Day 42

 

Miracles

 

"Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

 

John 20:30-31

 

 

This picture is similar to the one that appeared on the front page of the Houston Chronicle and various other newspapers around the country back in March of 1992.

 

Do you believe in miracles? Do you think miracles stopped with the end of Bible times? What makes a miracle? My answer are: Yes, I believe in miracles. I think God still does miracles. Miracles are the supernatural activity of God. I have theological and practical reasons for my belief. I will not go into the theological reasons here, (this isn't the blog for that), but I will tell you about the practical reason I believe in miracles. I have one living in my house.

 

My wife really did well after the heart transplant. Though we were not sure she could ever get pregnant she took birth control pills just in case. Her new heart was doing fine but a pregnancy was not a good idea.

 

Despite all the chemo therapy she had, the damage it had done, numerous surgeries (including the heart transplant) and being on the pill, 4 months after her surgery Cathy became pregnant.

 

The doctors were concerned. An abortion was recommended. Those who recommended it were quickly told that it was not an option.

 

On several occasions I took Cathy to the obstetrician. Because she was immunosuppressed after the heart transplant (for medical reasons)  we did not have to sit in waiting rooms but were immediately ushered into a examination room. A nurse would come into the exam room and say, "I need for you to take off your pants, get in that chair and put your feet into those stirrups." When I heard this I would get up and go to the waiting room. After hearing this several different times on one occasion she gave her speech. "I need you to take off  your pants,  get in the chair and put your feet in the stirrups."

 

I looked at the nurse and asked, "Are you talking to me or my wife?"

 

I thought it was hilarious. The nurse didn't. I went to the waiting room.

 

The pregnancy went well. The only complication was pre-term labor which can happen to anyone who is pregnant. The hardest part (at least for me) was coming up with a name. After having been a youth minister for over 10 years some kids had ruined a few names for me. When we though we were going to adopt we had chosen the name Seth for a boy. Seth means chosen and it seemed like the ideal name for an adopted child. After a while we figured out it wasn't a good name for us. Just try and say, "Seth Sumrall" without sounding like you have a lisp. We knew it was going to be a boy and we finally chose the name Ethan (which has since became a very popular name for boys).

 

On February 28, 1992 Ethan was born without complications. Cathy was the 5th person ever to have had a heart transplant and gone on to have a child. She was the first post-transplant woman to carry a baby to term and give birth to a normal birth weight child.

 

The story of Ethan's birth made the national news. There were pictures of him in newspapers across the country. I am told his birth was announced on CNN and I know we appeared on the Good Morning  Houston television show and other local newscasts. An article and Ethan's picture even appeared in one of those sensational magazines that line the checkout stands at grocery stores. I received phone calls from people I did not know from various parts of the country, people who just wanted to talk and gain a little encouragement and hope in their own situation.

 

You can say it was just good medical science and I will certainly agree the doctors and nurses were wonderful. To me and my family there is only one explanation for Ethan. He is a miracle. He is all grown up now and a fine Christian young man. He has gone on mission trips to Peru and Honduras, worked at a ranch for handicapped people and led churches and college ministry in worship. He is a talented musician, singer, songwriter, a college student at the University of Arkansas, a member of the US Army Reserve and a daily reminder that God is still in the miracle business.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Matthew 16:1-4

 

• What did the Pharisees and Saducees ask Jesus for?
• What had Jesus just done at the end of Matthew 15? (Matthew 15:29-39)
• What does Jesus mean by the sign of Jonah? (How long was Jonah in the belly of the big fish and how long was Jesus in the tomb?)

Day 41

 

What's Love Got To Do With It?

or

Tossing Cookies

 

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

 

1Corinthians 13:4

 

 

I want to tell you about a man named Herb Hodgemon. Herb, when I first met him, was an older man, a deacon in our church. Herb was a brilliant man, an accomplished engineer. He had several engineering patents from his work on the Alaska pipeline. He was a wealthy man. Herb had no children but had a wife he loved dearly. Late in her life his wife suffered from some disease that placed her in a wheelchair unable to speak and barely move any part of her body. Herb could have afforded a nursing home or the best in home care. But Herb loved his wife and did everything for her; he bathed her, fed her, dressed her - everything.

