An E-mail miracle

Saying for the Day: The question is not “ does God speak” but “do we listen?”.

We dig in the archive box again and find a print out of an E-mail that I received.

When I was well enough to leave the Marquette hospital (where I was expected to die) the only problem was that I was on a ventilator. I had three lung specialists and they had decided I would never get off of the ventilator.

They tried getting me off but every time I was off for more than twenty four hours I would begin to hallucinate as the c02 built up in my blood stream.

So they arranged to send me home with a ventilator. They trained my wife to run it.

We set up in the living room with a hospital bed , an oxygen machine, and a ventilator. There was also a second ventilator in case the first one quit, a huge oxygen tank in case the power went down and a battery backup for the ventilator.

Every night I was connected to the ventilator and had a device to monitor the oxygen in my blood. If it fell to low an alarm would go off.
My wife slept on the couch so she could hear the alarm. During the night phlegm would build up in the breathing tube, the alarm would go off, and she would have to vacuum it out so that I could breath. She has a special machine for that.

If that wasn’t bad enough the tube in my throat had to be replaced every six weeks. This meant going to Marquette and having the doctor pull the tube out and put a new one in. This hurt and there was lots of blood. I hated it.

This was not a good way to live.

So I asked God for a miracle. Despite my three specialists I wanted off the ventilator.

My son said “Why don’t you go to Mayo’s.”
I said “ I have three lung specialists all saying the same thing. Nothing short of a miracle is getting me off the ventilator”.

My daughter visited and said,’ Dad why don’t you go to Mayo’s”
I told her the same thing I told my son. I was waiting for the miracle.

My sister visited and said “ John why don’t you go to Mayo’s?”
I gave her the same answer.

I was waiting for the miracle.

I had a friend who sent me e-mails with funny stories or stories with a moral. Just at that time he sent me this story.

“ There was man caught in a flood. He was stuck on top of his house . He prayed for God to save him. A man came in an row boat and offered to pick him up but he said that he had prayed and God would save him. A lady came by in a canoe and offered to take him to safety but he said God would save him. A guy came in a motorboat and offered him a ride to safety but he again said he was waiting on God. He drowned . In heaven he asked God why he hadn’t saved him and God’s response was Who do you think sent those boats?”

The story hit me and hit me hard. I was that man. I was waiting for God and three times he had sent the answer. So I called my Doctor and arranged to go to Mayo’s. My son and daughter came with me.

At Mayo’s they discovered the reason for the lung problems which my three specialists had missed. They assured me they could get me off the ventilator.

Two visits later they succeeded .
If I hadn’t opened my ears to what God was saying I would still be sitting on the roof waiting for God to save me ( living on the ventilator). God wanted me to be well. God arranged for me to be well. The miracle was that I finally listened.

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News from Pigeon Falls
Tomorrow I will begin sharing what is happening in the tiny town of Pigeon Falls. Pigeon Falls is a mystical town that comes out of the fog in the spring into my back yard. It remains there until late fall when it vanishes into the fog again. My grand daughter decided last year that I should share the adventures of the people of Pigeon Falls with others. She often visits the town and helped to write the Pigeon Falls song. She can hardly wait for this years adventures. One might ask if these are real people. Of course they are, as real as my back yard. It is, however, a weird little town with eccentric people. So until tomorrow , when I stop and visit Nancy's Coffee Shop and return to share the latest gossip with you, we will let them rest.
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It was beautiful day today. We finished the new garage complete with a solar light and got it out on the layout. Then we took the covers off of the pool and waterfall at the Crippled Creek part of the layout. We cleaned out all the leaves and junk from the winter. Then we put the pump back and filled the pool. Turned it on and it worked . All the little waterfalls look fine. We think there may be some leakage but we will be watching that. Betty has gone to Bible study. I need a breathing treatment.
GBYA