"The memory of a miracle"

A defining moment is “a decision, an event, or an experience that indelibly marks you and changes the course of your life forever” (this quote is from Bill Oudemolen in his sermon entitled “For Such a Time as This” examining Esther’s pivotal moment in Esther chapter 4).  I have had several defining moments in my life.  I’ve been forthright about them in this blog.  Today I’m celebrating the developments on April 24, 1982.  Even though I was less than a year old at that time, it was my first defining moment.

I have a special memento from a church newsletter (there's a relic from the past for you) that describes this defining moment.  It’s called “The Memory of a Miracle”; it was written by the man who was my pastor at the time – Pastor Gerald.  Here is what he wrote in that newsletter a few years after the event:

“Approximately three years ago I met for the very first time a child with a brain disorder, or disease, called Infantile Spasms.  Infantile Spasms is an incurable, mysterious and little known disease which either ruthlessly takes the life of its victims or leaves them hopelessly impaired for the entirety of an abbreviated lifetime.

That child, later to become a very special little friend of mine, was Kevin Eugene Bauer.  Kevin had visited our Sunday morning worship service along with his parents, Jerry and Rose Mary.  That Sunday was also the Sunday they became a very real part of our church family.  The very next Sunday, April 25, 1982, as I greeted the people, Rose Mary whispered that God had healed Kevin…Weeks later bewildered and puzzled medical specialists confirmed Rose Mary’s whispered dream.  Kevin was indeed healed!

It’s almost beyond comprehension to view the hopelessness of a wonderful couple as they watched in helplessness, the child of their dreams held beyond cure in the violent clutches of this tormenting disease…But wait a minute! Neither the doctor nor the disease has the final diagnosis.  Behold the beauty of such a transformation as God reaches down to a sorrow-torn family, lifts them in His arms and wipes away the tears.  Oh, the beauty as God takes away the disease, clothes little Kevin in good health, [and] hands him a future and hope…Thank you, God, for the reality and memory of a beautiful miracle.”

I’m going to conclude by giving my heartfelt praise to God, through an old hymn written by Fanny Crosby, back in the 1800's, entitled “To God be the Glory”: “To God be the glory, great things He hath done…Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the Earth hear His voice.  Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice.  Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done!”

Kevin