POSTED ON JULY 22, 2012 by Brad Strait, Senior Pastor of Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church (EPC) in Englewood, Colorado

At Columbine, I have seen this before. But not up close.  As a church pastor in Denver, I have worked as a chaplain alongside several police and fire departments. I was privileged to counsel parents just hours after the Littleton Columbine shootings. However, in this new tragedy at the Aurora Theater Dark Nightshooting, one of the victims was a 22 year old woman from my church, Petra Anderson (pronounced Pay-tra). Petra went to the movies with two young friends who are biking across America.  You and I have been inundated with news about what happened next. A joyful movie turned into bloody, unbelievable chaos. Petra was hit four times with a shot-gun blast, three shots into her arm and one bullet which entered her brain. This a bit of Petra’s miracle story.

With awesome people from our caring and pastoral team, I spent all day Friday in the ICU with Petra and her family. Her injuries were severe, and her condition was critical. A bullet had entered Petra’s face through her nose, and then traveled up through her brain until stopping at the back of her skull. The doctors prior to surgery were concerned, because so much of the brain had been traversed by the bullet. Many areas of brain function were involved. They were hoping to keep her alive long enough to get her into surgery. The prognosis was uncertain—if she lived, Petra might struggle with speech, movement, and thinking due to considerable brain damage. With Kim, Petra’s mother (who is in the final stages of terminal cancer), we simply cried, hugged, and prayed.

It is pressed into my memory now. Motion and emotion…

Other families come and go into the ICU waiting room. Some sit with us, and we talk. Others are visited by doctors with “Family Advocates” in tow. The families listen, sob, and then are moved like stunned cattle to a more private space to grieve. We pray. Petra is finally taken into surgery, using two different surgical teams. One team of neurosurgeons will open up the back of her skull to remove the bullet and clean up brain damage as best they can. Another ENT-specialty surgical team will then work through Petra’s nose by scope to follow the bullet’s path up into her brain.  Their hope is to remove bone fragments, clean up damaged brain tissue, and reseal her brain to reduce infection.

If you have lived any of your days in a hospital waiting room, you know how long the enduring process is. It has a woeful pattern to it. Sit. Walk. Grab a drink. Sit. Walk. Answer a phone call. Sit. Walk. Hug someone. Sit. Talk to the FBI. Sit. Pick at the food. Sit. Walk. Go down the hall, but not too far because you’re afraid to miss something. Back. Hug. Pray. Sit. Sit. A picture of a five year old waiting for next Christmas from January 1^stcomes to my mind. FOREVER. Only this feels worse: a heavy forever, with no promise of presents, Santa, or good news at the end.

After the waiting drags for over five hours, tired doctors and nurses spill back into the room, one or two at a time. I look for “Family Advocates” but can find none. I exhale. The doctors update us: “It went well, and she’s recovering now. We found very little damage to the brain, and got the bullet out cleanly. It went better than we hoped for.” Each brings a warrior’s smile, and a bit of information—information that we turn into hope as we regurgitate it over the next hours.  Still, the medical team remains professional and reserved, “Something might still go wrong. We just need to wait and see if she makes it for the next 48 hours.”

Tears and thank you’s abound. We are so thankful for these men and women. We hug. Everyone hugs. Then, round two. Sit. Wait. Pray. Fully dressed people cuddle into small snails and try to sleep on the floor. Some are shuttled to a room donated by the Holiday Inn across the street. Thank you, Lord, for every little thing. We sit. We pray. “We’ll understand better tomorrow.”

Petra is moved back to ICU. She looks, surprisingly, wonderful. With a small hole in her nose, and her arm wrapped, she almost looks uninjured. She is medicated and sleeping when I come to visit her on Saturday. I sit, talk, and pray quietly with Kim amid the darkened room, lit by glowing medical screens and power switches. Nurses, like quiet soldiers posted on guard, come in, march attentively through the machines, and go out.  These men and women really care. Finally, one of the surgeons comes in to check on Petra. He has had some sleep, and looks more like a movie star this time. As Petra sleeps, he retells the story of the surgery, and we ask questions.  The doctor reads the perfect script, as if he is on Hallmark Hall of Fame. He fills us in on the miracle. Honestly, he doesn’t call it that, he just uses words like “happily” and “wonderfully” and “in a very fortunate way” and “luckily” and “we were really surprised by that.”  Kim and I know a miracle when we see it.

It seems as if the bullet traveled through Petra’s brain without hitting any significant brain areas. The doctor explains that Petra’s brain has had from birth a small “defect” in it. It is a tiny channel of fluid running through her skull, like a tiny vein through marble, or a small hole in an oak board, winding from front to rear.  Only a CAT scan would catch it, and Petra would have never noticed it.

But in Petra’s case, the shotgun buck shot, maybe even the size used for deer hunting, enters her brain from the exact point of this defect. Like a marble through a small tube, the defect channels the bullet from Petra’s nose through her brain. It turns slightly several times, and comes to rest at the rear of her brain. And in the process, the bullet misses all the vital areas of the brain. In many ways, it almost misses the brain itself.  Like a giant BB though a straw created in Petra’s brain before she was born, it follows the route of the defect. It is channeled in the least harmful way. A millimeter in any direction and the channel is missed.  The brain is destroyed. Evil wins a round.

