One of my spiritual sons was hired for a position with a large, national ministry AFTER he died. And he worked there for about seven years!
No, you didn’t misread that. Died. Was hired. Worked for seven years. Well, I’m pretty sure I’ve got your attention, so let me share the story and some life applications that will be worthwhile.
Father Chris Lee is the abbot of our Franciscan order in the CEEC.CHURCH. Some years ago he was interviewing for a pastoral position with KLOVE, a contemporary Christian music radio network with about 55 million listeners in the United States. Mike Henderson, KLOVE’s Director of Crisis Response Care, had heard about Fr. Chris and wanted him to apply to become one of the pastors who responds to the requests that regularly come into the network. Due to the stressful nature of the job, Mike suggested that Fr. Chris get a thorough physical.
When Fr. Chris was unplugged from the stress test equipment and the EKG, the doctor looked at all the results and told him, “You’re healthy as a horse! You’re ready for any job at all.” So he returned home, walked into his living room … and died!
Chris’ wife heard him hit the floor, rushed into the room and saw that he had no heartbeat and wasn’t breathing; so she began CPR and called 9-1-1, the emergency services number in the US. It took only six minutes for the paramedics to arrive and determine that Fr. Chris was in full cardiac arrest. They hit him with the cardiac paddles three times, and got no response.
They were about to pronounce him dead when one of the paramedics saw his little girl in a panic. So they inserted a trach tube and tried one more time with the paddles. They were able to get a small response from the heart, and decided to transport him to the nearest hospital.
So, Fr. Chris’ wife Doni is sitting in the hospital waiting room for an update from his doctors when Chris’ phone rings. KLOVE has made their decision and is calling to offer him the job. Doni tells them, “He’s currently not available right now; can’t come to the phone, he’s in a coma.”
And this is great point to introduce our verse for today:
THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE LORD ARE PERFECT, REVIVING THE SOUL
On Wednesday of that week, Fr. Chris woke from his coma. On Thursday the medical situation was pretty dismal. He could not walk on his own. He could not eat. He could not feed himself. His bodily functions were uncontrolled. Medical teams had told Doni that Chris would need at least a month of rehab.
Then a pastor and his wife came to the hospital, anointed Chris with oil and prayed for him to be healed. As the pastor was walking out of the room, he stopped and spoke to Chris’ mother, who was sitting in the room with her son. He turned, looked at Chris’ mother and said, “Mom, don’t worry. By this time tomorrow your son Chris will be sitting in that chair beside you.” And he just walked right on out of the room.
The next day when the family arrived at the hospital Chris was awake, alert, walking, feeding himself. In fact, he was walking around visiting other patients and praying for other people on the unit. He needed no assistance to move, walk, talk, etc. He needed no rehab. They literally could not find anything wrong with him. Even when they tried to trigger another arrhythmia, the heart would not react improperly. To this day there’s no official diagnosis of what happened or what caused it.
So we’ve got a full fledged miracle of healing. It’s a revival of the soul of the first order. Dead, but restored to life. Unable to care for himself one day and walking about caring for others the next. Fr. Chris worked as a pastor with KLOVE radio for seven years, and is now leading and growing the Order of Saint Francis, Reconcilian.
THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE LORD ARE PERFECT, REVIVING THE SOUL
Our God, the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity and whose name is Holy says: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”
He’s in the business of taking people with dead hearts and reviving them !!
Without Christ, we are DEAD in our sin. But God makes US alive together with JESUS when we ADMIT that we need a savior, BELIEVE in the resurrection of Jesus and CONFESS Jesus as our Lord. Then, once Christ has forgiven us all our sin, we follow Him as His disciples and share the good news that GOD FORGIVES SIN and REVIVES THE HEART OF THE CONTRITE !!
When we are prideful, and insist that we do not need Him, God will respect our wishes. He wants to have a true and loving relationship, not some sort of a forced marriage. But when we choose to humble ourselves and ask for the gift He is ready to give – then He recreates us from the inside out.
Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old sinful soul has passed away; died. Christ creates a new spirit within us that is totally and wonderfully alive. All this is from God, it’s His initiative. First, He reconciles us to Himself in Christ. Then He gives US the ministry of reconciliation. He engages us to tell others that, in Christ, God is reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them. He makes us His Ambassadors, and entrusts us with His message of reconciliation. So, since we are given the role of ambassadors for Christ, when we speak God is making his appeal through us.
Yesterday I was begging, today I am imploring you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
God is offering the Great Exchange – He made Christ to be sin, even though Jesus Himself was sinless, so that in Christ we could receive Christ’s righteousness and become the righteousness of God in spite of our past life.
THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE LORD ARE PERFECT, REVIVING THE SOUL
Fr. Chris was dead. Through the miraculous intervention of a man of faith, God revived him.
I was dead in my sin. Through the miraculous intervention of two teens I met at the base pool in Hawaii who had a living faith, God intervened and revived me from the dead; making me a new creation.
What’s your story? Have you been revived — made alive by the love of Christ?
If so, REJOICE !!! And live out the command to follow Him and be His ambassador.
If not, the Great Exchange – God’s offer to replace your sin with His righteousness – stands before you. Bought and paid for.
Isn’t it time to accept His gift of life?
THE INSTRUCTIONS OF THE LORD ARE PERFECT, REVIVING THE SOUL
