Our pastor has been through an incredibly grueling two weeks. There are faith explanations and psychological explanations for how he has endured from day-to-day. I am usually quick to find the fallacy, to be the doubting Thomas. Today, I cannot. Not because the evidence is so overwhelming, per se, but simply because my heart will not allow me to be less than thankful. Fourteen days ago, Carol Poston stopped breathing and fell into a coma as the result of an incredibly rapid onslaught of bacterial meningitis. Thanks to the virtues of our Internet era, hundreds and perhaps thousands of people joined in prayer for the Poston family. Just a few days ago, the doctors were not hopeful. The next morning Carol woke up. You can read the story for yourself. Powerful and poignant. I know all the skeptical questions as well as anyone, because, although I am a Christian by profession, I am a skeptic by inclination. I have seen too much in church to be easily led and in fact am likely to have developed somewhat of a hardened heart. So, what makes this event so special? Primarily, the resolve of our pastor to leave his beloved in God's hands, regardless of the outcome. Some would call that fatalism or stoicism. Our pastor is no stoic. He was deeply grieving to the point of near collapse. But his faith held firm. Second, the way hundreds of people engaged in supporting prayer, many who knew next to nothing about the Poston family. I know, you can say it is all coincidence and normal human compassion. Well, I could, too and would and have at other times. This time, joy will not let me.
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