow bank face down for approximately 15 minutes. The first person to see him was the City’s Fire Chief who was on his way home early because of the bad weather. He thought it was a snowman that had fallen until his car got closer. When he saw it was a person he called the station and activated EMS. When the Chief turned my father-in-law over he knew who he was (small town), searched for a pulse but could not find one. EMS arrived seconds later and had to shock my father-in-law 3 times before getting a pulse. They put an endo tube in him and O2 and took him to the hospital. He coded again and required one more round of the paddles. During this time the Fire Chief went to my mother-in-law’s home, explained what occurred and took her to the hospital. An urgent request went out from family members for prayers.

A few hours later intensivist asked her to call the family because the prognosis was not good. The neurologist came in and performed a few tests and said he would not recover and when the family arrives they would need to make a decision on when to remove the vent. My mother-in-law asked the neurologist to call my daughter (who is also a neurologist) to inform her on what was happening. In that conversation he indicated there was no brain stem activity. A priest was summoned to do last rights.

The first sign of hope happened after the priest concluded and a nurse saw my father-in-law turn his head and move his lips almost to say thank you. This caused a scurry of activity and the intensivist returned but unfortunately my father was not able to respond to any further commands. The next morning during rounding my father-in-law opened his eyes and asked for a notepad. He said his throat was sore. The physicians did more tests and decided to remove the vent. A few hours later they removed his tube. Although very drowsy he responded to all commands. He had his long term and short term memory (with the exception of the incident). He recognized all family in the room. Hours later he was sitting up and playing cribbage.

I don’t know how long God plans to keep him around but I am very thankful for the prayers of everyone. There is no doubt in any the minds of the attending physicians and among my family that God blessed us with a tremendous miracle. God answers prayers!

 

Leap of Faith : Padre Pio to the rescue

Recently I realized I could no longer work at a company due to the erratic behavior of (and unprofessional treatment from) my boss. More seriously, the company was willing to mirror up to Obama’s evil agenda; including helping execute “end of life” eugenics, death-panel services. As a professional and faithful Catholic, I had had enough. Prayed to Padre Pio very earnestly one night, next morning decided to resign, then 20 min. after making decision got phone call. Was job offer to fill good-paying position in my field for national firm (with none of the moral or unprofessional problems). Padre Pio rocks!

 

ACTS Man : being part of the answer to someone else's prayer

I was on an ACTS team one time when the group of retreatants were getting ready to go outside for a while as part of the ACTS retreat (details are purposely omitted). The weather had turned notably colder than most of the men expected and a number of guys did not bring a jacket or any warm clothes. I had a spare jacket in my car so I fetched it. Just before the group ventured outside of the retreat building, I saw a small cluster of retreatants who did not have any jackets or warm clothes and walked up to one of them (more or less at random) and asked him if he needed a jacket. I will refer to him as ‘Bob’. Bob said yes and thanked me. I thought nothing more about it till later. At one point Bob let it be known that he was suffering from a serious illness. I spoke to him later in the day to express my prayer and support for him. I told him I was glad that I had picked him out of the crowd to provide the use of my spare jacket. It was then Bob told me that, when he had become aware of the imminent cold front the previous evening, he prayed that he would be given some warm clothes during the retreat. Wow! It is so awesome to be part of an answer to a prayer.

 

Seeking Employment : trusting God when unemployed

I had been searching for a job for a year and a half with no luck. I was being patient for the right opportunity. At our Church, we had a Lenten worship experience called ‘sacred space’ that was a guided audio tour through a maze that promoted praise, reflection and peace. At one station we were asked to give God our burdens in the form of a prayer request. I wrote down that I was asking God for a job. Well, about three weeks later, it happened. I got a consulting job that is to become a permanent position. Praise God!

 

Mountain Man : Feeling cold and lost until God shows the way

Once, when I was a freshman in college (1992) I was with a group of guys who had traveled to Northern Alabama to a state park in the mountains. An unusually sizable amount of snow had fallen which made the mountains beautiful and enchanting. The Saturday afternoon during the retreat a group of guys decided to take a short hike to the top of a nearby ridge. Although the trails were well marked, and we left in plenty of sunlight, it began to get dark as we were descending the mountain. Being from Alabama, none of us were appropriately dressed for extremely cold winter nights. People in Alabama probably don’t know what parkas are. We didn’t really have heavy coats on, and several guys began getting cold.

At first nobody was that concerned because we felt confident we could find the way down to our cabins. However, as darkness set in, we became completely lost in a frozen mountainside. We couldn’t even find the trail, and one guy poorly dressed started to get frostbite. This was an evangelical group, but not a particularly charismatic group of guys. They weren’t big on signs and wonders -very intellectual. Hopelessness began to set in, and we knew there was silence throughout the park.

We stumbled across a dirt roadway that we felt was probably not being used. The leader of our group eventually, after great desperation, had the frazzled freezing group stop for a very simple prayer. He prayed very simply, “God we know that even now you could have a park ranger come and pick us up.” But, none of us really believed that was going to ever happen. Within five or ten minutes after this very simple prayer headlights approached the freezing group. A park ranger pulled up and had us all pile in his jeep. I know that I was amazed, and I am pretty sure we all were. This was a great lesson to me, and all of us, on God’s ability to answer prayer for His children in times of great need. It strengthened my faith in a powerful way, and really shocked the guy who prayed it, because he more than most of us would not typically think of God answering so specifically, so quickly. I believe the Holy Spirit dropped those words into his mouth, knowing what we needed, and God wanted to happen. I think God orchestrated the whole thing to show our little group that He was very real, and totally capable of meeting our every need.

 

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