The Chapel of Hope-The Power of Prayer

I had seven minutes to share my stories and thoughts of encourgement and hope at a recent chapel service at Houston Memorial Hermann Hospital. Gathered together were patients, care-givers, medical staff and fellow belivers and encouragers.

I built my talk around Romans 12:12-13. "Be joyful in hope, be patient in affliction, and stay faithful in prayer. When God's people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality."

I want to bring these powerful verses to life through some of my own life experiences. Sometimes miracles are done by divine intervention. In the case of my father. I grew up in Hawaii where my father was the pastor of a church. In 1969 he boarded an small, private, aircraft for a flight from Honolulu to the nearby island of Molokai. As they neared the island all instruments were reading normal. There was no turbulence or storms to rock the small aircraft.

Sometimes that is how our lives are just before a major disaster or challenge strikes our life. Everything looks fine and then....

Well THE THEN part that struck was that the prop flew off the plane as the coastline of Molokai drew near. The pilot struggled to glide the plane but it struck the water so hard that it knocked him out of the plane. My father was temporarily knocked out from the impact and the plane took on water and sank quickly beneath the sea. My father came too and struggled to get out of his seat belts and to breath as water filled the small cockpit. Gulping air from the shrinking air pockets he felt as if this battle would be lost. As his strength ebbed he felt himself being released from the seatbelts, the door came open and he began to lift from the bottom of the sea channel toward the light at the top of the ocean. Tired and dazed he popped to the choppy surface where a fisherman jumped into the water upon spotting him and pulled him to shore- a true act of providence from God!

Other times God shows His power through the skills and talents of people-such as the medical staff that are sitting in chapel today.

My daughter was about 7 years old. And she went to attend a birthday party of a neighbor just up the street from our house. She had on her pretty little party dress and was enjoying the celebration. Suddenly a dog, the family pet that my daughter had loved on and hugged many times, sprang up and attacked my daughter. Knocking her violently down on the ground the german shepard tried to reach around to her throat and clamp down. My daughter stayed face down, drawing her little arms up to instictively protect her face and throat as the dog repeatedly bit down on her until the shocked owners pulled their dog off.

We rushed her to the hospital, she was in massive pain and bleeding badly. She was rushed into the emergency room and we waited for the specialist to come and help. I looked outside the door and saw a man praying. It was the doctor, and when he stepped inside he looked at my daughter, took a deep breath and smiled.

It took 150 stitches to close my daughters body up and she took many shots and had to stay conscious throught the entire ordeal. Afterwards I asked the doctor why he smiled.

He told me that he had been born in Vietnam. As a youngster he left on a boat and spent several years floating from place to place, finally ending up in Hong Kong before a missionary couple who sensed his talent, arranged to send him to the states where he eventually ended up in medical school.

He was praying outside the emergency room when I saw him, asking God to prepare him for what he was about to see and to give him the skills needed to save and restore the afflicted patient. He specialized in working with people attacked by animals and he usually deals with people who have terrible face injuries. The reason he smiled was that he was so relieved to see that my daughter did not have facial injuries and he was thanking God.

The point was that God has brought this incredible and dedicated doctor from Vietnam to restore my daughter through the skills and talents he learned and the training he received.

We need to thank God for miracles and we need to lift up medical staff people that God also works through and we need to stay joyful in hope, be patient in affliction and stay faithful in prayer. And when God's people are in need be ready to help them. And always be eager to practice hospitality!

My wife just celebrated her 3rd year of being cancer free from a rare form that grew in her hand. The recommended procedure was to remove most of her hand that would eventually lead to her arm curling up and being useless to her. We prayed and proceeded with the doctor to avoid that and to just try to remove the tumor. The combination of God and the doctors again led to a successful removal of just the tumor (a miracle in itself) that left the hand intact and no major damage.

Keep the faith and keep praying! Blessings to all!
Edward