It was a cold winter morning in New York. All the kids are were in school, the husbands at work. My friend Sara and I were ready to do some hanging of new curtains in the church altar. Her cell phone went off, and as she answered, her husband’s voice said: “I’m on my way to the hospital; our son has been rushed to the hospital with an asthma attack. The principal says he is not breathing on his own…Please rush, I’ll see you there.”
Sara’s eyes were full of tears. I offered to drive her to emergency, but in the midst of her tears she immediately said: “Wait, I need to talk to the Lord.” She threw herself in the altar and prayed out loud:
“Lord, thanks for the 8 years you’ve let me live with my son. Receive him in your home with joy as I received him when you sent him to us. If you change your mind, and you leave him with us for more time, it will be OK too. I’m sure you’ll know what’s best… in the name of Jesus, Amen”. Then she told me, please take me to the hospital now. Wanting to understand what had just happened right in front of my eyes, I drove her to emergency. She got out of the car and I had to go find a parking. I wondered what kind of faith I had just witnessed. Would I respond the same way? Where do you find that faith? Many years later, my own son decided he wanted to serve the US army. He enlisted and started training, and one month later the USA experienced the terrorist attacks in New York. I was awakened by a call from my daughter. I turned on the news, I couldn’t believe it! Where was my son? I couldn’t tell…But the image of my friend popped up in my mind as if it had just happened. Right there, before the TV, I threw myself on the floor and prayed: “Lord, thanks for the 26 years you’ve let me live with my son. Receive him in your home with joy as I received him when you sent him to us. If you change your mind, and you leave him with us for more time, it will be OK too. I’m sure you’ll know what’s best…in the name of Jesus, Amen”. Today he’s 36, made a military career, and is serving now in Afghanistan. Today I realize that was one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard—the kind that sticks in your brain, your heart and your soul in such a way that it changes your daily actions. May God lead us to be this kind of preachers, evangelists, and human beings. Many will be blessed beyond our own imagination many times over, and then over again!
Prayer: God, help me hear the sermons that are not delivered from the pulpit, and help me also deliver powerful sermons borne of my faith.
Amen.
Yolanda Márquez-Lúcar serves as associate pastor for United Christian
Church of Fresno, for Primera Iglesia Cristiana in Fresno, and as
Regional Hispanic Director & Pastor for the ccnc-n.