 

After Cathy had her heart transplant she was on a lot of medication, one of which was a high dose steroid that made it difficult for her to control her emotions. Cathy's  mom had stayed with us several weeks after the surgery but eventually had to go home, back to St. Louis to work. As we drove to the airport Cathy began to cry and become uncontrollably sad about her mom leaving. As we dropped her mom off, Cathy became so emotional she threw up on my shoes. Her mom offered to stay but I told her to go on because it was just the medicine and we would get through it somehow.

 

When we did get home Cathy was in such an emotional state I called the doctors. I was instructed to give her some Demerol (pain killer) to calm her down. So I got the Demerol out and injected it into her IV line and she drifted off to sleep. That evening as the meds wore off it was time to for her to take her anti-rejection drug. It smelled like a skunk when you opened the pill bottle and the only way she could keep it down was to eat something and swallow the pill with a glass of chocolate milk. So I made her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which she ate and then she swallowed the pill as she drank her chocolate milk. While this was going on she was coming out of her Demerol haze and once again realizing that her mom had left. She got all upset again and this time when she vomited I was ready with a bucket. I gave her some more Demerol, got her another sandwich and more chocolate milk to take another pill because the first one was in the bucket.

 

As she drifted off in her drug induced haze she looked up at me and said, "Kiss me."

 

I thought, "No way dude. You just blew chunks!" And as I looked down into her expectant face I thought about Herb Hodgemon. I thought about my promise "for better or worse." And I determined if Herb Hodgemon could do better or worse, so could I. So I bent over and kissed her. Now lest you get the idea that I am "Jess the Wonder Spouse" I kissed her on the forehead, not on the lips.

 

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 that love doesn't keep score. That means that sometimes, maybe even most of the time, one of you is going to give more than the other. Maybe it shouldn't be that way or maybe it can't be helped. The world screams out at us to look out for ourselves, take care of number1. God's word says don't keep score. And God sets the example for us in that he gave us his best, his Son, knowing that so many would reject him.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

 

• What are some things love is?
• What are some things love is not?
• What does love always do? And do you always do those things? 

 

Day 40

 

Hope

 

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

 

Romans 15:4

 

 

The first big episode in Cathy's declining health happened when we were on vacation. We had gone with another couple to Washington state and into British Columbia. Cathy had become real short of breath on some uphill hikes, so much so that I had to give her a piggy-back ride a few times. After our trip to Washington she had gone to visit her folks in Missouri and when she got back to Houston she was in full blown congestive heart failure.

 

I had to carry her upstairs to our bedroom that day. She spent about a week in the hospital on that occasion and it happened again and again with the interval of hospital stays becoming more frequent. On one occasion she had to spend about a month in the CCU with a blood clot near her heart. I was told more than once that I should prepare for the worse but I always believed she would recover. She was just in her twenties, I had to believe their was hope.

 

The situation finally became so desperate that we were advised that she needed to sign up for a heart transplant. She met all he requirements for a transplant and she was placed on the list. I remember a bleak Thanksgiving when we shared with my family the need for the heart transplant. Though she was not doing well at all we flew up to Missouri to be with her family for Christmas. Normally when you are on the transplant list you are supposed to stay close to home but the doctors gave the okay for  the trip thinking she wouldn't live long enough to receive a heart. When it came time to leave St. Louis it was an emotional time. She was not sure she would live to ever see her parents again. I held her as she cried all during the flight home. It was about as bad as it could get but somehow I still believed she would make it through.

 

After Christmas she was confined to her bed. We converted a floor lamp into an IV pole and since she was an RN and had a central line for IVs she instructed me on how to hang the meds she was on 24 hours a day. It was a death watch. Would she live long enough  for a heart to become available or would she die first? I could only pray and hope.

 

One morning in January the phone rang. A heart was on its way from Colorado. We had about an hour to make some phone calls and get our stuff together and make it to the hospital. By the time surgery started the waiting room was full with my family and hers plus people from churches where I had served. Churches across the country were praying for her. Surgery lasted about 6 hours. I remember being nervous but confident. My hope, faith and prayers were rewarded. The transplant was a success and Cathy had a quick recovery.

