God's amazing grace

It's been several years ago now....it was late one night...Joye, my wife, was out of town visiting her mother....and I couldn't sleep. I had a cold or something like it. I just couldn't breathe. Most of the time my colds are in my head, but this was in my chest and I just couldn't breathe. For some reason I did something I have never done before...I went to the emergency room at the hospital.

Looking back I know why now, but I have never done this before...I just don't get sick, and haven't been in hospital since I was 9. For some reason, at midnight, I got up, got dressed and went to hospital.

In the emergency room a nurse came in to see what was wrong with me. I told her I had a cold or something like it, and just couldn't breathe. She left the room, and in a few minutes came back with a pill and told me to put it under my tongue. I obeyed....

The next thing I remember I'm on the floor surrounded by doctors and nurses. I had passed out!

Now, mind you, I had yet to see or talk to a doctor...they simply assumed if I had chest congestion I must have a heart problem, and so they gave me a nitro pill. BUT I don't have heart problems, in fact I had been an active bicyclist riding 20+ miles per day for years. This little pill, meant to help those with heart problems, caused my blood pressure to crash, and I passed out, fell on the floor and hit my head. Now I'm really hurt!

Now, suddenly, I'm getting CAT scans, x-rays....etc., and find myself in intensive care! All I had was a cold, now I'm in intensive care! (That's why I don't go to hospitals!)

But, what I didn't know was that God had a plan, and it really had very little to do with me.

So, I spend a night in intensive care because of the hospital's mistakes....what's going on? The next day some of our men from the church came to visit with me. One of the men, Eric, owned a business, and had an older man working for him who had become very ill. Eric had shared his faith with this man a number of times, and the man had refused Christ or faith....now this man is two rooms down from me in the intensive care unit, in a coma, dying....

After a short visit Eric said, "Since I'm here I should stop and see ____." He didn't see much point to seeing him because the man was in a coma and they didn't expect him to recover...but since he was there to see me he said he would stop by this man's room before he left.

Eric went into the room, the man awoke from his coma, Eric shared the gospel with him once more and this dying man trusted Christ....the next day he died.

Now here's an amazing thing...I was in the hospital by God's amazing plan so I would be in intensive care so Eric would come to lead this man to Christ. What an amazing love God has that he would care for this dying man so much that he would put me through all of that just so this poor man could find Christ!

Now before I finish I must tell you that this man had wasted his life. He was in his 60's when he died. He was an alcoholic, had spent decades in prison and his children were in prison as he lay dying. Like the thief on the cross next to Jesus this man had nothing to offer God but a wasted life and the need for a savior. What an amazing love God has for us that he would die for us when we bring nothing to him but our empty, wasted lives, and in exchange he gives us his life and salvation.

What an amazing love!