If you enjoy true and inspiring stories, I highly recommend the book and movie “Gifted Hands.” Cuba Gooding Jr. plays Dr. Ben Carson, Chief Pediatric Neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins. That is the top of the physician totem pole.
Dr. Carson became famous for being the first to successfully separate twins joined at the head. Previous attempts had failed because they were unable to control the bleeding. He also pioneered surgical techniques that we use today to help children with seizures who fail medical therapy.
He grew up in Detroit, very poor, was called the dumbest kid in his class, and, given his temper, seemed destined for a life of poverty and crime. But according to Ben, God plucked him out of that situation.
God freed him from his anger problem, and showed him a love for books. He became an avid reader in about the 5th grade, and soon became the best academic performer in his school. He went on to attend Yale, and the rest is history.
It is also interesting that God gave him two unique gifts. He could see things in three dimensions, in ways that the rest of can’t. That gave him the unique ability to find his way within and around a human brain during surgery.He also possessed unusual eye-hand coordination. In college, he dominated Foosball games, and billiards. Again, that giftedness made him adept at brain surgery.
But what I found most interesting about Dr. Carson was his belief in prayer. He always asked his patients and families to pray before surgery. Now imagine, the world’s greatest brain surgeon, well-seasoned, and trained in the world’s best medical institutions, repeatedly asking for God’s favor before he operated. Seem unnecessary?
Many of the great ones pray. “Cry out to me and I will tell you great and mighty things which you do not know,” said God to the prophet Jeremiah. Charles Taylor prayed four or more hours daily. Tom Landry’s players all knew well his devotion to Jesus, and his pre-game prayers.
So what about the rest of us “mortals?” Do we then need even more prayer? We, at Texas Hospice, believe so. That is why we pray often with and for our patients. Last week we stopped our meeting twice to lift up certain patients to our Lord. Praying is in our DNA.
We pray that our patients will experience relief from pain, air hunger, depression, and nausea, among other things. We ask Jesus to speak into their lives and spirits, that they would find Him, and the meaning and joy that only He can offer. “Seek the bread that endures to eternal life.” “If you drink of the water that I give you, you will never thirst again.”
David, the Israeli king, shouted heaven-ward often. Many of his psalms begin with him shouting at God for justice in a difficult circumstance, then, they end with David’s throwing praise to the One who created justice, whose justice “reaches to the skies.”
What about you, reader? Have you prayed and then listened, and actually heard Him recently? Do you desire that connection? Do you miss it, especially when you feel like your prayers are bouncing off the ceiling?
If so, let me tell you that He is there and He is not silent. Seek out someone who knows how to pray. Ask them to pray over you, with their hands on you. Involve your physical body in such a way that it draws your heart and spirit into communion with God. Sound mystical? It is. It is mystical, and beautiful, and it is truth as communicated in scriptures.
Given what we know about Dr. Carson and some of the other luminaries who reached out God all through their lives, and then heard and felt His response, I don’t think He will let us go without answer when we try to hear Him.
