| Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15 |
| INTRODUCTION Recently my husband Steve became blind AGAIN. He was blinded in his left eye when he was 16 and he lost sight in his right eye when he had a stroke at 34. He had regained some sight in the right eye but was still considered legally blind. He couldn't drive and he couldn't read unless it was HUGE bold text, but it was precious sight, as he learned when he recently lost all sight again in another stroke at age 48. The eye doctor has told him there is not much hope he will regain his sight this time. In addition, his cardiologist informed him his weak heart would surely soon go into cardiac arrest and convinced him to get a defibrillator which will "jumpstart" his heart should that happen. Life has changed in our household. Steve's not working outside of the home and he needs some help doing some things he had taken for granted. It is very frustrating for him not to be able to go and do whenever and whatever he wants. We are hopeful he will regain sight better than before and that the pace-making action of his defibrillator will give him more strength and energy, but for now he has a little more time on his hands. There's time to do something he feels in his heart he should have done long ago and that is to give his testimony, his answer to everyone who asks the reason for the hope he has. On the day I began writing this, the funeral of Tony Snow and the appearance of an article he wrote about the blessing of cancer, gave me pause for thought. The Blessing of Cancer An unsaved world does not understand how there can be a blessing in cancer. As my father died from cancer at the all-too-young age of 56, there was a time when I couldn't see any blessing in it, and I was quite angry at anyone who tried to tell me there was! I would see inspirational faith books where the author would tell about his journey through his disease that ultimately ended in death and I found that quite depressing! Where did that faith get him, but still dead?! But that is before I truly understood and truly felt in my heart the truth about eternal life and enduring riches that only come through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ! There is incredible joy and peace when you know the truth, something you long to share with others, but it's something a lost world cannot comprehend. But it is up to us who know the truth to let our lights shine before others. My husband will tell you there has been blessing in his trials. Sometimes my heart aches for him when I think of all the trials he has had to endure. Why do some people seem to have to go through so much more than some of the rest of us do? Steve has laughingly commented it may be because he has such a hard head. He is sure that had he been allowed to remain on the rebellious destructive path he was on as a teenager, he would have been lost in his sin or physically dead in it. I have been on this journey with my husband for a relatively short time as we were just married in 2001, but I thank God for bringing us together, as I know his journey has brought me closer to my Lord. So why has he been through so much? First we have to remember that our lives are just a blip in eternity and this earth is not our home, so while we want to measure all happiness by what is happening to us here, God measures it by where we'll spend the rest of our eternity. It is so important that our Lord Jesus said this in Matthew 18:8-9: "If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the everlasting fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better to enter heaven half blind than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell." So there you have it; it is much better to be lame or maimed or blind and be SAVED than to be completely well and healed and whole and unsaved. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10: And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. The Apostle Paul had an infirmity that he asked God repeatedly to take from him, but He didn't. Paul could have easily become prideful as so many of the Old Testament kings did, but this "thorn in the flesh" was a constant reminder of the Lord's grace and strength. Therefore he took great pleasure in infirmity, persecution, and distress, because in his weakness, Christ was strong through him, without his pride getting in the way. Many, many, many prayers have been prayed for Steve, and he has been blessed with life and salvation, and he is grateful, but humble, and trusts his Lord who is always good: For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations. Psalm 100:5 The LORD is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works. Psalm 145:9 "For I know the plans I have for you," says the LORD. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope." Jeremiah 29:11 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9 The Lord is good, He loves us, He wants the best for us, and He works all things together for good, so it's easy to trust Him. And what is good? Was it good for Christ to die as He did? Knowing that God sees the bigger picture and knows better than we do what is really good for us, and knowing that He even sacrificed His only Son to save us, we can trust in Him for our ultimate good or for the good of others we may ultimately touch. Another important message of Steve's testimony is that our hope lies with our Lord alone, not in our circumstances or in some other person. There is a Cancer Treatment Center commercial in which a woman's doctor has told her without feeling that she had two months to live, giving her no hope. But the doctor at the Cancer Treatment Center informed her he had seen no expiration date on her. There is only one Author of life and He has the final say. My husband's family has witnessed that one when more than once during my husband's life they were told by doctors that he would not live. But their hope didn't lie with doctors. Beyond that, our hope also doesn't lie with this physical life. So let us give a reason and an explanation of the hope we have. