My Brush With Death
While I was serving as a hospice chaplain, I had my own brush with death on
October 23, 2011. I was preaching at Trinity Church of Wesley Chapel Florida and collapsed in the middle of my sermon on Ps. 103. Verses 15 and 16 tell it well,
“As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes, When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer.” My collapse was a great sermon illustration that I did not plan, but God did. Before I fell, I said that I was feeling funny, and I fell backwards to the floor. I was unconscious for 20 minutes while the church’s emergency team quickly attended to me. My blood/oxygen had dropped to 68% and the church emergency team put oxygen on me. They called 911 to rush me to the Zephyrhills hospital which tested and transferred me to Tampa General Hospital. Tests revealed that I had a 2.2-inch benign brain tumor between my right and left hemispheres. My
wife Karen later told me that I looked like I was dead.
The Tuesday before my collapse, I had a checkup with my regular doctor because my left hand would shake periodically. He concluded it was just essential tremors, but he advised me to get a CAT Scan to make sure I did not have a brain tumor. I never put doctors on my social calendar, so I did not get the scan. I felt fine and had no other symptoms. All that week, I drove, worked, and did not know that I was carrying a brain tumor that could kill me any time anywhere. Away from oxygen, or other medical help I easily could have died or endangered others. As it was, I collapsed at church where unbeknownst to me they had an emergency team that rushed to care for me as soon as I fell.
It was ironic that the previous Sunday to when I fell, I happened to see an elderly woman receiving oxygen as she was stretched out on a pew. I thought that it was good that the church had extra oxygen for respiratory emergencies that old people might need. Little did I know that I would be the needy person the following Sunday. Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he falls as I did.
The Sunday I collapsed, there was a retired preacher who had an uncanny intuition that he should wear “his preacher boy suit” that Sunday, so he did. He learned when he arrived at church that I had collapsed in the early worship service. He was able and willing to lead and preach the later worship service. God had all the details of the day worked out.The surgeon God provided for me was Dr. Mark Greenberg, a mentor to elite neurosurgeons of the world. He has written and published many editions of his Handbook of Neurosurgery (1664 pages) After consulting with Dr. Greenberg, I went home to put my affairs in order. As I anticipated the surgery, I drew strength from Nehemiah 8:10 which concludes, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” I returned to the hospital on Thursday, October 27 for an eight-hour operation, plus another hour and a half to close my skull back up again. My surgery was a meningioma resection. As I was coming out from under the anesthesia, Karen said I recited the hymn by William Cowper,
God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.
Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
Karen said I would finish one verse, and she would think I was done, then I would
recite another of the five or six verses. Memorize Scripture and hymns to feed your soul and the souls of others. You never know when you may need what you have memorized.
I was in the hospital for surgery, recovery, and rehab for just two weeks. For several days, I experienced paralysis on my left side, and I had an eight minute seizure two days after the surgery, but I recovered from paralysis and had no more seizures.
One of my daughters made a sock monkey covered with bandages and band aids for me when I was recovering in the hospital. The bandages are now gone but the monkey is a reminder for me to thank the Lord who restored me to full health. Sock monkey reminds me of a hospice patient I used to visit. He was about my age and lay on a mat on the floor at the nursing home. He could not talk but grinned from ear to ear. Like my sock monkey, he was moved back and forth as the nursing staff cared for him. In my work as a hospice chaplain and pastor, I have seen people impacted by brain issues who are not so fortunate as I have been.
Four weeks to the day, I was back at Trinity Church and gave the call to worship as a living testimony of Ps. 103:1 – 5 that I had been preaching from when I collapsed. “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. bless the Lord, o my soul, and forget none of his benefits; who pardons all your iniquities; who heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from the pit; Who crowns you with loving kindness and compassion; who satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle.” People gave me a standing ovation as I walked back to my seat. The joy of the Lord that strengthened me for the surgery, radiated to others. When people saw me, they called me “the miracle man” or a “walking miracle”.
Eight months after the operation, a nurse took my vitals and told me, “You are a recycled teenager.” As Ps. 103:5 says, “…your youth is renewed like the eagle.” At 62 years of age that sounded pretty good. Humanly speaking that was better than dying, being paralyzed, seizure prone, demented, or handicapped in any way. I see my recovery as a divine vote of confidence to serve You Last Forever Ministries as a resource to the global church for evangelism and discipleship. The Apostle Paul wrote in Colossians 4:17, “And tell Archippus to
complete (fulfill, finish) the ministry that you have received in the Lord.” This
verse has spurred me on in productive ministry for years with You Last Forever Ministries. To God be the Glory!
