Miracles in my Life- Answered Prayers for the Sick

 "Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective." (James 5:16)

"If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish , and it will be given to you." (John 15:7) 

I wanted to share a few more vignettes of answered prayer from my family and then a few from the church.  

John's asthma attack- when John was one and a half, he had a pretty bad fever and a hard time breathing.  He had asthma but we didn't know it.  On the night his fever was so high, we brought him into our bed (we never did this- my wife, Kay, and I had a rule about not allowing children in bed with us) and gave him children's Tylenol.  We had been praying for him, but we especially prayed then.  An hour or less after he was in bed with us- he sat up and pointed to what he called "Rebekah" (his sister 3 years older than he was).  Kay and I both woke up.  I saw a light- like a halo.  Kay saw a person that she described as an angel.  We both felt God was waking us up to do something.  Kay took John to the hospital ER while I stayed with the other two children.  Kay called back to say his fever was very high but had gone down with medicine.  He also had very, very low oxygen- to a dangerous level.  The doctor and the nurse agreed that if we had waited much longer (an hour even), he would have had brain damage.  We all three consider this an answer to prayer.  He was officially diagnosed with asthma (probably aggravated by his peanut allergy along with some allergens in that area.  For the next several years John used an inhaler.  Now he has outgrown his asthma (except when he has eaten or smelled peanuts).  

Sarah's bee problem.  In the mountains around Asheville there were a lot of yellow jacket wasps.  Sarah was stung  and her arm and face swelled.  She had a mile anaphylactic reaction to the yellow jacket's sting.  The doctor said it would get worse and was dangerous- and to always have an epinephrine injector with her.  
We had an old pop up camper.  It was heavy and often our station wagon would overheat trying to pull it up the mountains when we went camping.  One time we were going up the mountains camping and the car overheated.  We pulled over on the emergency lane- the car cut off , and we waited for the car radiator to cool down.   A yellow jacket got inside the car.  Then another.  There was nothing we could do- nowhere to go.  It particularly started attacking Sarah.  It landed on her arm- it stung her.  We prayed and Sarah was fine. 
Another time Sarah was going in college on a mission trip to Haiti.  After she arrived they realized she had forgotten her epi-pen and the mission director was going to send her home at our expense.  Nowhere on the island was there any epi-pens- and there were lots of yellow jackets.  We all prayed (and though she was a little isolated) she was fine.  

Over the years, I have seen many obvious answered prayers- and some unanswered.  If every prayer was answered, we would yawn at the power of God and expect it.  But here are a couple.  I am going by my memory on these, and some of the details may be off a little.  

Ruth Palassis- this was in the Lake Murray Presbyterian Church.  Ruth had taught with my wife, Kay.  She was a well-loved sweet person with faith.  She had terrible headaches and was diagnosed with "Glioblastoma" a malignant fast-growing brain tumor.  This is the kind of cancer that Teddy Kennedy and John McCain died of.  The doctor and family sent her to Duke University Hospital in Durham, NC. Teddy Kennedy also went there a year or two after her.  They performed major brain surgery on her.  She was in the hospital for several months.  The average survival rate for patients with surgery is 15-18 months with only 5-7% surviving more than five years.  Ruth had an amazing positive attitude and immersed herself in prayer.  After her surgery they did some radiation.  She did not lose any major body function, but she lost some vocabulary memory and had to re-learn to speak.  She survived 15 years.  The doctors were astonished.  She was astonished.  They asked her to talk to other glioblastoma patients to encourage them.  She did and she always encouraged them to pray and think positively about beating this.  She did have three gamma knife surgeries to keep the tumor at bay.  They could not get the full tumor for it went down into the brain stem.  They had to keep going in and cutting it back.  They put a removable plate on her skull to go in.  But eventually they thought the gamma knife got it all, and for several years no surgery was necessary.  She died later of skin cancer on the neck.  They told her it was easily treated compared to the glioblastoma- but she was tired of fighting  (in her late 70s) and just wanted it to take its course (she had also had breast cancer years before).  She was at peace with her Lord and was ready to go meet him in heaven.  But everyone- doctors, Ruth, her husband Jim and I believed this was a true answer to prayer.  

