I read his story and was surprised to find that Jack lives right here in Kansas City. After some searching I got a phone number and called Jack. He called me back and we chatted briefly. I asked him if it would be ok if I posted his story, he said he wouldn't mind at all. That brings us to this... Here is Jack's story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! -dan
In 1995, I felt comfortable in my walk with the Lord, but I still had a yearning to be able to witness to complete strangers as I had in high school in Joplin, MO in the early 1970s. Me in my bell bottom jeans, tie dyed tank top and my "Jesus" sandals and with a ponytail, no less. Even though I was attending a great church in Las Cruces, NM and was a worship leader with the Vocal Band, was a small group leader in a blended families ministry, and active in Christian drama, I felt that I still was not fulfilling the potential I had. I felt God had a special use for my ability to converse with complete strangers. I started reading a book by Jack Deere called "Surprised by the Power of the Spirit". In it he explains that he was raised in the Church, attended seminary and even taught at the seminary that miracles ended at the end of the "Apostolic Era", or when the last Apostle died. His book goes on to disprove this theory, but in doing so some of the people and situations he describes could be me. Especially about the lady who always asked for prayer for her illnesses, yet never really gave them up to God because they gave her an identity. My lack of faith was that for over two years I had asked my Church members to pray for me to witness to people, but I never really asked God to help me. That weekend in Bible study, I asked the people in class to gather around me and really pray while for the first time, I not just mouthed the words, but really asked God to open the doors for me and give me courage to talk to people.
My whole life changed. I was on the road for 6 out of the next 7 weeks, including the Promise Keepers meeting in Houston, which re-affirmed what Jack Deere's book had said. Everywhere I went, God opened doors and I stepped through them. In airports, on planes, in hotel lobbies, restaurants, everywhere I went God opened the doors. The more I did it, the easier it was. The one week I was home, I knew I would be flying out to San Jose and would not be singing that weekend, so I was going to miss vocal band practice on Wednesday night. I struggled with God over that, so finally I gave in and went to the Church. That evening we had a guest speaker at Church who was from Nepal. He gave his testimony on how God had provided for him and the orphanages he had set up. He told of how in Nepal if you share your faith it is 1 year in prison, if you attempt to convert someone it is 3 years in prison, and if you succeed it is 5 years. He had been in 13 prisons over 11 years. They had to continually move him because he kept converting the guards. His last prison was up in the Himalayas. The Queen of Nepal was so disgusted with him that she had him staked out in the snow in the middle of winter with no clothes and only a sheet to cover him. On the 13th day she had him released. He should have been dead, but only had minor frostbite to his hands and feet. Well, how was this going to affect me? That weekend I sat next to 2 Hindu students from India who were going to San Jose. I would not have been able to reach them if God hadn't had me go to Church that previous week. Things like this kept up for months. As you can tell, I'm still on my emotional high.
Well, here come the miracle part. In September I was scheduled to have my 5th operation on my right knee, to do a total rebuild and to push back when I'll need a knee joint replacement operation. 14 years prior I had an Army doctor put the x-ray in backwards and operate on the wrong side of my knee, doing nerve and ligament damage and then closing it without repairing it. This started a chain of operations. My surgery had been scheduled since the previous February. I thought it was so I would have my work caught up, not knowing it was God's timing to get me prepared for what and who I was to face. They were going to do a procedure called the Fulkerson (which is also our best friends from the Church in New Mexico). This entailed cutting ligaments and tendons, moving them and screwing them into my shin to help re-align my leg. They were also going to move the knee cap and clean out the joint and do bone grafts on the lower leg bone's knee joint to reinforce it. I was to be off work 3 to 4-1/2 months after a 1 to 1-1/2 week hospital stay. I checked into the VA Hospital in Albuquerque and had about 200 of my Christian friends praying for me.
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