Three times in my life I have found myself in a surgical suite – and two of those times were on May 2nd. Back when I was 25, I had to have my tonsils out on May 2, 1979, 11 months to the day after my father died. And, I was in the same hospital where Dad passed away. I’ve never been good with doctors, and surgeons in particular, but this surgery was unavoidable. After almost a year of suffering massive throat infections, it was decided that my tonsils had to come out.
I was not a good patient – and still am not – so we reached a compromise that I would get my tonsils out, but they would do it under a local anesthetic. On hindsight, that was probably a bad idea. Although it has made a great story throughout the years, I was so sore and nervous during the whole episode that I think I was forever traumatized by the experience. After all, I had been hospitalized in isolation on massive doses of steroids for days and the treatments to avoid surgery just weren’t working.
I was fortunate that years ago I don’t know what would have happened to me. I guess that I would eventually have choked to death or my throat would have swollen to the point that I couldn’t eat or drink – it would have been very ugly indeed.
Then four years ago, I ruptured my right quad tendon up near Chicago when my brother, Doug, and I were helping our youngest brother to move into a new apartment. We had purchased a new mattress and box spring for him and I was taking the protective plastic cover off. I was dragging it down to the trash and must have slipped on the curb or the trash I was trying to carry. Anyway, the next think I knew I was looking up at the sky, the pain was incredible but I couldn’t see or feel that anything was broken.
My perceived victory was short lived. While it was true that all my bones were in tack, I couldn’t move my lower right leg. To cut to the chase, surgery to reconnect my quad tendon was the only solution – of course, the doctors were telling me that 100 years ago they would have just cut off my leg. Compared to that, surgery didn’t seem like such a bad idea. But I couldn’t help but think of all those people in the Civil War, on both sides of the fight, who were permanently disabled as a result of that horrible injuries they sustained on the battlefield.
Rehab was very painful and as I look back on that time 4 years ago Monday, I continue to be grateful to the surgeons for the great work they did on my leg. And also to those surgeons who fixed my throat infection back in 1979. I am also grateful that God put me in this time and place when medical science had the knowledge to help fix me – years ago I would not have been able to survive.
So May 2nd always has particular importance for me. It is a time for me to marvel at the grace of God and to look back at the years ago when I was so terribly fearful of surgical procedures. Make no mistake – I’m still not fond of going “under the knife.” But these experiences have also taught me about the wonder of the human body. Not only has God designed us beyond our wildest imagination, but our capacity to heal and recover from severe injuries or infirmities is nothing short of miraculous.
We weren’t just created in some wild random moment. Our brains, hearts and various systems all function together as one cohesive unit. I think that is why Paul uses parts of the body as an illustration when speaking about the “body” of Christ. The body functions best when all the parts of the body are present and working together.
One of my favorite psalms speaks to the topic of how God created us. Our verse for tonight, from Psalm 139, tells us the psalmist was in awe of the work of God in creating us. He tells us, in Psalm 139:13-16, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
My encouragement this evening is that we are grand designs of God, who created us in His image. There are no wasted parts or things that don’t have a purpose. We are, indeed, fearfully and wonderfully made. My prayer is that we will always take time to thank God for our lives and the way that we were created in His likeness… And that God has also created doctors and surgeons to whom He has given the knowledge to help us live the best possible lives we can for His kingdom. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…