January 7th ... My Life and Death Story - Part 8

(continued)

I spent 9 days in the ICU at Lutheran Hospital. I did have another blood clot form but it was small and it dissolved on its own without needing another surgery. I went home on January 16th, 1995. I had no teeth and a partially shaved head. I had lost about 15 pounds and couldn't wear my contacts. I remember seeing myself in a mirror and thinking I looked like a dead man. On the contrary, I had escaped death, and I was thankful to God to be alive. Seldom a month goes by that I don't remember those days and how God was with me on January 7th.

A good friend of mine at the time, Scott Mills, told me that "I am a called man of God, and God's gonna use my life to do something great. There's no way he's done with you yet." I've never forgotten those words. They marked my life. That and the permanent scar on the left side of my head. Every so often I'll catch myself feeling the dent that remains from where they drilled in that day.

In those moments, I feel like Jacob of the Old Testament must have felt. He wrestled with God in Genesis 32 and at the end of it, God dislocated his hip socket. The Bible records that from that day on, Jacob walked with a limp and a cane. For the rest of Jacob's life, at various times he would stop and lean on his cane as an expression of worship to the Lord. No one else could worship like that. It was a special moment between he and his God.

That's the way I feel about my scar. When I touch it, it's as worship to the Lord. I am reminded of how my life was spared and I'm destined for great things. I'm reminded that God's not done with me yet and that I've been given a testimony to tell of the power of God in my life.

Touching my scar is as worship to the Lord for me. No one else can worship Him like that. It's our thing. It's something special that I'll always share with the God who put his hand between my head and a telephone pole.

January 7th is an anniversary for me. I'm alive, and I'll never be able to forget it.