10.14.15 "I was never alone!"

Psalm 139:13-18¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. ¹⁵ You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. ¹⁶ You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

¹⁷ How precious are your thoughts about me,^[a] O God. They cannot be numbered! ¹⁸ I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!

With great sacrifice my parents sent me to a boarding school in my ninth grade year.  This happened in part because I showed an interest in going and partly because the public school I was attending at the time was a complete mess.  Gangs roamed the halls and streets surrounding the school and there was violence of every kind pretty much every day.  So I think a large part of the decision to send me away to school was driven by a need for them to know that I was safe.

Oddly the only time I’ve ever spent in a hospital was when I was away at school.  I was admitted there after having a couple of fainting episodes and I can tell you I was pretty shaken up when they told me they believed I had a form of meningitis.  At the time I didn’t really know what that was but I could tell it was serious by the way everyone was acting.

So here I am alone in the hospital my parents and family hundreds of miles away.  The first night my heart was full of hope that at any moment my Mom would walk in the door.  But the next morning I had the opportunity to speak with her briefly and she said informed me that my Dad was working out of town and was unreachable for a couple of days.  That tells how long ago this happened.  At any rate I could hear the disappointment in her voice when she said she simply could not say how long it would take them to reach me.

So night two began without hope that someone would come soon.  Alone in the darken hospital bedroom I fought off tears and feeling sorry for myself and began to pray.  Almost instantly I felt a presence in the room that I could sense as strongly as the sterile smell of the hospital itself. I could feel the presence watching me and silently assuring me that indeed I was not alone.  I drifted off to sleep only to be awaken by a nurse taking my vitals and excitedly calling for a doctor.  After the doctor looked me over he said, “You’re a pretty lucky young man.  You gave us a bit of a scare.  Your temperature has been hovering around 104 for almost two days now and we couldn’t get it under control.  Suddenly now it’s normal.  Looks like you’re going to be fine.”

I spent one more night in the hospital just as a precaution.  I spoke to my Mom who had finally reached my Dad and told her there was no need to come I would be released and back at school before they could get there.  She was happy I was OK but wanted to come anyway so I wouldn’t have to be alone.  It was then with the utmost confidence I assured her that she needn’t worry because I knew indeed I was never alone.

Who is like YOU FATHER of the universe!  Because of the gracious sacrifice of YOUR SON I can experience YOUR deep love for me intimately even in the solitary stillness of a hospital room!  No matter what LORD, never let me forget that I am never ever, alone.  In CHRIST name we pray! AMEN