A Dead Man Joined the Church
This past Sunday, a dead man joined the church.
About two months ago, Brent B., the 18-year-old son of a
single mother (who had only recently become a Christian),
OD'ed on drugs in VA. His mother, Teresa S., was called to
the hospital in VA, "to make some difficult ethical
decisions". Her report back to our church was that it was
bad. But she requested that the church pray that her son
would regain enough mental facilities before he died to
accept Christ.
However, he did not improve, and was declared brain dead. He
was taken off life support; but his mother requested that
the church continue to pray that he would regain
consciousness enough to make a decision. The hospital staff
thought she was crazy. She was the only Christian in her
family (and a rather new Christian), and her family thought
she was worse than crazy.
Taken off life support, he continued to breathe. He even
moved a little. But this is not that unusual. Then, on
Mother's Day, he opened his eyes and suddenly told his
mother that he loved her.
A couple of weeks ago he was moved to an extended care
facility in Louisville. He is *far* from recovered. But last
Tuesday Mike T., went up for a long visit with Brent. While
there, Brent accepted Christ.
This Sunday morning, during the 11:00 service, Brent was
wheeled down the aisle in his wheelchair to make public his
recent decision. His fiancée also made a profession of faith
at the same time (we know nothing about her; and since I'm
away, I didn't get to see all this. But I heard about his
coming from several sources immediately after the service).
We have no information on the possibility of his continued
recovery, etc. But it isn't every day that a person declared
brain dead due to drugs has the opportunity make a
profession of faith. And there probably aren't too many
churches that have had this happen.
In Him,
Shelby (Received on Thursday June 15, 2000)