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15 STEVE'S TESTIMONY On Saturday, July 24, 1976, Steve was 16 years old. He was quite a rebellious teen, had dropped out of school, and was smoking, drinking, and doing drugs. He had already moved out of his parents' home once at the age of 15, moving out of state with his cousin. He had recently returned home, but was planning a move soon with a friend into an apartment in another town. He couldn't wait to be out of the house and on his own again. But as long as he was still at home, one thing required of him and all his siblings, was that they all attend church on Saturdays. Steve had tried his best to get out of it, but couldn't, so that's where he was on this particular Saturday. The family including his parents, his older sister Aleta, who was 18, younger sister Thresa, 15, and younger brother Keith, who had just turned 12, had gone to church in two different cars. After the church service, his dad and brother Keith left together in Aleta's car. The rest of the family trailed by a few minutes in the family car, a 1964 Chrysler, with Steve driving. Steve was speeding and from the back seat his mother cautioned him to slow down. Being a smart aleck, he slowed way down to a ridiculously slow speed. Remembering an accident he had been involved in just a very few weeks before this, he decided he should straighten up and "drive right". That is the last thing Steve remembers of this day. His mother and sisters tell him what he said and did next. A hay baler was coming toward them in its lane of traffic, but a car was passing it and in Steve's lane. Steve was said to have called out, "Is that guy gonna get over?" But he didn't. The elderly gentleman driving the new 1976 Chevrolet was later said to have probably passed out behind the wheel as he had just a few minutes before passed out in a barber's chair. Steve tried to swerve into his ditch, but not soon enough, and his family's car was struck head-on by the oncoming car. The driver of the hay baler was first on the scene, but Steve's grandparents also came up on the accident right away, not even realizing who it was. His father and brother Keith had returned home a few minutes ahead on the road and Keith was outside checking the mailbox when he heard the crash. He went in and told his father and they went to check it out. Meanwhile, a crow bar from the grandfather's car was being used to remove everyone but Steve from the car. The steering wheel had broken off in Steve's chest and the left turn signal was lodged in his neck, and he couldn't be removed until paramedics arrived. His mother remembers she and her daughters being removed from the car and laid on the ground. She was aware that the car was on fire and there was a commotion as people tried to extinguish the fire. She heard her husband arrive on the scene in a rage, but she tried to calm him by telling him repeatedly they would all be fine. She remained calm, a calm she knows came only from God, when later as she was being taken by ambulance, she heard the driver tell his partner that the boy wouldn't make it. Steve's father tells of arriving at the scene, literally throwing off "like rags" those who tried to stop him from seeing his family. He couldn't even recognize them. He was torn. He had four members of his family being sent in different ambulances and he didn't know where to go. His brother-in-law, realizing the seriousness of Steve's condition, literally pushed him into Steve's ambulance. Steve's good friend, the one he was about to move in with, recalls hearing on his police scanner that there was one DOA arriving at the hospital, and he just knew it was Steve. However, it turned out to be the driver of the other car. Steve and his father were a very short time at the first hospital and then he was rushed by ambulance to a larger hospital in Dallas. This was before the age of care-flights and the ambulance driver was told not to "spare the horses". At the Dallas hospital Steve underwent immediate surgery to repair multiple internal injuries and broken bones including pelvis, femur, jaw and cheekbone. His spleen was removed, liver was patched, and he had to have a tracheotomy in an unusual place because the normal placement area had been destroyed by the turn signal lodged in his neck. About 3:00 a.m. the next morning, his blood pressure plummeted, and he was returned to surgery. His father was not given much hope. Steve's brain began to swell and he was in a coma that would last 21 days. During that time, doctors told Steve's father he probably wouldn't make it, but the one good thing was that he had the heart of a 16-year-old. But, he was told, if Steve lived, he would surely be a "vegetable". Steve's father stayed in the hospital several days, but as he had not seen his other family members during this time, felt he had to leave. The doctors told him it wasn't a good idea for him to leave; again they told him Steve probably wouldn't make it. Although he had felt much angst, feeling his son "was not saved", he finally felt like he had to just "turn him over to the Lord" and go see his other family members. The next thing Steve remembered was waking up in the hospital and asking his visitor, his friend Philip, if he wanted to go fishing. After that miraculous awakening, Steve was transferred to the hospital in Tyler where his mother and one of his sisters were, making it easier for his father to be with his family more of the time. Steve remained in the hospital long after his other family members had returned home. He was in traction in a body cast and immobile. The Dallas hospital medical staff had had the foresight to keep antacids on his stomach so that stomach acids would not burn a hole in his stomach lining. Unfortunately, the Tyler hospital staff, probably thinking he wasn't going to make it anyway, didn't take the same precautionary measures. In the middle of the night, after the rest of the family had returned home, Steve's father was called to come immediately to the hospital as Steve required emergency stomach surgery. Steve subsequently had multiple stomach surgeries with two-thirds of his stomach and his gall bladder being removed. To be continued....... Return to the Home Page |
