You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
James 4:14 ESV
An unexpected telephone call came, letting me know that my brother was gravely ill. His liver was failing so badly that he ended up in the hospital in a coma. Miles away in the snow-covered north, I skied to a favorite meditation spot, all the while praying and singing, “Great is Thy faithfulness, O God, my Father…” God does not change; He is the same loving God whom my grandparents and parents served. A deep peace invaded my soul, as I continued, joyfully singing, “Thy compassions, they fail not.”
My baby brother, now a senior citizen looking forward to celebrating his seventieth birthday with his beloved wife, returned to us out of his coma, something very rare in such cases. God had performed a miracle. My brother was sent home under hospice care; I arrived at his bedside the following day. How frail he looked, but how dear.
As siblings, we were close again. I told him about when he was born, and how he nearly drowned in a tub and a pond when he was a toddler. I was not a mini-mother but a tomboy; still, I did my best to help our busy mother. While Mom cooked and the baby had whooping cough, I would function as an alarm system: “Mom, the baby can’t breathe – he is turning blue.”
Life was simple and happy except for World War II, with nasty planes passing overhead on their way to bomb the city about 32 kilometers away. We had been taught that God was living in heaven above, taking care of us. One day, looking at a warplane overhead, the only tangible, powerful thing he could see in the sky, my brother cried out, “Terrible God.”
We reminisced about our childhood and sang hymns. My brother told me what he would do “if he made it.” He looked at me and said, “Did it have to come to this before I realized the reality about God, and how many loving people there are?” His voice trailed off: “Got is not Santa Claus to whom you go only to ask for things…. He is different… It is the reality of life… God is in it… all the time.”
God does not always heal a person in this life, but He gave us a little window from heaven to share closeness and love and hope of eternal life. “Till we meet again, beloved baby brother.” A hope for you and me each day.
Altogether Lovely ©2014 by Review and Herald Publishing Association