Prayer

As most of you have noticed I haven’t been real active around here much lately. There is a valid reason for that, several actually, but the one that is relevant here has to do with my work.

My captain caught the flu back in early November. By November 13th it was bad enough that he went to the hospital. He was given some antibiotics and sent home. Later that night, early the next morning to be precise, he had difficulty breathing and drove himself back to the hospital. By that afternoon he was in a coma and fighting for his life. His flu had developed into pneumonia, which became acute respiratory distress. He then developed sepsis. In the space of two days a healthy 38 year old father was dying and there was little that could be done. His second son, due in January, would be born fatherless.

Word spread through our community very fast. He is a beloved and popular man, and the whole community rallied to him. We were inundate daily with hundreds of questions about his status and we had nothing to offer but bad news. And we could do nothing to help but pray. Hard, sincere, pleading prayer. And hundreds of people did just that, with all the faith they could bring to bear they prayed.

Two of our citizens were in Rome visiting the Vatican on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving when they heard the news. That day they were granted an audience with the Pope and they asked the Pontiff to pray for my boss, for my friend.

That night Greg came out of his coma.

He left the ICU the next day, Thanksgiving.

Three days later he was at home beginning the long fight to regain his lung and muscle strength lost while in the coma, but he is alive.

Thanks be to God, he is alive.

Never, ever, underestimate the power of sincere and loving prayer my friends.