Christ in the Workplace

I'm sure you've heard and told 'a friend of a friend' stories before. Well I have one for you, which I received in the most current issue of the 'Challenge Newsletter', a publication of the Christians in Commerce, International. The organization is made up of Business men and women around the world trying to affect the market-place with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One of the members in Salinas, CA invited a co-worker to go with him and other family members to minister to the elderly at a nursing home. It was near Christmas and they were going to do some caroling. The woman accepted and brought her mother and college aged son along. The activity had a particularly huge impact on the son. The young man used that opportunity to turn his life in another direction. He took advantage of 'a second chance'.

Months later, he wrote a letter to family members acknowledging his mistakes and how God's grace had made a difference in his life. What follows are excerpts from that letter. [used with permission]
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' Dear Everyone,

I'm not sure if you are all aware but I got a DUI last August '06. After I came back home, I hated every day that my parents or sister had to take me to school. Everyday I got into the car was a reminder of my mistake. At first, I told everyone that I had just moved home to boost my GPA and intern at an AG company locally.

As this past year went on I dug deep in my soul to make my parents proud of me again as the day they dropped me off in Pamona at Cal-Poly for my Freshman year.

Over the past year I accomplished more than I had my previous 3 years of college. I boosted my GPA to a 3.7. I paid off all my DUI fines, I got a great job interning at a great company, I became closer with my family, and I became confirmed in the Catholic Church [sealing my faith in God].

I have done absolutely everything in my power to make an example of myself to my friends and to those who know my story. I know God has a plan for all of us and I feel and know that God called me to be an example to others. No matter how rough life may seem at times or if you my feel God has abandoned you, know that he is always with you.'
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We never know the effect our 'invitation' to co-workers and friends may have, or what God might do with and for them. Our choice to include them may be 'a second chance' for them.

Do you have 'a second chance' story to share? Write it in the 'Comments' box for the most current post, or any post, and we'll do the rest.

Let him die

This is a real story. Real names are being used. Real people are involved.

His name is Mitch. He's in his early thirties. He is a nephew of close friends of ours - Cindy and Tim. Mitch lives in Ohio. His aunt Cindy is a sister to his mother. Aunt Cindy and uncle Tim live in Oklahoma. My wife and I live in Indiana.

Two or three years ago, our friends, Cindy and Tim, put out a request for prayers for their nephew Mitch in Ohio. He had been in an accident and had been transported by helicopter to a major trauma center in Ft. Wayne IN. The town Mitch is from is about half-way between Ft. Wayne IN and Toledo OH. He suffered some very bad injuries to the head.

Many people prayed. Mitch eventually got better. Mitch returned home to NW Ohio and all seemed to be going OK.

This past spring, March 2007, another plea for prayers went out from Cindy & Tim - Mitch again - major head trauma again - this time brought on by a blow to the head by an iron bar.This time he was taken to a major trauma center in Toledo OH. Again, people prayed.

A couple of weeks passed and word went out that Mitch had been in a vegetative state since arrival at the hospital. Doctors were not optimistic at all. For a couple of weeks, every medical test and procedure they tried failed. Brain activity was apparently very much non-functioning. Mitch was on full life support. The prognosis was terminal.

My wife, aunt Rozann, is a middle-school science teacher. On the weekend in late March that she was starting her school's Spring Break, we received more word from Cindy and Tim about Mitch. Cindy's sister, Mitch's mother, notified Cindy that she was considering having Mitch removed from life-support. The doctors held no hope of recovery. She asked Cindy if there was anyway she could come to OH and help her make funeral and burial plans. Since Mitch was on full support and it would take Cindy a few days to make arrangements to come to Toledo, her sister said she'd wait a few days before pulling the plug. That way Cindy could be there and help her with all that would be needed.

Aunt Rozann is from a small farming community in southeastern Michigan, just across the state line from Toledo OH. Her father was in an assisted care facility just outside Toledo. We were already planning to go visit her dad during Spring Break. We advised Cindy and Tim that we would be in Toledo on Tuesday morning, not only to visit Rozann's dad, but to have lunch with a brother and sister of mine. We asked for information on where Mitch was, including room number if they had access to that info, and said we wanted to stop by and pray with Mitch and his mother.

We come from a very Catholic Charismatic background and when we say we want to pray with someone, especially like Mitch, we intend to ask for healing and expect things to happen. Of course G-d is G-d and He calls the shots - all we can do is ask, albeit rather intensely.

We arrived at the hospital around 11am. We found the room in a critical care unit. His mother and a younger niece of about 11 years of age were there with him. We talked with his mother at some length [we had met her before several years ago]. Mitch was still all hooked up. His mother told us that the orders had been issued. He would be removed from life support as soon as a room on another floor became available. She added that she reneged a little in her instructions - she wanted the feeding tube left in. For as long as his body was alive, she wanted it to be fed. We prayed ... then we left.

Mitch was moved to another floor. All life support equipment was removed, except the feeding tube. They did continue to leave telemetry equipment on so they could monitor his condition. Aunt Cindy was to arrive in the next few days from Oklahoma to help her sister with funeral arrangements.

When they placed his flaccid body in the new bed, they kind of propped him up. While they were doing this, his body 'twitched' and his hand 'grabbed' the nurse's arm. This was explained away as an involuntary muscular reflexion. Sometime later, he coughed. Sometime after that, he 'fell out of bed'. Things were happening. His body was moving in ways that could not be explained.

It was during this that the little sister, whom we saw standing next to the bed stroking her uncle's arm and holding his limp hand when we were there, told her mother that after we left she thought she felt Mitch try to squeeze her hand a couple of times.

With the onset of the following events, Aunt Cindy didn't have to make the trip to help with final arrangements. She did come a week later to much happier circumstances.

Within the next days, Mitch was being helped to walk the halls. Soon after they moved him to a rehab unit. In another couple of weeks he went home.

Mitch was not a 'churched' individual. His aunt Cindy told us afterwards that he is now a 'believer'. He still is not a church goer, but he is willing to tell everyone and anyone who will listen that G-d performed a miracle for him. He also claims [and some scoff at this] that shortly before he remembers opening his eyes, he 'died' and met his deceased grandfather, who told him it wasn't his time yet, and he'd have to go back ... and he did.

Mitch has been given a couple of significant second chances in his life. This one seems to have been miraculous. I don't know what G-d has in mind for this young man, but I hope he's able to find it and do it. It would appear the miracle was not because of anything Mitch did or said but because others interceeded for him and G-d answered.

Do you have "a second chance" story to share? Write it up in the comment box. It could end up in a post.