“The doctor looked at my spine and couldn’t believe what he saw,” Bruce* told me just moments ago on the phone. Bruce was the surfer I met in the water last Monday.
I had come to the end of my surf session, so we only spoke about 10 minutes before we both caught a wave in. As we walked up the sand toward the public showers I said, “Nice to meet you, maybe I’ll see you again.”
He responded, “Not for awhile. On Wednesday I go in for major back surgery. I’m only 52, but it will be my fourth major surgery. The doctors have to put a prothesis between two slip disks (L3 and L4).” Basically, that’s a metal rod used to fuse the two disks back together.
Bruce told me on the phone tonight that he had this surgery done before elsewhere on his spine and later the prosthesis broke causing all sorts of pain and problems. So naturally on Monday he was nervous about his upcoming surgery.
Somewhere between showering and saying goodbye to Bruce, God dropped in my heart that I should pray for him. He had no idea that I was a pastor or even a Christian. So I plucked up the courage to say, “Hey Bruce, I’m a pastor. Can I pray for you?”
He got a bit apprehensive and responded, “Sure, I guess. But I’m not practicing.”
I said, “That’s okay, God’s still practicing.”
My wife, Megan, walked up at that moment and I introduced her to Bruce and told her we were going to pray.
Bruce began to weep as he shared briefly about some of the struggles he had been experiencing.
We put our surf boards down, bowed our heads and began to pray. Surfers were passing by, but it was as if we were the only ones on the boardwalk.
We first prayed for healing. And then we invited God to come and show Bruce how much he loved him and how he wants to give him purpose. Bruce kept weeping.
After we said goodbye, Bruce went home and told his wife about us and how something had happened. He didn’t know how to describe it. He called a Christian friend of his (Colin), with whom he works, and told him that a change had happened in his back and heart.
And then comes the really cool part.
On Wednesday, the neurosurgeon (one of the best in Durban), opened up Bruce’s back. He couldn’t believe what he saw. L3 and L4 were already perfectly fused together. He told Bruce later that he had never seen anything like it. He said, “No one could have done a more perfect job. I wish I had had a camera with me to video it.” The doctor contacted other surgeons in America to find out if it was possible for this to have happened naturally. He didn’t know what to say. Bruce’s previous MRI clearly showed the need for the surgery, but Bruce had been healed.
As the doctor told Bruce what happened he (and the physiotherapist that was present) started crying. He was amazed at God’s mercy. He told the doctor about “the couple who had prayed for him” and said it was a miracle from God. The doctor said it was a miracle of science. Bruce disagreed and said it a miracle of God.
It’s Friday night and I just got off the phone with Bruce. His last words to me were, “Drew, please come to my place as soon as you can and meet with my wife and me. I’ve got so much I want to talk about with you. So many questions.”
Now for the real healing...
Love,
Drew
*Bruce is not his real name, but since I’m just getting know him, I felt I didn’t want to risk offending him. Please pray for Bruce, his wife and his two grown sons.
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