This past Sunday Buffalo Bills reserve tight end Kevin Everett sustained a catastrophic and life-threatening neck injury which required surgery. The doctor said afterwards “I believe there will be some permanent neurological paralysis. ... A full neurological recovery was bleak, dismal.” Everett was under sedation in ICU to allow the swelling to go down.
Usually an event like this would draw only sympathy from me, but for some dumb reason, after reading the prognosis yesterday (Monday), I decided to stop everything I was doing and pray for Kevin right then and there. I'm sure there were already thousands of prayers poured out throughout the nation, so one more couldn't hurt right? I poured out my heartfelt prayer to God, asking if it'd be His will that Kevin would be able to walk again. When I was done, I went on with my business.
Well, I just read the update today on Kevin's prognosis and was floored. It's nothing short of a minor miracle. Kevin voluntarily moved his arms and legs on Tuesday when partially awakened, prompting a neurosurgeon to say the Buffalo Bills' tight end would walk again -- contrary to the grim prognosis given a day before. I was thrilled to hear such good news!!!
Now I hope you don't think that I'd be naive enough to say that it was only my prayer that God answered. I'm sure the outcome would have been the same if I didn't think even once about praying for Kevin. God answered the many thousands of prayers on Kevin's behalf.
But it is the fact that He did answer my prayer that brings a minor miracle in my life, and I'm led more to believe that my impression to pray for Kevin was really God's way of bringing me closer to Him. For that, I am grateful for.
Best wishes to you, Kevin, for a speedy and full recovery.
7 comments:
Amen brother. I can't say that I thought to offer a specific prayer in Kevin's behalf, but it certainly is a miracle. Perhaps I will have to offer a prayer of gratitude in hindsight.
Mat, remember that time on our mission (Thanksgiving 1998) when we were summoned to give a priesthood blessing to a guy in UCLA Medical that was hit by a car, leaving him paralyzed from the chest down? I wonder whatever happened to him?
It was that incident that came to my mind when I was reading about Kevin. I figured "Hey, I can't offer him a blessing...so I'll pray instead."
Vlad, thanks for visiting my blog again. And it's nice to see some recent posts. I thought you'd forgot about your blog... :o)
Prayer works. Period.
...oh, and I did mean to say Catch 22. I went back and fixed it. Thanks for pointing that out.
No prob, Charlotte. I've been reading your postings regularly but it wasn't til that "bum" one that actually had a comment to make...and what do I do? Point out a mistake. Silly me.
Honestly, I have to admit that I don't remember giving that blessing. But I'm pretty famous for my poor memory. Having a poor memory is about the only thing I can remember. I feel very sorry for Karie when we get older!
Let me jog your memory. He was in ICU, only a few people were allowed in at a time. His girlfriend went to our church and was the one that requested us. He was in a halo to stabilize his neck, and was in a bed that rotated from side to side. We couldn't actually "lay" our hands on his head because of the halo...just hovered our hands over his head. I'm sure I'm saying way to much here :-)
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