Mary LaFond.  Mary was a retired nurse.  She was a deacon in our church and was full of compassion.  John had co-owned a nuclear engineering business and worked closely with the government.  Mary had small seizures.  She came forward to a service for the anointing with oil and prayer.  Mary had a major seizure and was in ICU in Lexington Medical Center for six months plus.  The doctors had suggested pulling the plug.  There was no major brain activity.  It was like the seizure had eaten up a part of her brain.  The church prayed.  The doctors suggested taking her off the ventilator.  They did.  But to everyone's surprise- including mine- she survived.  But then she not only survived.  She at first couldn't talk much- but she gained her ability to talk- then to walk back. She has lived another 12 years after all of this and is in her 80s now in a retirement home.  

Miracles in my life- Tales of survival

 Maybe a good way to begin is to think of how many times I survived without dying.  To exist is a gift- if not a miracle.  I think it is both because the hand of God has moved to protect me. These are some miracle short-stories. 

The beginning.  I only heard of this one.  
When I was still a baby, lightning hit our house.  We lived near the top of a hill in Columbia, SC (825 Arbutus).  The crib was in my parent's room (to keep them from walking far).  My mother told me she saw lightning go all around the crib and light it up- but it did not hurt me.  Hearing this story made her feel (and sometimes me) that God had a plan for me. 

The prophecy.  I was baptized in my Nana's (Etta Fricks Bellotte) death bed in December 1957. She was a very godly woman who kept the faith and passed it on to all of her nine girls.  This one is unfulfilled, but she said that Jesus, the Lord, would come back before I died.  I don't know about that.  But with the threats of nuclear war and the gospel having been spread to every nation (Matthew 24:14) and the nation of Israel miraculously restored (70AD to 1948), maybe I will live long enough to see it.  I know that I will see Him face to face one day, and I WILL keep the faith of my baptism. 

I have been in numerous wrecks and lots of close calls.  
In high school Frank (not Franklin) Graham had a bunch of us piled in his car- and we were in a wreck on Trenholm Road (near the turn on Woodlake).  We were piled in the middle.  I was sitting on the center console.  The emergency hand brake was right below me, and when we were hit head on, the emergency brake almost impaled me- rising up very swiftly.  It didn't hurt me.  I walked away with an aching back- and none were injured but the car was totaled.  

One New Year's Eve in college I and two friends were driving in the mountain near Hendersonville.  No, we weren't drinking anything, but it was between 12:30  and 1:00. We were getting on I-26East  going toward South Carolina.  A greyhound bus headed right toward us-head on- going the wrong way.  We swerved at the very last second and it missed us and the car was fine.  We were literally inches from death.  I believe God protected us.  

After college, when I was commuting from Seneca to work at Westminster (15 miles), there was ice on the highway.  I hit a patch, completely spun around (maybe 6 times), going into the oncoming two lanes, and ended up in the center median.  There were no cars coming the other direction for me to hit.  Though the median was grass and mud, the car got out okay and I went onto work a bit shaken but not damaged at all. I prayed a lot before I spun out and especially while spinning, and then to get out of the median.  God was with me- and you may not believe it- but I KNOW it. 

I was visiting Richland Hospital (spring 2012?) to see a parishioner (forgot who) in my Toyota Corolla (a small car).  I was third in line at the traffic light that was red.  When it turned green, I was turning from Harden left onto Bull Street (near the Red Cross office).  Someone ran the stoplight. Texting had just come out about six months before and he was texting while driving and did not see the light.  I can remember when I was hit by his large Ford Explorer SUV, that I tried to step on the brakes as I was heading right toward a telephone pole.  I also remember my brakes didn't work (later realized I was sailing through the air!).  I barely missed the pole, and went right into the parking lot a the end of Harden.  The car was hit on the passenger side strongly (going 45+ mph).  But I was not injured, though once again, my back hurt.  I walked away and drove my injured car home.  

