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 Ennis w8wn@arrl.net
(Received on Thursday June 15, 2000)