As he shares, the doctor seems taken aback. It is an odd thing to have a surgeon show a bit of wonder. Professionally, these guys own the universe, it seems, and take everything in stride. He is obviously gifted as a surgeon, and is kind in his manner. “It couldn’t have gone better. If it were my daughter,” he says quietly, glancing around to see if any of his colleagues might be watching him, “I’d be ecstatic. I’d be dancing a jig.” He smiles. I can’t keep my smile back, or the tears of joy. In Christianity we call it prevenient grace: God working ahead of time for a particular event in the future. It’s just like the God I follow to plan the route of a bullet through a brain long before Batman ever rises. Twenty-two years before.

While we’re talking, Petra awakes. She opens her eyes, and sits up, “Mom.” Movie-star doctor spins to grab her, to protect her from falling. The nurse assures him she’s been doing this for a while. He talks to her, and she talks back. He asks questions, and Petra has the right answers. “Where do you hurt, Petra?” “All over.” Amazed, but professional, he smiles and leaves the set shaking his head. I am so thankful for this man.

Petra is groggy and beat up, but she is herself. Honestly, I look worse before my morning coffee. “I’m thirsty,” she proclaims.

“You want an ice cube, honey?” Kim replies.

“Please.”  Wow. She lays down, back to sleep, a living miracle who doesn’t even know it yet. Good flowering out of the refuse pile of a truly dark night. “Thank you, Jesus,” I whisper.

Petra, you are amazing. Kim, you, too, are amazing. I am so proud of you both. But God, you are in a league of your own. (Duh.)

There is much ahead. More surgerys. Facial reconstruction, perhaps. And for Kim, chemo therapy to stretch every moment out of life. But life remains.The ending is yet to be written for this family. One final note: I am told Petra will take her first steps today. Time for the miracle to go for a walk.

Kim and Petra need our help. For more on the Andersons, or to help with their medical costs, please visit here. This is a great site.

Author’s Update (7/24/12, 13:26):  Petra was moved from ICU yesterday. She continues to improve. Please keep praying. Far less importantly, the Comment section has been closed. Why? Since this web site went up Sunday afternoon, the amount of traffic has gone viral, averaging about 71,000 hits per hour. This means that the comments traffic has been overwhelming, and beyond our ability to keep up with.  By far, most comments have been wonderful and supportive. God bless you all. All kinds of ideas and thoughts have been posted: thankful, angry, sad, questioning, amazed, rude, kind, and insightful. The world is filled with people who see this tragic event from different perspectives. I am thankful for all of you who commented, whether you agreed with my world view and faith perspective or not. We have been forced to think and reflect–a very good thing.  I hope the dialogue continues in other venues.

http://bstrait.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/a-miracle-inside-the-the-aurora-shooting-one-victims-story/

La demonstrația USL de la Oradea – O experiență personală.

Williams Nominated General Overseer

Orlando, FL–Mark Williams, current second assistant general overseer, was nominated to the International General Assembly on the first vote to serve as the next General Overseer of the Church of God.

Nominating the general overseer was the first order of business for the ordained bishops general council gathered in Orlando, Florida for the 74th International General Assembly. If confirmed by the International General Assembly on Friday afternoon, Williams will replace Dr. Raymond Culpepper who was not eligible for another term due to tenure limitations.

There is no higher honor and no greater responsibility in the Church of God for an ordained bishop than to be called upon to serve in the office of General Overseer,” Williams, 48, said as he accepted the nomination. “I pledge to lead from my knees, so that I may hear from God…I will obey with unrelenting courage should the General Assembly decide this is God’s will. I commit myself unreservedly to this global (Church of God) family.”

Williams referred to his family, his wife, Sandra Kay, and sons Austin, 16, and Ryan, 11, verbalizing to them, “I will still be your dad,” to which the General Council burst into applause. “I pledge to embrace this generation.”

The General Council then went on to nominate the four remaining members of the Executive Committee, beginning with David Griffis, who was elevated to first assistant general overseer. Griffis has spent the last four years as third assistant general overseer. If confirmed, he will replace Tim Hill, who was ineligible to return to the executive committee due to tenure limitation.

I am thankful for my family and their heritage,” Griffis stated, referring to his wife, Judy, and his father who was also a Church of God minister and leader. “It is good to be a part of the family of God and I desire what is best for this Church.”

A newcomer to the Executive Committee is J. David Stephens, nominated to serve as second assistant general overseer. Stephens has led the Church of God in numerous capacities, including state director of youth and Christian education, and for the last several years as an overseer in Kentucky, Tennessee, and of Florida since 2010.

“Overwhelmed…thankful…humbled…honored…challenged…and excited,” was how Stephens summed up his nomination. “I am grateful for my legacy and I believe in my church. I will serve, I will work for, and I will depend upon your support.”

Returning to the Executive Committee and moving upward a slot to Third Assistant General Overseer, was Wallace J. Sibley, who has served as secretary general for the last four years. A third generation Church of God member, Sibley said, “I accept this nomination as the will of God…I appreciate so much what the church has meant to me.” Sibley also expressed gratitude to the outgoing members of the Executive Committee and his appreciation for their friendship and leadership.

The final member to be nominated for the Executive Committee was M. Thomas Propes, state overseer of South Carolina since 2006. If ratified by the General Assembly, Propes will become the next Secretary General of the Church of God.

“I am fourth generation Church of God…If I am cut, I think I would bleed blue and gold,” Propes joked as he made his acceptance speech. “I thank this body for the vote of confidence and trust…I will never do anything to betray that trust.”

If ratified by the General Assembly this Friday afternoon, this Executive Committee will serve until the General Assembly of 2016.

http://www.faithnews.cc/?p=12524