The Difference of a Year

I'm living in the Chicagoland area, much as I was a year ago. The only difference is that a year ago, I just gotten out here, having driven cross-country to begin a grueling Summer of intensive German language reading studies. Back East, in Philadelphia, my family was adjusting to not having me around. It was hot and humid back in the Philadelphia region. Lots of thunderstorms. Lots. Back here in Chicago, it was hot, but not oppressive. Low humidity compared to what I was used to back East. Even comfortable.

Emily had just returned from completing her freshman year at Houghton College in upstate New York. She had done well, and had plans to major in Pre-Med. Emily is the third of seven kids. Her father is a Methodist pastor, and a year ago, was in the midst of packing up the church-owned parsonage he and his family had lived in for over fifteen years for a move to a new church family in the Delaware Water Gap region, north of Philadelphia.

That was a year ago.

On Tuesday, June 10, 2008, a terrible wave of thunderstorms blew through the Philadelphia region. That evening, Emily was outside, raking up fresh-cut grass, with one of her younger brothers when the storm hit. They went in, waiting out the storm, hoping for it to end so they could go back outside and cool off. From what I was told, the storm seemed to have ended. Emily and her brother went back outside, maybe fifty yards from their house. It thundered, and her brother decided to go in. There was a loud a thundering crash of lightening, and he decided to run inside, turning to yell to his sister to do the same, but she was lying on the ground.

I won't try to recount all the details to the story that was told to me many times. But Emily was struck by lightening. And she was dead. Her brother ran in, and told his parents, a neighbor called 9-1-1, and her father ran out and began CPR. An ambulance showed up, and continued trying to recusitate Emily. CPR wasn't working, and neither did the defibulator. My understanding was that after administering adrenalin along with another shot from the defibulator were they able to get her heart started ... somewhere around fifteen minutes after her heart had first stopped beating.

That was a year ago.

The initial prognosis was not good. It was an emotionally painful time. But after weeks in the burn unit, and then more weeks at a rehab hospital, Emily was able to go home. But she is not the same Emily. She suffered brain trauma due to the lack of oxygen, and requires much attention. However, God in His grace, delivered her. She undergoes regular therapy sessions due to the great attention, courage, and love of her parents and siblings. She has made noticable, if slow progress. And it is far greater progress than any of her initial physicians estimated possible.

She is relegated to a wheel chair, and needs help being fed. But with great effort, she can respond to some questions. She is aware of her surroundings.

That was a year ago.

She was dead, but now she is alive. It's the difference of a year. While there is no prodigalness (if there is such a word) to this story, Emily's parents are today thankful to God, the God of mercy and grace. God restored her, gave her back to them. Their lives are not at all what they thought they'd be at this point. Their life as a family is are hard. But they would not trade it for the alternative. They trust God. Trust Him to work through life's difficulties. Trust Him for the grace to deal with the day-to-day difficulties. Trust Him to bring life out of death.

The difference of a year can be absolutely incredible. It can also be absolutely frightening. We, like the hypothetical man in the book of James - whom James holds up as making all of life's plans without any care or concern for God - too often live our lives without any sense of how quickly life can change. Only those who have experienced tragedy, whose faith has been tested in the crucible of pain and suffering like Emily and her family, know how fragile is humanity. As Isaiah, and Peter after him remind us, the grass withers, and the flowers fade, but the Word of our God stands forever.

The difference of a year reminds me that God, and God alone, must be our foundation. As Emily's mom and dad have reminded me solely by the way they've lived out their faith this past year, only faith in God is enough to get us through a year.