The phone rings a lot at a pastor's home. On top of all the usual solicitors and salespeople calling, there are friends and family that keep the phone going. However, there are times when the phone rings and it is someone in need or someone with a very difficult moment in their lives. When those phone calls come, it is a tense moment. Over the years, you get used to having such calls come. Everytime the phone rings you wonder what it might be. When such calls come from your family, they always catch you by surprise. I got such a call last night.
I have three sons, all of whom I am very proud of. I have three daughters-in-law who love their husbands and in whom I am equally proud. Last night I got a call from Susan (she is a real loyal fan of this blog) that her husband, our son, was in the hospital. The story was quite amazing. Here are the details from Susan's sister:
Doug is the Youth Pastor at First Church of God in Tallmadge. He and Susan and 37 other people (7 adults and 30 youth) left on Tuesday out of Columbus, Ohio heading for Tijuana, Mexico to teach Bible school. They all live in Tallmadge, Ohio and drove to Columbus, Ohio on Monday and then were supposed to fly out yesterday morning. Doug has had a "bug" recently, but thought he would feel much better for the trip. When they arrived in Columbus last night, they took Doug to the ER and where he was on IV and something for what was left of the flu. At 4 am. he returned to the hotel and he still felt bad, but he did get on the plane. They flew to Atlanta with a minimal layover. During the short layover Doug felt sick again. Susan and Doug missed their flight, so they booked another with little difficulty. About 2 hours into the flight, Doug's stomach became distended and he was in severe pain. God was with them all the way. A doctor traveling on the same flight looked at Doug and told the stewardess that he needed to get to a hospital. They made an unscheduled emergency landing in Oklahoma City. Doug got to a hospital and Susan is with him. She called me about 11 p.m. tonight (7/18). They are going to meet with a surgeon in the morning (7/19) and he is having a colonoscopy and catscan. They have been working to relieve his discomfort and his stomach swelling did go down some. They have him on an IV. Susan is staying in his room with a cot they have set up. A neat twist: Apparently when Doug's senior pastor at First Church of God at Talmadge was called, his wife knew of a pastor in Oklahoma City that was her youth pastor years ago and is now a professor at MidAmerica Bible College, Pastor Lynn Higgens. She called him and he went immediately to the hospital and offered his spiritual and physical assistance. As it turns out, Doug had on him all the affidavits the for all the 30 youth so that they could go out of the country with these 7 adults. By this time, the rest of the group was in Los Angeles, CA, so Pastor Lynn faxed the affidavits to them. Pastor Higgens said they could come to his house to recover after whatever takes place tomorrow. He even offered for Susan to stay there tonight but she wanted to stay with Doug. Everyone has been so nice. Susan said she knows that God has placed people in their path to help them. So remember them in your prayers and especially for Doug. I will keep you posted as I learn more. They are still praying they will be able to join the group in Tijuana Mexico.
The above description was emailed to a minister friend of ours named Dave Coolidge. It went out over the country. Prayers were offered up by countless individuals, church prayer chains, and groups. Today, the doctors released Doug, his pain coming from a bout with Roto virus, and he and Susan will be off to join their group in Mexico (not where I would want to go after having the stomach flu!). Would Doug have gotten well without the prayers? Ah, the great question of the medical and skeptical community. Does prayer work? How do you know? It's not like you can create some scientific test where you withhold prayers in some circumstance and have some pray in others. All in all, faith comes down to a question of, well, faith. You either believe in God and that He acts or you don't. I choose to believe. As a matter of fact, I think it takes just as much faith not believe in God and in his activity as it does to believe in Him. If it takes the same amount of faith to believe as not to, I think I will choose to believe. After all, there have been too many times when lives have been changed after people prayed. Just like Doug. Praise God!
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