Three days ago Dennis and I and our daughter Laura received the gift of being in the presence of a miracle. Our dear friend, Bill, who is only 50, suffered what should have been a life-ending stroke on January 28 while driving to a meeting. His loss of consciousness caused him to fall limp to the right side of his car, hitting his head hard on the passenger armrest, which caused his head to split open and release the pressure of the bleeding clot in his brain. Because he lost consciousness, Bill’s car t-boned another car and the position of his body was protected from further injury. Who could have imagined a car wreck saving a person’s life? Only God.
Thankfully the other driver walked away from the wreck and when the EMT’s arrived and saw it was a traumatic head wound, they rushed Bill to Vanderbilt’s trauma center instead of sending him elsewhere for stroke treatment. Another evidence of God’s hand.
Prior to visiting Bill and his wife Terri on Sunday morning, we had been in Dallas for the memorial service of another dear friend and my husband’s mentor, Dr. Howard Hendricks, who died at age 89. Among hundreds of other pearls of wisdom, he is famously remembered for saying, “Man is immortal until God’s work for him is done.” Howard’s work was finished on February 20 and is now resting with Jesus.
It is clear that God’s work for Bill is not yet done.
From praying earnestly for his life to be saved on January 28th and the days that followed, to now praying for his left arm and leg to return to normal function, we have watched and praised God for His steady sure hand at work in Bill’s life. He has made His wonders to be remembered in life and in death.
“And in Thy book they were all written,
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.” Psalm 139:16