On Christmas Eve 1976, my brother- Mark and his wife Linda, were Christmas shopping in Columbia, SC.  I was home from my first semester of college at Clemson.  Linda was 8 months pregnant.  They were driving down Beltline toward Forest Lake Drive when they were t-boned by a man going 55 mph.  It turns out he was working for DSS and had his brakes tampered with (maybe mafia?).  My sister-in-law broke her jaw and collar bone but did not lose the baby (my nephew Matt who worked in Christian ministry for Young Life for years).  My brother, who had finished his doctoral studies and work for USC (only had his orals to go), hit his head hard on the steering wheel.  There were no air bags back then.   We didn't think he would make it as his brain bled and it was touch and go for two weeks.  But he survived.  I can remember the pastor of Eastminster where we attended, coming to our house after the Christmas Eve service- and praying with us.  I was wrestling with whether I would be a psychologist or a minister.  This was the point I decided to be a minister- because he came after an exhausting Christmas Eve- sat with us for hours at our house then the hospital.  He brought hope.  

CHILDREN: Here are a few child-survival stories.  
1) My oldest daughter, Sarah.  In April 1988, we had just had our second daughter Rebekah who had colic and was crying all of her waking hours for weeks.  I was in the church-owned manse cooking french-fries in the kitchen while Kay was holding the crying baby in the living room.  Sarah was at my feet in the kitchen playing.  The landline church phone rang in the back (no cell phones back then).  I went back to answer it, and heard a "vrooompf" and Kay screamed.  I saw the living room lit up by the light of the fire.  The grease had caught fire and the flames were going into the attic.  I grabbed a hot pad and rushed the pan outside (singed all the hair on my right arm and my eyebrows).  Came back and sprayed the fire with fire extinguisher and called 9-1-1.  Sarah was still sitting in the kitchen through all of this on the linoleum floor.  There was a circle around her.  All the floor was black or brown with damage- but Sarah was not hurt.  There was literally, clearly a circle around her on the floor.  I can't help but think something special is in store for her.   

2) My son, John.  I was driving my wife home from a kidney stone lithotripsy in 1993.  When we got to the door, the babysitter (Ann Cable- a wonderful church member), handed me John and told me to go back to the doctor's office.  He had eaten some of his sister, Rebekah's, peanut butter sandwich.  His face was as read as a tomato and was completely swollen.  He was wheezing.  We jumped in the car and drove downtown.  On the way to the doctor's office, he passed out.  I was praying hard the whole way.  Called the doctor's office.  They were ready with epinephrine and adrenalin.  I drove up into a handicap space, rushed him in- they gave him a shot and within an hour he was back to his normal self.  We think he was rushed to the ER six times under our care for peanut butter anaphylactic reaction.  He had several other instances later.  He is such a gentle soul.  He is only 34 as I write this but has seen 34+ friends die (drunk driving wrecks, wrecks, drug overdoses).  

2b- when John was about 9 (around 2000) he was having some friends over.  He busted his hand through the glass door by accident and cut his wrist and his artery.  Blood was everywhere.  An ambulance came.  They were able to stop the blood.  John broke 36 different bones growing up.  We took him to a specialist who ran numerous tests.  The conclusion- he is very active (playing baseball, basketball, soccer, football).  

2c. When John was in high school fall 2009 he was playing football and he was really good.  He had been the starting quarterback for Chapin High School but another student came and John switched to defense (safety) and became second string quarterback.  In practice it got near 100 and he was playing first string defense (against the first string offense) and second string offense as QB (against the second string defense).  He was not getting a break.  We got a call that we needed to take John to the hospital or urgent care.  He was dehydrated and his muscles were literally shaking all over his body uncontrollably.  We were very worried- as was the trainer- that he was going to go into cardiac arrest. We were all praying hard.  but he got IVs and after several hours calmed down.  The trainers name was Fred.  He came.  The coach - who later would lose his job for infidelity with a female high school student- never showed up.  John was saved... again. 

2d. There are some other amazing stories about John- who is an amazing human being.  He had a dark period in his life.  Not that he ever stopped believing in God- but he stopped following Him.  He had several miracles from dark places that I will leave for him to remember and tell.  But I do know we prayed for him.  Specifically, when we went to Montreat and prayed for him at the Chapel of the Prodigal.  There I believe, God spoke silently to our hearts to say he would be okay and come back to faith.  Today we get to go to church with him almost every week.  He leads a Bible study with his friends, and attends a couple of others.  I am so proud of his turnaround but so grateful to God for this miracle for him-and also for us. 

