6

Losing Your Life...and Finding It

(Reflections on the experience)

As this story is written, some 7 months later, Fred is almost fully recovered. Meningitis can cause permanent damage to the brain and other internal organs, the loss of limbs, deafness, vision impairment, depression, and other terrible things. In the first couple of months Fred experienced facial paralysis, vision problems, a numb forearm, weakness in one hand, and great difficulty walking. For a while, his ability to read, write, play musical instruments, and participate in sports was affected. Fred was prepared to live with permanent damage, but as the months went by, each problem cleared up. At this writing, the only remaining effect is his weakened knee, and it is making slow, steady progress. Fred received a clean bill of health from his doctor and he takes no medications. God has been gracious.

Fred should not have survived his bout with meningitis. It is vitally important to treat the infection within hours. Yet Fred lay in his hotel room in a coma for some 17 hours before being taken to the hospital. It was probably some hours after that before treatment was started. Since Fred’s illness, we have heard a number of stories of people who were killed within hours by meningitis infection.

His recovery was amazingly fast. It is common for a meningitis victim to be unconscious for weeks or even months before recovering. Yet Fred was fully conscious again after only 5 days and was able to travel half way across the world only two weeks after being stricken with meningitis.

Many people played a role in Fred’s treatment and recovery, but all the credit belongs to God. As we have stated over and over in this story, every problem and obstacle was drenched in prayer. The reliance was upon God, and he took care of everything.

Was there any purpose to this experience? Why would God allow such a thing to happen?

The experience of nearly losing your life can give you a fresh perspective on life -- what it is, how fragile it is, and how it should be lived. Fred and Suzanne had both been reading the classic Christian book, Absolute Surrender, by Andrew Murray, before Fred’s illness. This book tells us that we need to release every aspect of our life to God’s control. When things are under His control, He can take care of them much better than we can. Fred and Suzanne had each been convicted that God wanted them to surrender everything to His control. This illness was a practical test. Could Suzanne surrender her husband to God? Could Fred surrender his very life? Can we release the things we hold most dear to God’s control, and trust Him to do with those things as He pleases?

Each of them had experienced smaller tests of this principle during the week before Fred’s illness. Suzanne was helping her friend, Lilian, to teach a Bible club where the children were out of control. Each week the club descended into chaos, despite the little tricks and strategies the teachers tried. Finally, Suzanne and Lilian admitted to God that they were helpless and asked the Lord to take control of the club. The next club meeting was transformed as the Lord took control. The children were quiet and well-behaved. Each week as they gave the Lord control, the experience was the same.

Several days before falling ill, Fred had arrived at the airport in Xian. With his two suitcases, computer, video camera, and backpack in tow, he was the last to arrive at the shuttle bus that goes into the city. Although the bus looked full, the attendant folded down another seat and stashed Fred’s luggage in various places in the jam-packed bus. During the long trip into the city, Fred struck up a conversation with a young man next to him to ask how to reach the university where he was planning to stay. The young man was a student in another nearby university, so he offered to go with Fred in a taxi when the bus finally arrived in downtown Xian and unloaded its passengers. The taxi arrived at the university gate and Fred unloaded his luggage only to discover that his computer was missing.

The taxi driver took them back to the bus stop, where the bus, of course, was long gone. What to do? The young man said he would look for the bus office, and disappeared into the night. The taxi driver waited with Fred...and waited. It seemed the young man would never return. Fred contemplated the cost of replacing the computer, which belonged to his employer, and the two weeks’ work that the computer contained -- all lost. The taxi driver tried to suggest a course of action, as did passers-by, but Fred could not understand the heavy local accent. No one spoke English. There was nothing to do but wait and give the Lord control of the situation. Finally, the taxi driver left, refusing extra payment for the 45 minutes he had been waiting. Fred was left standing on a street corner, helpless. But as things seemed hopeless, there came the student, carrying Fred’s computer. He accepted my profuse thanks, rejected the cash I offered him, and disappeared again into the night. Another Chinese-speaking angel?