Life Lesson I - The Unbreakable Bond

While I was in the hospital celebrating my heart attack, I had a few moments of lucidity. I am still trying to put some pieces back in the puzzle, but there are a few occasions that stand out clearly. One of them was my faithful friend Jon Rolph standing at my bedside asking me if I was going to write about what I was learning. Like an idiot, I told him I would. The reason for my reluctance is not that I do not enjoy writing; instead the reason for my lack of enthusiasm is the transparency that this will require. My heart attack was the proverbial “icing on the cake” of an already challenging year for both Kathy and me. To tell the truth about the lessons I have been learning is going to require me to drop a significant amount of pretense and posturing. But, it is time that I employ a bit of authenticity to share with you what I have learned.

The first lesson I want to share with you is that the Father’s presence is not always an invisible force. We sometimes go all X-Files when we begin talking about the Father being with us, almost as though he is some sort of phantom stalker. There were times when he was an invisible presence. Waiting in the operating room, staring out of the window in my room – those were times when I knew he was there, but he was not seen. Closer than my breath he would stay and remind me that I was not alone.

But more often than not, the Father is present through his children. When I at last arrived home and could lie in bed holding Kathy’s hand, it was to me holding the hand of God. As Joel drove me home from the hospital, I broke down twice as I told him of some of the trauma I had experienced - it was like sharing it directly with my faithful friend Jesus. Because Kathy and Joel have the spirit of Christ alive in them, his spirit could reach out to me through their lives. With each visit, each prayer, each call and each card, the Father was there in the lives of his children.

My first lesson – the Father does not abandon his children.