11:44p.m.
My dad was driving to my house from Virginia. He should have arrived around midnight.
He never made it.
"Becky, its about your dad. He's had an episode while driving into town. He had to stop. We think he's had a heart attack."
The heart.
Arguably, the single most important organ in the human body.
A muscular pump, which forces blood through thousands of miles of blood vessels. Beating approximately 72 times per minute. The heart pumps blood, which carries all the vital materials which help our bodies function and removes the waste products that we do not need. It carries food and oxygen to every part of the body. The heart pumps an average of 1.5 gallons of blood every minute, and in one day pumps enough blood to fill more than 50-gallon drums. An astounding organ.
If the heart ever ceases to pump blood, the body begins to shut down and after a very short period of time will die.
I often speak of the heart with such disregard.
This makes my heart break.
I love you with all my heart.
My heart hurts for you.
You make my heart glad.
Or as my Dad has always said to me... "Becky, you make my heart soar like a hawk."
Oh, I wish I really had such power now.
To make his heart soar. To make his heart do anything....well.
But I have no power. No power to heal. Only God.
He is the heart healer. He does the impossible. - Matthew 19:26
So I pray.
I love this man. Bill Rhodes. My sweet daddy. We are very close.
My heart - broken. And scared.
Suddenly and very uncomfortably aware of his mortality.
And overwhelmed by my affection for him.
Five days and four nights in the hospital. The doctors trying to conclude what actually happened to him Friday night on I-81.
He did not have a heart attack. Hallelujah.
But he does have blockage.
But let me tell you a story about the human body. It is an amazing thing.
The pinnacle of God's creation (Gen. 1:26-27).
My dad's body, took a lemon and made lemonade. My dad's body, took a blocked artery and sprouted new vessels. Desperate to get blood and oxygen to the heart, it made, for itself, a secondary route. A new pathway to get what it needs. They are called Collateral Vessels.
Now, I am no doctor. I know that this sometimes can happen. But these "new veins" are nothing short of a miracle. A miracle. Dad's body didn't make these vessels, God did.
He does the impossible.
God took my dad's broken heart and is making it soar again. Like a Hawk.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness.
Psalm 145:5-6
This morning, I meditate on the splendor of His wondrous works. I speak (and blog) on the might of His awesome deeds. I declare His greatness today.
He is a miraculous God.
The Maker of Heaven and Earth.
The Lover of my heart.
And my Dad's.
