I Shall Live and Not Die

The young man in the hospital bed in the photo above is Drew Smithson. Drew and his family attend the Crossroads Church of God of Prophecy in White Bluff, TN. At the time of this photo, Drew was 18 years old and had just suffered a tragedy most of us could never imagine. His vehicle had been hit by a train. Before the accident, he had been a vibrant, athletic, popular teenager. In a split second, it appeared that his life was over. As you can see, his situation was beyond critical. Not knowing if he would live or breath on his own or if he would have brain damage so severe he could never function normally again, many of us watched and prayed from afar, relying on facebook pages that were created and text messages to let us know if the prayers were working.

Drew had many visitors from the church and his tight knit community. Everyone was pulling together and social media was showered with "stay strong drew" posts. One of his many visitors is pictured here. That's my dad, Bishop E.C. McKinley, praying for him. I knew he had gone to visit Drew, but hadn't heard much beyond that about his visit until a few weeks ago.

I preached at Crossroads last month. When I looked over the congregation during the altar call, someone in particular caught my eye and made me do a double take. It was Drew, standing head and shoulders above the crowd. Yes, you read that right, he was STANDING. As handsome and "normal" a young man as you've ever seen. After the service I walked back to speak with him and his family. He was funny, sweet, and incredibly witty. Drew started telling my husband of how God used that accident to get his attention. How he had been struggling in his walk with God, and how that day changed everything.

Drew's mom told me about the day my dad came to the hospital to pray and about the picture she had (above). She told me how much it meant to them that he took time to come visit. The next time I saw my dad I told him about how great Drew is doing and how his mom still remembered his visit. He said, "did she tell you what I prayed?" I didn't recall hearing, so I asked. He said, "I prayed 'you shall live and not die'", a variation of Psalm 118:17 which says, "I will not die, but I will live to tell what the Lord has done." Clearly, Drew is living proof that his prayer, along with countless others, was answered. Drew most certainly has life and he is telling what the LORD has done!

That scripture has been running rampant through my mind this past month. I received a medical report that left me shaken. I was told that an issue, caused be some matters in my control and some outside of it, would decrease not only my quality of life, but my life expectancy as well. There had been a time in my life when I would have just accepted those words being spoken over me, but I have found that I have too much to say and do for the Lord to just lie down and die.

Growing up, whenever I had some tinge of pain, I would be sure that it was some deadly disease and I was done for. My dad would lecture me on the power of our words and he would always quote Psalm 118:17 and I would roll my eyes. I would like to publicly apologize, pappy, you were right. Life and death are most certainly in the tongue, Drew's story has taught me that. When he physically couldn't speak life, those around him spoke it on his behalf-and it worked. If Drew and his community could have faith when he was in this horrible state, then I have no excuse to not speak life over my body!

So I've decided that death is not on my agenda for right now. I am doing everything on my end to get healthy, but I am putting my faith in the One who created every cell of my body. I have places to be and people to minister to. Until He is done with me, I shall life and not die!