An Unexpected Meeting

          I don't even remember being in the recovery room but I guess I was.  The first thing that I remember, following my recent surgery, was trying to get awake in my hospital room.  My wife says that I told her that I was sleepy and that she told me that everything went fine and that she would be back shortly.  I vaguely remember that discussion.

          As I began to wake up I discovered something that really disappointed me.  I did not have a private room as I did during my last hospital stay.  I would need to share my couple of days there with another person who I didn't know.  The curtain was drawn around my bed so I didn't know anything about him, but I could hear that somebody was there.  He did have a few visitors but they actually didn't bother me.

          The curtain remained around my bed all day and all night so we didn't get to see or meet each other that first day.  I didn't sleep much the first night but I could tell that he did.  He apparently had something that he could use to control his pain medicine and so he slept.  With doctors and nurses in and out all night I heard that he had lower back surgery with another surgeon.  He was fitted with a back brace to wear when he would finally be left out of bed.

          When morning came, the curtain was still drawn. Even though I am generally very reserved, I felt that I should at least try to introduce myself and so, I finally shared my name with my new roommate, Paul.  When the curtain was finally pushed back I found that Paul was an afro-american, probably in his late 50's.  He was a tank truck driver who had hurt his back in an accident.  He was very concerned about being able to drive truck once again.  And as we talked it soon became evident that we were brothers in the Lord and that was a special blessing.  He didn't have any more visitors during our stay except for his niece who was an employee of the hospital and would drop in once in awhile.  His wife was unable to drive.

          Paul had been in the military for years and had lived all over the country.  But when he retired from the service, about 12 years previously, he and his wife moved to New York.  Then his wife's sister died leaving their mother to raise three children here in Lancaster.  When her mother also died, the children had no where to go, so Paul and his wife moved to Lancaster and adopted the three children. They never had any children of their own. During that time he and his wife were saved through the ministry of an area church and now his desire was to raise these three children to serve the Lord.  Ironically, the youngest actually had once attended our Awana program for a year when they lived at Woods Edge.   He had nothing but good things to say about Awana and I wouldn't be completely surprised to see his youngest nephew return next Fall.  I shared with him the special blessing that God has given him by giving him this special mission field in his own home.  He said he had never thought of it this way before and appreciated that view point.  Two of the three seem to be serving the Lord, but the middle one, who works at the hospital, appears to not have much time for the Lord.

          It has been hard for Paul to find regular work in this area but he does have an offer to drive tankers out of North Dakota.  That would mean four weeks away from home and then two weeks home.  He realizes that this would be hard on his family and his wife is opposed to it.  But he sees it as an opportunity to make some big money for a year or two.  We discussed the pros and cons of this and the need to keep the employment issue before the Lord.  I had a chance to share some of the Lord's leadings and opened and closed doors in my life.  Paul appeared to really appreciate these discussions and later thanked me for them.  He said that I had been a real help and encouragement to him.  Maybe that was one of the reasons that the Lord allowed me to go through this unexpected surgery at this time.

            Paul also had a chance to meet two of my sons and he really enjoyed talking to them, especially my youngest.  They had much in common, especially with their interest in athletics.  They, too, were an encouragement to him.

         On our final day we both were waiting to get discharged and while he was released by physical therapy before me, my official discharge actually came before him.  Before they wheeled me out to the car, I went back to Paul and prayed for him.  He indeed was a brother in the Lord and while we may never meet again here on earth, I am sure that we will meet again in heaven some day.  So, as he often does, the Lord provided me with a special blessing in a difficult time.  Certainly He knows our every step.