“My Daddy fell down this morning and a firetruck came to my driveway. The doctor came in the house and a fireman put stickers all over Daddy’s tummy.” This was the story four-year-old Wilkes told his teacher a few weeks ago.
Susan and I were at Emory getting tests done when Emma called. She had called 911 when Taylor passed out after complaining of a racing heart. The paramedics said his heart was out of rhythm and that he needed to see a doctor. The doctor sent them to the emergency room and for a while things were crazy. Helpers rushed to his room and nurses tore off Taylor’s clothes. The doctor said, “Mr. Davis, we think you’re having a heart attack.” In the hall, a person asked Emma if her husband had a will.
I made it to the emergency room shortly after they determined Taylor was in atrial fibrillation, a condition where the heart beats irregularly and too fast. Susan drove to Taylor’s house and took care of Wilkes and Macy. Of course Emma was shaken up. The doctor released them around 10:00 that night with instructions to meet with a cardiologist and find the cause.
So for the past few weeks, Taylor has been meeting with doctors and undergoing various tests. An echocardiogram revealed he has an atrial septal defect (ASD) – basically, a hole in the heart. He has had it since birth and his heart has simply compensated for the abnormality. Doctors said it was good that the problem came to light now, because patients five to ten years older than Taylor typically experience far more dangerous problems.
Soon a date will be scheduled to patch the hole by going through a vein in Taylor’s leg. The doctor is confident he will be fine. Thanks for praying for him and Emma and all of us.
It is a terrible feeling to see your son, only in his early thirties, face a life threatening situation. This week, the world remembers another Son who in His early thirties willingly went to the location where His life would be taken. A perfect Father allowed the injustice, the suffering, and the death to take place for you and for me.
But God did not allow His only Son to remain in the ground. The blood of Jesus brings us forgiveness. His death brings us reconciliation. His resurrection brings us life. “Thank you, Lord.”
Happy Easter!
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to Him through the death of His Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through His life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5:6-11
“We died to sin; how shall we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly be united with Him in His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin – because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, He cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over Him. The death He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life He lives, He lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:2-11
