Greg, his wife Cindy, and Trish
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Posted by: Sherm Nichols on Mon, Aug 2, 2010
My friend Greg is a godly man. He is a husband, and father of 4 girls. Greg not only serves in the church, he’s also a servant to his community. He has leadership qualities, and is well-trained to put them to good use. My friend Greg also has inherited a disease that for the past few years has begun to rob him of his health. In the past year, it has become serious to the point where, without a kidney transplant, he would have to start dialysis treatments to stay alive. The need for a live kidney donor for Greg was made known in his home church and through other circles of acquaintance. Christian brothers and sisters all over began to pray for Greg’s situation, and continued to pray, which is the only explanation for how Greg is doing as I write this.
The number of people who added their name to the list of potential donors and underwent preliminary testing was a number that, according to the doctors, “doesn’t happen.” Greg’s ability to continue to work and function over the past year, though with difficulty, was another thing that “doesn’t happen” with someone in the condition to which he had degraded.
A donor with an excellent match was found – a young lady named Trish who had been a student of Greg’s in law enforcement school. Not only was she someone whose life was influenced by him, but she was also a sister in Christ and a member of a Christian family. The surgeries were “textbook,” taking far less time than everyone in the waiting room expected. The recovery rate for both of them was ahead of schedule. Trish’s visit to Greg’s room in ICU, the evening of their surgery day, was something that the ICU nurse had “never seen” in her 15 years of doing this. 3 days after her kidney was removed, Trish attended church services back home. 4 days after his transplant, Greg is headed home too, with the prospect of health that he hasn’t had for some time now.
The hospital in St. Louis does some 245 of these surgeries every year. They don’t all go like these did. There were some other things that “don’t happen” around this surgery too – like a circle of prayer by gathered friends the night before in the lobby of the hotel. There were the 37 people in the waiting room, and the rest of a huge network of prayer warriors who lifted Greg and Trish to heaven’s throne. There was the Family of God, providing emotional, financial, and practical support of all kinds, to help both these families through this amazing journey. The number of “not happening” things that happened is far from coincidental.
Greg could choose to question God and bemoan all he has had to go through. Instead, he and his wife Cindy have worked to take the teachable moments and spoken about the obvious work of God in all this.
As for me, I just sit back in wonder at the way God works. This Household of God, of which you and I are a part, is truly amazing. How blessed I am to be a part of it.
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