Fear
knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there. – Old English
Proverb
Big Jay Atton is my softball
teammate and very good friend. Bill MacDonald was my stepfather. This is their
story, and also the story of how faith sustains some of us who love them.
Big Jay is a gentle giant of a man.
In his mid-thirties, he stands 6’ 7” and - until recently, at least - weighed in
at well over 300 pounds. While in Houston visiting family, he suffered a
massive heart attack. Concurrent with that, his kidneys failed. Brain damage
was feared and the consensus was he would need a kidney transplant to avoid
lifelong dialysis. Odds of surviving, period, were about 50/50.
The outpouring of love Jay
received, via expressions of prayer and caring, was amazing. Hundreds of people
asked their God for healing to occur. And it did. His kidneys regained full
function following eight or nine rounds of initial dialysis. Scans revealed no
brain damage. He was released from the hospital last week, after three months,
and he will be returning home within a week or two.
Bill MacDonald was a World War II
vet, a recipient of a bronze star for valor, a gentleman in every sense of the
word, and a pillar of his church. Aside from being my stepdad, he was a loving father
and grandfather to a large family. He passed away on Saturday after a battle
with Alzheimer’s disease.
Big Jay’s recovery borders on the
miraculous and has brought great joy to many. Bill, for whom as many fervent
prayers were said, did not have a miraculous recovery and died. In my humble
opinion, though, the rewards of faith have been exemplified in both cases.
It is not the recovery of Jay that
proves my faith, nor does the physical decline, and death, of Bill disproves
it. What the unfaithful do not accept, or do not see, is that faith is a gift,
not a contractual obligation. Rules for what we will receive from our prayer
are not strict and unwavering. The reward may be those for whom we have prayed
receiving precisely that for which we asked, but sometimes it is we who pray
that receive the gift – a strength to bear the seemingly unbearable. Sometimes the
gift is healing, sometimes the gift is release, sometimes the gift is strength.
The truly blessed receive an understanding that all three may be present if only
we search with a diligent spirit.
Some will see contradictory answers
to my similar prayers for these two men and they will say I have decided to
deceive myself. These people see prayer as a crutch, a sham, a weakness engaged
in by those who harbor an unwillingness to view cold reality in the light of
day. They have every right to believe whatever they wish, but I know that when
fear knocked, my faith answered. And no one was there.
Soon, with more better stuff.
