“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” –Matthew 19:26
Rob didn’t feel like he had much to live for on the night he jumped through a window and landed head first several stories below. When the news of his attempted suicide came I was staggered, and immediately all of the men in our home Bible study began to pray for him. Over the last several months he had been in and out of our fellowship, but was noticeably absent of late as the cares of life began to draw his heart away from Christ. After a violent encounter left him with a broken heart and the fear of prison, he ran to the nearest window and later woke up paralyzed with a broken back. Over the next several weeks the once joyful countenance of the Leonardo Dicaprio look alike was gray and sullen as he lay stricken in his hospital bed. There were no guarantees he would ever walk again, and his shattered vertebrae were replaced with titanium rods over three surgeries.
As the months passed I began to see in Rob a change take place that had nothing to do with his physical condition, but more to do with his heart. It was as if the brokenness of his heart and body opened a spiritual door for Jesus to enter into him like never before. Where before there was hardness and resistance, I witnessed as the days passed by the light of the Holy Spirit begin to emanate from his broken body. Although Rob didn’t realize it at the time, God was beginning to rebuild him from the inside out. Seeing the foundation in Christ that he now had, I let him know that he was better off now than he had ever been in his life. If he used what strength God was giving him every day, God was going to increase his strength – and make him stronger than he ever was before. All of us rejoiced to see our brother begin to walk again with increasing strength.
During Rob’s recovery the young adults pastor Rick’s wife Linda began to suffer from severe back pain, and it was determined that she needed surgery to replace and reinforce deteriorated vertebrae that were pinching a nerve. Linda was one of the most tenacious women of God I have ever known who trained and completed a half marathon after having swollen knees from running only a mile. In the aftermath of her surgery at the hospital she was too drugged to remember much, but she was subconsciously fighting a battle of faith as I heard her repeat aloud, “I DO believe in GOD…” Like Rob’s surgery, there was no guarantee of success after and she was trusting God for healing. After her surgery Linda and Rob began to exhort and encourage one another with similar struggles of healing and getting off pain medication, and we began to call them ‘the titanium twins’.
On Thanksgiving day less than half a year after Linda’s surgery, Linda and Rob shocked me announcing their plans to run the Silicon Valley Turkey Trot – a 10K race! Rob had never run that far in his life let alone with a broken back, and Linda was just coming off a surgery that wasn’t a guaranteed success. Doctors and family concerns aside, they both had faith to run – and no one was going to stop them. The two of them were really the perfect match for this race as Linda was at her best when encouraging someone else instead of focusing on her own pain. For Rob it was essential to be surrounded with an atmosphere of faith as he set out to accomplish the impossible and prove to himself what amazing things were in store for him.
As is often the case in races, people all around don’t always realize how significant the stories of each individual are. I am sure no one realized what a life changing event was happening as Rob and Linda neared the finish line on that Thanksgiving day, but when they crossed it was an occasion of both tears and rejoicing. As the years have passed since then Rob has become a workout machine and has been used mightily of God in ministry. Linda’s physical strength also increased and she entered a whole new level in her ministry at the church. It is amazing what God can do in us and through us when we believe in Him, and lean on one another. Scripture tells us in Galatians 6:2, “Bear you one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
