As many of you know, my family has been in difficult times lately. Mom went into the hospital with a critical condition in late-Feb. and I went home to help care for her in March. She has been through a rollercoaster of pain and fear and the like and it has been hellish for us to watch her suffer.Photo: (L-R) Jackie, me, Richard
My stepdad Richard has been a rock, caring for her with love and tenderness. Mom made a miraculous recovery and is doing fine as of about 10 days ago.
But, on Friday, Richard had a massive heart attack and died in our back yard. Mom did CPR while waiting for the medics and they did revive him. But he was gone for about 1/2 hour and that means no oxygen to the brain.
As I said in my speech at the film festival, life goes slowly until it doesn't. The pain of threatened death and loss allows us to have conversations we couldn't normally. I hope you can use some of my family's pain to talk to your friends about the resurrection this Easter.
The latest news is not good. Richard has no reaction to pain, no reflexes in one eye and very slow reaction in the other. Many other vitals are poor and he has little or no brain activity right now. Mom is believing for a miracle, at least for him to wake up long enough to say goodbye.
I am praying for a miracle of healing, for God's will to be done and for a peace to come over mom.
I told mom (Jackie) this true story:
This Saturday I went for a quick run outside. I have been in so much helpless turmoil, that I needed to run. I found myself going much further than I'd planned and I decided to jog all the way to the top of Tujunga Street, where I often go to talk with Jesus. It has a dazzling view of the valley below here in Burbank. There are many flowers there normally and many birds.
I prayed and I knew that God would show me a hummingbird up there as He usually does.
So I made the jog up, a pretty strenuous trek, especially as I'm not in the greatest physical shape due to time pressures of late. The flowers were far fewer than I had remembered. But, I knew I would see an H-bird, no matter what. I knew it would be up close and specially planned just for me. He knows what joy these creatures give me.
As I watched, an H-bird shot over my head and down the ravine wall like a bullet. It was far away and over in an instant. Nice warmup, I thought and I kept on praying. After awhile, I was prayed out and I needed to get back down the mountain.
As I told mom, I gave up on my demand (of a close-up bird) right then there, knowing full well that God had the power and could show me on the way down, or He could choose to not show me the H-bird at all.
As Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego said before being thrown into the furnace in Daniel 3: " the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
They made their dreams and desires subservient to God's will, while knowing full well that His power was sufficient to do whatever his plans called for.
There is freedom from fear in that. We know he can and if he can, then he will save us if that fits his purpose. He will never leave us or forsake us so then, we know that whatever he does, he has our best in mind.
Jogging down the mountain, I still expected to see the H-bird, but I knew it would be miraculous, because the cars are in very close proximity to any hiding places in trees and there are very few flowers on the road up. I had given up my demand to see it in my timing.
I was enjoying the jog down and at once I felt the urge to cross the street. As I jumped up on the curb, there I was face to face with the most beautiful, blood red hummingbird. It took my breath away as it flitted about in the tree. I was closer than I'd ever been and I stood there watching it longer than I would have thought possible.
Wow. I was totally blown away by the way he chose to reward my faith.
Praise be to God.
The correlation is obvious. Mom want's healing and to have her husband back healthy and whole. But, I told her, if you can ask and petition for that with the overarching prayer to leave it to his timing (because his healing may only take place in the next world), then we will not be disappointed either way. Visually, it's like holding our treasure out with an open palm, hard to do for fear of loss.
The most merciful thing in this case could be to take Richard now. Of course we will all grieve, but trusting Him means we know that the outcome was best for all parties concerned.
And eventually, we will be excited for Richard and his new life with angels, living creatures and Jesus.
Peace.
John David Ware
My stepdad Richard has been a rock, caring for her with love and tenderness. Mom made a miraculous recovery and is doing fine as of about 10 days ago.
But, on Friday, Richard had a massive heart attack and died in our back yard. Mom did CPR while waiting for the medics and they did revive him. But he was gone for about 1/2 hour and that means no oxygen to the brain.
As I said in my speech at the film festival, life goes slowly until it doesn't. The pain of threatened death and loss allows us to have conversations we couldn't normally. I hope you can use some of my family's pain to talk to your friends about the resurrection this Easter.
The latest news is not good. Richard has no reaction to pain, no reflexes in one eye and very slow reaction in the other. Many other vitals are poor and he has little or no brain activity right now. Mom is believing for a miracle, at least for him to wake up long enough to say goodbye.
I am praying for a miracle of healing, for God's will to be done and for a peace to come over mom.
I told mom (Jackie) this true story:
This Saturday I went for a quick run outside. I have been in so much helpless turmoil, that I needed to run. I found myself going much further than I'd planned and I decided to jog all the way to the top of Tujunga Street, where I often go to talk with Jesus. It has a dazzling view of the valley below here in Burbank. There are many flowers there normally and many birds.
I prayed and I knew that God would show me a hummingbird up there as He usually does.
So I made the jog up, a pretty strenuous trek, especially as I'm not in the greatest physical shape due to time pressures of late. The flowers were far fewer than I had remembered. But, I knew I would see an H-bird, no matter what. I knew it would be up close and specially planned just for me. He knows what joy these creatures give me.
As I watched, an H-bird shot over my head and down the ravine wall like a bullet. It was far away and over in an instant. Nice warmup, I thought and I kept on praying. After awhile, I was prayed out and I needed to get back down the mountain.
As I told mom, I gave up on my demand (of a close-up bird) right then there, knowing full well that God had the power and could show me on the way down, or He could choose to not show me the H-bird at all.
As Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego said before being thrown into the furnace in Daniel 3: " the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. 18 But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."
They made their dreams and desires subservient to God's will, while knowing full well that His power was sufficient to do whatever his plans called for.
There is freedom from fear in that. We know he can and if he can, then he will save us if that fits his purpose. He will never leave us or forsake us so then, we know that whatever he does, he has our best in mind.
Jogging down the mountain, I still expected to see the H-bird, but I knew it would be miraculous, because the cars are in very close proximity to any hiding places in trees and there are very few flowers on the road up. I had given up my demand to see it in my timing.
I was enjoying the jog down and at once I felt the urge to cross the street. As I jumped up on the curb, there I was face to face with the most beautiful, blood red hummingbird. It took my breath away as it flitted about in the tree. I was closer than I'd ever been and I stood there watching it longer than I would have thought possible.
Wow. I was totally blown away by the way he chose to reward my faith.
Praise be to God.
The correlation is obvious. Mom want's healing and to have her husband back healthy and whole. But, I told her, if you can ask and petition for that with the overarching prayer to leave it to his timing (because his healing may only take place in the next world), then we will not be disappointed either way. Visually, it's like holding our treasure out with an open palm, hard to do for fear of loss.
The most merciful thing in this case could be to take Richard now. Of course we will all grieve, but trusting Him means we know that the outcome was best for all parties concerned.
And eventually, we will be excited for Richard and his new life with angels, living creatures and Jesus.
Peace.
John David Ware
1 comment:
Thank you for sharing this story. I have had such an awesome experience with a hummingbird this summer and I know that it is truly a miracle from GOD
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