How Do Miracles Happen?

I was working out of town on Friday and I got a call from my cousin Toni, "Phillip is in the hospital, he coded, I need you to call everyone..."

"Huh, what? WHO is in the hospital?" I was saying nervously. I was working in rural Illinois so my AT&T connection was not very strong so I didn't hear her correctly or at least I didn't think I heard her correctly.

"I gotta go, call everyone," she said as she hung up.

I was confused and disoriented. "Who did she say? I think she said Phillip, but would he be in the hospital?" I was thinking to myself. I went back to the car to try to make sense of what she was saying. I was trying to figure out who to call to get more information. I mean...Phillip is our 31 year old cousin. Why would he be in the hospital.

I called my aunt.

"What's going on?" I asked calmly.

"Phillip is in the hospital, he coded and we are on our way up there," she said.

I don't remember much else of what she said. My heart started hurting. I remember crying and calling my brothers and sisters. I was confused trying to drive. I had to pull over in a gas station parking lot to compose myself and to pray.

All I could do was pray and pray is what I did.

I was trying to make sense of the day. What in the world was going on? So I prayed....I called my friend to tell her that I would be back in town to drop off her keys and I told her what happened. I called another church friend to let him know that I wouldn't be at church that night and I told him what was going on. I was trying to think.

I called my Apostle's wife and left her a message. I'm not sure how long I sat, but then I began to replay my morning...

I had just listened to a man give his account of dying from being shot 5 times. He thought someone turned the lights out because it was really dark, but they pronounced him dead. He had tag on his toe and he was in the morgue. When the lights came on he opened his eyes. He was trying to figure out where he was...he was on a steel table and he was naked. Then he saw a man standing over him with some type of equipment. He asked the man what he was getting ready to do.  The man ran out the door. So the guy on the steel table gets up and walks out the room down the hallways. People are staring and the doctors try to talk to him and tell him that he needs to stay in the hospital. They were all amazed and not really sure about what to do because he had been shot 5 times, pronounced dead, and now he's up walking and wants to go home.

Well, they let him go because he lived down the street. He makes his way home and his daughter answers the door and faints. The man starts to yell and his wife comes into the room, sees him and she faints. He's trying to figure out what is going on. His wife and daughter come to and they explain to him that he was pronounced dead. They saw him lying on the table.....DEAD. No heart beat. nothing. The man tells them that he's not dead now and he kissed the ground.

So as I'm crying to God for mercy and grace to not let my cousin die, I remember this story and I begin to reason with God about how it is that I just listened to this miracle and now my cousin is in a situation where a miracle is needed. I was praying to God for a miracle.

I got a phone call from my brother (after the text that said he has a heart beat but it is weak). My brother said he talked to the doctor and they found out that he had pulmonary embolism and a blood clot broke off and traveled to his heart. That's what stopped his heart. They revived his heart, put him on life support and had to put him into a coma to save his brain. A brain can't go long without oxygen.

There is hope, I thought. I kept praying while updating my family.

In the meantime my sister from Chicago and I were planning to drive home together, but we decided that since it sounds like he's getting better maybe we should not try to head there at that time, but wake up in the morning and start fresh.

We got a call around 8pm that he took a turn for the worse. We hit the highway. I got to the hospital at 3am. I went to my cousin's bed praying. I touched him and my insides started shaking. I didn't know what was going on in my body, but all I could do is pray and watch the monitors. His blood pressure was not good.  I prayed and prayed. I went home around 4:30am.

To Be Continued...

Grilled Cheese Restaurant

I just came back from California. My brother bought a plane ticker for my niece to come visit him, but he said he didn't take off work and she would be there for 10 days. My niece is 13. So I offered to come hang out with her and them for her vacation. But my trip wouldn't be 10 days, but only 7. And I didn't fly into San Diego I few into Las Vegas and rented a car to drive 5 hours to San Diego. My flight and rental car was about $500 and if I would have gotten a flight from Chicago or St. Louis to San Diego, it would have been about $600 and then I would have had to travel to St. Louis or Chicago, so I got a good deal.

We went to Coronado Beach, La Jolla Beach, and Mission Bay to go jet skiing. We also enjoyed the water park for a day.

When we went to L.A. we stayed in Hacienda Heights which is about 25 miles from LA, but with traffic it takes about 50 minutes to get to LA. We walked up to the Griffeth Observatory to see the Hollywood sign and then we walked down Hollywood Boulevard. Overall I had a wonderful time. I really don't need to visit LA again, but my family wants to go next year. So....we are going.

Anyway, there are so many good restaurants and the so much to see. I just saw billboard and billboard of ads for all types of shows and concerts. It was amazing. I have not been to NYC, but I'm always in Chicago and LA seems "more." I don't know if that describes it...I did find my way to Beverly Hills and I went to West Angeles on Sunday morning....


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