in our church bulletin, are listed the birthdays and anniversaries of
our members that are occurring that month. I celebrated my initial
birthday last month (January). But, I also have another birthday.
In fact, all Christians have two birthdays. The day of their physical
birth and the occasion of their “Spiritual” birth.
Do you recall Jesus’
conversation with a guy named Nicodemus? Jesus had told him that if he
had not been “born again” that he couldn’t “see the kingdom of heaven.”
Of course, Nicodemus asked Him how that could be. Can someone go back “into the womb” and be born
a second time? Let’s just read the reply Jesus made to him in response to
that question. In John 3:3-6 He said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one be born of water
and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of
the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
We know, from the study
of various other scriptures, that “born
of water” is referring to baptism. Here’s a few scriptures
you might look at that show us this reference: Colossians 2:12, 1 Peter 1:23
and chapters 3, 4 & 5 of 1 John. So, all Christians have two
birthdays. One, of the flesh, and the other of “the Spirit.”
Then there are some that
have three birthdays with me being one of them. Today, February 18th, I’m
celebrating the 15th occasion of my third birthday. I suppose it could be
considered and anniversary also. On Feb. 18th, 2003, a team of doctors
and nurses removed my heart from my body, made some medical corrections (6-way
bypass) and put it back in me. During this procedure I was kept alive by
a machine.
Later that day I woke up
to find my body a mass of wires, tubes and staples - but, I was alive. As
far as I’m concerned, I was reborn so, every Feb. 18th I get to celebrate the 3rd
birthday of my life. I don’t remember anything about the first one and I
remember my 2nd one occurring when I was 12 years old. But, I really
remember coming alive from the 3rd so I’m going to talk for a moment about
these remembrances.
First, just the “waking
up.” Have you ever given much thought about “waking up?” Probably
not, as it’s pretty much something we take for granted. Well, after this
kind of surgery, “waking up” takes on a whole new meaning. Trust me when
I tell you that “waking up,” coming alive each morning isn’‘t taken for granted
anymore.
For the last 15 years
I’ve been markedly aware of what a blessing it is to “wake up.” You
realize that God has blessed you with another day of life. In fact it
makes you more aware of all other types of blessings also. We’re going to
look at a couple more of God’s blessings in the rest of our time and space here
today.
My second thing that I
remember after “waking up” is that you have an appreciation of what we refer to
as “little things.” All of a sudden they’re not so little anymore.
Let me cite you an example of what I’m talking about.
I’m sure that we’ve all
enjoyed some great dinners in our lives. Maybe even partaken of some
veritable feasts. And, when I think of feasts, I think about what was
said about the daily food intake of Solomon and his entourage. (1 Kings
4:22-23). Reading that, can’t you just picture what greats feasts and
banquets he must have had?
Well, let me tell you
that there is something so “little” and so ordinary that will rival any meal
you’ve enjoyed or that Solomon ever hosted. They’re called “ice
chips.” You see, after you have the sensation of “waking up,” and after
you realize that you’re alive, comes another sensation. You’re dying of
thirst and any metaphor you want to use to describe a dry mouth will fit
here. “Dust pan, cotton-mouth etc”, you get the picture.
There’s only one major
problem - they won’t allow you to eat or drink anything to keep you from having
an upset stomach. I don’t think that I can adequately draw you a word
picture of what a problem that would bring about. But, they will place a
few ice chips just inside your lips. I’m here to tell you that nothing
was ever better tasting or more refreshing than those few little ice chips.
Makes you realize that our blessings come to us in all shapes and sizes.
The last thing I’m going
to mention here today is “prayers.”
You know, Christians are supposed to be praying people. I sometimes worry
that we don’t pray enough, or that we almost pray by rote. That we just
say the words so routinely that we turn our prayers into afterthoughts.
Sometimes it takes a
traumatic event to put prayer into its proper perspective. I see this as
another blessing during my ordeal of Feb. 18th, 2003. That many of my
faithful Christian brethren were praying for me while I was praying for the
doctor. It’s hard to express how reassuring it is to know that when
something of that nature is occurring.
When I consider the
reassurance that prayer brings as you’re facing a severe trial, I think about
something said by the Apostle Paul. I guess that it comes the closest to
describing the effect prayer has in Christian lives. In Philippians 4:7
he writes, “And the peace of
God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Jesus Christ.”
When you’re laying in
the hospital and thinking about what’s soon to occur, and you know that you’ve
celebrated your 2nd birth, you have “peace.”
And not just “peace”
in general, but the “peace that
passes all understanding.” It’s the “peace” through Jesus Christ
that will “keep our hearts.”
I truly feel sorry for
the many people in this world who are facing things such as open heart
surgeries or any other major life-threatening situation that don’t have the “peace of Jesus Christ” to “keep their hearts.”
Respectfully submitted,
Ron Covey
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