 

I was and always will be grateful for the family of the young woman in Colorado. By her being on the organ donor list and with her family's consent my family received the precious gift of life. I do not know their names but I am so thankful.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Romans 15:1-6

 

• What is one of the purposes of Scripture?
• Who gives the endurance to stand our trials?
• As we join others who have endured what are we to do?

 

Day 39

 

A Filipino Christmas

 

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and myrrh.

 

Matthew 2:11

 

 

It was not a great start to the Christmas season. My wife had just been in the hospital for a lengthy stay. It was congestive heart failure. She was out of danger for a time but her condition would only get worse. It wasn't exactly the ingredients for a joyful Christmas.

 

We had not put up a tree or decorated or made Christmas cookies; we were in survival mode. I had done some Christmas shopping but it just didn't seem much like Christmas. One night the doorbell rang and when I answered the door there was some Filipino kids from my youth group there with their parents. Another car full of Filipinos pulled up and then another. Soon our house was full of kids and their parents. They did not come empty handed.

 

A tree was brought in and set up. They brought icicles and ornaments and decorated the tree. They had cookies and other goodies. Most of all they brought Christmas.

 

Giving at Christmas time is a tradition grounded in the Christmas story. "God so loved the world that he gave..." The wise men came and they gave. We give gifts to our friends and loved ones. We can also give to God by giving to Christmas offerings for missions.

 

I will never forget how my Filipino friends brought us the gift of Christmas joy. Every year on our tree we hang one of those ornaments they brought alongside other ornaments with their own Christmas story. It is a reminder that friends are precious, God is good and Christmas is a time to give.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read Isaiah 9:6-7

 

• To whom is the child given?
• What kind of needs does this gift meet?
• How long will this gift last?



Day 38 The Random Driven Life

 

Day 38

 

Hospital Gowns and Victoria's Secret

 

I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety.

 

1 Timothy 2:9

 

 

One of the things I learned from my wife's many hospital stays was that modesty and hospitals do not go together. When we were just dating she got sick and had to go to the hospital. The doctor came into the little ER room and told her to take of her blouse so I made a hasty exit. Later I asked her if that was kind of creepy and she told me it had been at first but after several rounds of chemo she had gotten over it. I never did. I think if I went into the hospital as a patient I would have to wear a paper bag over my head so I couldn't see the people seeing me.

 

One time she had been in the hospital for a couple of months and I asked her if there was something I could get her. She said, "Yes, I need a new pair of pajamas." I could understand that because she hated hospital gowns. She was a nurse and understood the need for them but as a patient she didn't like them. It's no wonder, they are a little breezy on the backside. I have often wondered if it was Hugh Hefner that designed hospital gowns.

 

So, I accepted my assignment to purchase my wife a new pair of pajamas. The only problem was her  favorite pajamas came from a Victoria's Secret store. Now they were nice, modest, regular pajamas but they were probably the only thing in the store that was modest. Some comedian once said that he knew what Victoria's secret was: that she was a slut. I might agree with that except that it is not a very well kept secret.

 

Not wanting to venture into the Victoria's Secret store on my own, I asked my friend Jack to go with me. We went to the mall, summoned up our courage and stepped into the store. We frantically looked around for the pajamas hoping no one we knew would walk by the store and see us. A saleslady asked us if we needed any help. I toyed with the idea of asking her if she had an outfit that would fit Jack, just to embarrass the stew out of him, but I was already too embarrassed to pull that stunt. So I just asked where the pajamas were and of course they were in the back behind all the lingerie. I bought several pair in different colors because I didn't want to go into the store again.

 

My ordeal was not over though. By making the purchase I got on the Victoria's Secret mailing list and started receiving their catalogues. The catalogues are not exactly appropriate reading material for ministers unless perhaps you are a nun. And somehow I don't think nuns wear things from there.

 

The Bible tells us, "I want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety." (1 Timothy 2:9)  It works for men too. It is not easy being modest in a hospital gown. And it is sure not easy being modest in what you get at Victoria's Secret. It is best to save that stuff for private.

 

Upon Further Review:

 

Read 1 Samuel 16:1-13

 

• What task did God send Samuel on?
• Why did Samuel think Eliab was the one God wanted?
• Some  things about our outward appearance may be important (like modesty), but what is God looking for the most?