THINK ABOUT THIS: Do You Believe In Miracles?
Miracles are part and parcel of ancient myths, fabulous stories that have no real grounding in the established truths of modern science and thus are of no importance other than as the grist for entertaining fantasy, right?
Well, consider the following facts:
In August 2000, I underwent an emergency double bypass surgery. The main artery to my heart was 90 percent clogged. That’s what 20 years of two-Marlboro-packs-a-day and lots of beer-drinking gets you.
“You’re the 49-year-old guy walking his dog in the neighborhood who suddenly drops dead of a heart attack,” my surgeon told me after the procedure. He also said “we almost lost you on the operating table, you were technically dead for four minutes.”
Photo by camilo jimenez on Unsplash
Fortunately, nothing anywhere near so dramatic has occurred in my health in the years since, other than a torn elbow tendon from trying to jerk a 500-pound Kawasaki Concorde up on its jack stands. And there was that fall that shattered a kneecap into six pieces while shoveling snow in the driveway.
Nothing worrisome with my heart, however. But in recent months, I began noticing some symptoms that were reminiscent of the weeks before the bypass. When the symptoms didn’t go away, I opted for an exploratory heart catheterization last Friday to check things out.
After the procedure, we got word through the nurse that everything looks fine. But then, as Claudia and I are gathering our things and preparing to leave, the Doc comes into the room, sits down on my bedside, pauses (you can imagine what we were thinking at that point!) and tells us this:
“When I first got to your heart, I could not understand why you had needed the bypass in 2000 because your main artery was completely free-flowing, as were both of your bypasses.
“So I went back and reviewed the film of your first procedure and confirmed that, yes, your main artery was 90 percent blocked. You would have been dead within two weeks if you had not had that bypass.
“But I’ve never seen anything like your main artery now being clear. I’ve done 15,000 catheterizations in my career and I’ve never seen this before. Not once.”
If you know anything about Coronary Artery Disease, you know it’s at best only partially reversible, but typically not at all. That’s why they do stents and bypasses. Once an artery is clogged by plaque, it is permanently blocked.
The Doc had no explanation for why mine was completely free. I count it as a miracle, a genuine miracle. Skeptics can call it a fluke, or a “God of the Gaps” rationalization, but I doubt those explanations will be around when it’s their turn on the operating table.
Have a blessed day, my friends.
That is a great testimony, Mark.
So glad God has blessed you in that way.
Just wondering if you by any chance eat pomegranates or drink pomegranate juice. Studies have shown that pomegranate juice reverses atherosclerosis.
No I don’t, but if I’d known about that in 2000 I’d have been drinking that stuff daily! 🙂
I have been completely free of Multiple Myeloma since late 2012. Free of any maintenance drugs since 2013. Astounding considering so many never quite break free of the endless infusions and/or expensive maintenance drugs and succumb.
The sunrise never gets dull and the same-‘ol is really quite remarkable. Life IS a gift.
Thank you for this! Working in a hospital as a chaplain, I am grateful to get to play in God’s sandbox. Sounds like God has plans to keep you around for your continuing sandbox play in the arena in which you have been placed. Best wishes and thank you for the uplift.
Soli deo gloria. Alleluia! And congratulations, Mark. God’s peace to you. Long may you wave.
Praise God! I will always believe in miracles!
Praise God! I have one of those miracle stories too – pancreatic cancer. He IS the Great Physician and while He equips people with knowledge & science & skill – He numbers our days and His purposes prevail. 10 years later – my life is a testimony to His Sovereignty. And the doctors still marvel…
“For those with faith, no explanation is necessary; for those without it, no evidence will suffice.” St. Thomas Aquinas
Thanks be to G*d for your miracle, Mark. And thank you for sharing it with your readers!
My brother had pancreatic cancer, stage 4. His doctor told him he had three months. My mom took him to a cancer specialist in Seattle. He said that there was almost ZERO hope for him, but agreed to try chemo to try and shrink the tumor enough to perform something called a Whipple Procedure. My brother was NOT “into God.” It was my MOM who prayed incessantly. Lo and behold, the tumor DID shrink enough to be dealt with surgically. The doctor told my mom that he could understand the PATIENT praying and overcoming, a “mind over matter” thing, but admitted that there HAD to be something Divine at work, in this case, as, and I’m quoting here, “This (the chemo) just DOESN’T work,” that he had done the chemo to give my mom hope. My brother had already given up.
I realize prayer doesn’t always render the outcome prayed for, but one way or another, God’s will is done, and in the end is understood by the person of faith…