Rising Up

In church today, the sermon text was from Acts 14, where Paul is stoned and dragged and left for dead.  But the disciples gather around him, "and he rose up"  (v 20).  We feel that we have had a distant glimpse of a similar miracle with Kevin.  JD's mom told us today that he's up out of bed,  Walking.  Talking.  Eating.  He remembers the past well, recognizes everyone, is very coherent, and even the initial glitch of short-term memory/retention is improving dramatically and speedily.  This is such a rapid return of life that we are all amazed, grateful.  From life support in the ICU  to walking down the hall and talking to his wife and kids, in 2 1/2 days.  I told Mrs. Johnston that if I ever experience sudden death, I hope JD is near by!  The first two responders were a man with a cell phone who called 911, and a man who pulled over and jumped out of his truck having just completed a life-saving certificate.  He and JD clearly did an excellent job to keep blood flowing and oxygen entering in all those long minutes of pulselessness.  The wife as a warrior, fighting for her husband's life, is an image I have of the event.  On their anniversary, no less.  

I realized with this good news, too, how we've all been in a collective suspended state of uncertainty, waiting for news, and if that is emotionally draining seven thousand miles away then it must have been nearly unbearable up close.  Please continue to pray for the Barts as the week unfolds, as the work now of isolating the trigger of the arrhythmia, and correcting it possibly surgically, will be necessary.  

Meanwhile that collective relief is also palpable at school, as Kevin's former students and staff contact us frequently for updates, and as the anxious stirring of unrest and violence seems to be diffused for now. We may not be gathering around physically, but the Ugandan disciples have gathered spiritually.  As the young man leading the church service said today, there is not a single family in the congregation whose life has not been impacted in some way by Christ School and the Barts.  Many are giving God glory for this miraculous rising up.