Vivian and George are taking turns spending time in the I C U sitting with
Jennifer.  I have learned in the last few weeks that George was born with
asthma.  At times, when he was 5 and 6 and 7 years old, he could not get his
breath and literally, even at that age, thought he was going to die.  So,
watching his daughter go through this, of course, easily triggers old
memories.  George was 28 years old when the Lord totally healed him and his
lungs and he has never once had a breathing problem or asthma since.
Jennifer has come to the point where she can hardly cough and she has been
coughing so hard for the last 5 or 6 weeks, she is about wore out.  Stop and
think how we feel with a cold after coughing for several days.  Your stomach
and ribs her and about every other muscle in your body.  She is on
medication to try and keep her coughing up what's in her lungs but the
medication isn't working very well.  At times, The next phase, they say, is
inserting tubes down her nose into her lungs to extract what isn't coming
out by coughing.  George told me that Jennifer begins crying and calling on
the name of the Lord to help her because she can't breathe.  Try and be a
mom or dad sitting there when that happens.  I remember stepping on a nail
once when I was about 8 or 9 years old.  I was taken to the doctor and for a
few days, I could not even walk.  I remember my folks keeping me on the
couch at night, instead of upstairs in my bedroom, so they could be near me
during the night.  The first night, I hurt so bad, I told my dad I wanted to
die and why didn't God just take me to Heaven so I wouldn't hurt any more.
Years later, I remember this and I often wonder how my dad felt when his
little boy was in that much pain that he wanted to die.  So, again, put
yourself in the place of these two people as they hear their 23 year old
daughter crying out for God to help her.  I talked to George for about an
hour and a half tonight.  He was pretty discouraged.  What do you tell a
person when they say, "What do you personally think the Lord is trying to do
here in this situation?"  So what do you think I did?  Do you think I got
out my Sunday school book and thumbed through that for an answer?  What
chapter and verse would you dial up in your Scofield Bible to try and
encourage two people about ready to break in two from sadness?  No, I didn't
use all types of examples of people I knew who had gone through similar
things but I did use people in the Bible who were under such pressure, they
were about to crack.  Then I told George the bottom line and I will tell you
the same thing.  Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.  This is
God's clock.  He only created time for our benefit because God doesn't care
about time nor does He need a watch to see what time it is every day.  The
earth travels around the sun every 365.24 days for our benefit because God
knew we would be curious about time but God does not need such information.
I told George that if his daughter lives or dies, Jesus is still Lord.  Can
I explain this in a theological way that would lift his spirits and cause
him to jump for joy?  Of course not nor can anybody else.  I did tell George
the truth, however, and that is, Jennifer's own authority supercedes his as
her father.  I told him to stand fast, to the best of his ability, but I
said, if Jennifer wants to go, let her go.  I know George would rather give
his life for his daughter to live but we don't get that choice.  Jesus has
already done that for us and for Jennifer.  Just remember what I said.  No
matter what happens, Jesus is still Lord.  Death has no sting for His own.

Phil.