My story (Part 3)

Today I’m going to conclude this collection of blogs reflecting on my story; this is part 3 of 3.  I want to document how part of my story is the fact that, in several episodes, I would have died had God not chosen to intervene.  It is incredibly humbling for me to consider that God chose to preserve my life to this day; in His divine wisdom, He decided for me to be breathing in and out here in March of 2024. 

For example, I’ve often spoken of how God healed me from a terrible and ruthless disease I had as a baby.  It very nearly took my life – I was technically dead for three minutes, in fact – but the Lord brought me back to life, and the disease was gone!  Job 12:10 states in the hand of God is “the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind”.  For years, my parents sang a song of thanksgiving they had written to God for healing me; every April, my loved ones and I still celebrate this miraculous intervention.  And yet that was just the first instance of my being snapped away from the jaws of death.

Not long ago, I found in a journal where I wrote about a day in early August of last year.  I stated that the whole day had very difficult for me; I indicated with every breath there was lung and rib pain.  I didn’t know it, but this was telling me that I had an ulcer and internal bleeding.  Thus, by the end of August, I was pale, sickly, and closer to death than I knew.  On the 31st, I had struggled at work again.  Had I not decided to go to the doctor’s office, I’m sure I would have bled to death very soon.  Instead, a doctor saw my low hemoglobin levels, urged me to go to the emergency room, and my road to recovery began.        

I actually could go on detailing other episodes of God protecting me, and saving me from death’s door.  God has been faithful and kind to me.  But you get the idea so let me begin to wrap this trilogy of blogs up.  Ultimately, my story isn’t about me.  In Romans 14, we are told that no one lives or dies to himself; if we live, we live to God, and if we die, we die to God (verses 7-8).  I’m thankful beyond words to live for God this day; and to have the opportunity to point, once again, to His goodness and grace. You see, it’s true that God chose to preserve my life on numerous episodes.  But the greatest miracle of all is how the Lord transformed my life, through the gospel.

Jesus Christ was the only one qualified to be the Savior for the world.  As God Himself, in human flesh, He paid the wages for mankind’s sin.  “The wages of sin,” we are told in Romans 6:23, “is death.  But the gift of God is eternal life, in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Here in the midst of Holy Week, 2023, we contemplate again how Christ lived a perfect life, He died a perfect death, and then – just as He had predicted He would – He rose from the dead forevermore.  That’s the gospel!  Now, through faith and belief in Christ and His substitutionary work, we can have an intimate relationship with the God of the universe.  Have you done this?  Whether I live for another 30 years, or 30 hours, I will share this life-changing message.

God bless,

Kevin