3. The miracle of marriage.  That I was able to marry Kay is a miracle.  She was pursued by so many others.  She was the "Color Girl" for the United States Naval Academy in 1977 for dating the Valedictorian of the class and had her picture in every major newspaper in the United States.  I have no idea how she could marry someone like me, but I am so grateful to God.  She traded the riches of others to be married to a poor preacher.  At times, we didn't know where our next meal would come from (those are some other miracle stories to come).  My two daughters married amazing men who care for them.  My son married a wonderful girl.  My wife lived long enough to see them all graduate from high school, graduate from college, and get married.  She (and I both), lived long enough to see and know five amazing  grandchildren.  I put marriage in here to go with survival... to survive a marriage and to survive in marriage together is a miracle.  

4. The cancer miracle.  We had been married 25 years.  We had just gone to Italy to celebrate our 25th anniversary.  But she was sick, coughing.  They talked about asthma, flu, walking pneumonia.  She switched doctors to Oscar Lovelace, an elder in our church.  He did thorough blood work and two days after Christmas 12/27/2005 (came to our house 10:00 PM to tell us) he said to he she had CML- chronic myelogenous leukemia.  He said her white blood cell count was higher than he had ever seen in anybody- and that they diagnosed it too late.  He said he thought she would have three months to live.  Sarah had just gotten engaged on Christmas to Ryan.  He said we needed to "get our affairs in order." He said if we wanted to see Sarah get married we needed to move up the wedding. We all (including Dr. Lovelace) cried and prayed.  The family stayed up all night praying.  We went to Lexington Medical Center Oncology.  She took interferon chemo- which totally knocked her down.  For months she couldn't get off the sofa- sometimes to even lift her head.  The Presbyterian Women brought us food and even cleaned our house.  Kay survived her three months of interferon. 
Then they put her on a new drug just approved- but not fully approved called "Gleevic."  We had another church member, Robert Leitner, who died of CML and Gleevic helped but did not stop the disease.  Kay had to have a certain chromosome for it to work fully- the "Philadelphia" chromosome. She did.  Today February 2025, she is still alive.  So some would say this is no miracle.  But I would say that the coming of this new drug at just the right time to save Kay is a miracle through which God used the minds of researchers and physicians and assistants and FDA approvals to have it available at just the right time to help her.  

Miracles in My Life- An Introduction to Miracles

 As I am growing just a tad older (what is age in the face of eternity?)... 
I thought I should try to recount the miracles I have seen- to bear testimony. 
So many times we forget, or chalk things up to coincidence. 
As someone (Archbishop William Temple?) said, "All I know is when I pray coincidences happen, when I don't- they don't."  

Briefly- very briefly- what is a miracle?  
First some say everything is a miracle.  Albert Einstein famously said, "There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle.  The other is as though everything is a miracle."  
There is truth here.  Life itself is a miracle.  In faith I believe God created- that we are not some cosmic accident.  The human body is a testimony- just the human brain is amazing.  The brain is more powerful than a supercomputer; neurons send information to the brain at over 150 mph; the brain contains more nerve cells than there are people on Earth.  But the bigger question is "why is there something rather than nothing?"  And the corollary, "why is there personality?"  Life is a gift- a miracle.  
BUT, in some ways, if everything is a miracle, nothing is a miracle.  If a miracle is defined (Loosely) as something special or unusual, then saying everything is special means nothing is special.  

In my writing today- I am thinking of things special.  There are those who criticize this- especially those whose faith is more in science than God.  They will say, "you are just saying things are a miracle that you do not understand."  Such thinking elevates the hope of human knowledge too far.  Just because I understand something, does not mean that God is not at work.  I understand (in many ways) that my wife loves me- we have been together about 45 years- through lots of thick and many thins.  But in some ways- the grace it takes to love is un-understandable.  Human love is more than just the chemical attraction of molecules and hormones.  It involves trust, hope, forgiveness, and more power than I have in and of myself or even herself.  But also, there is, I believe a part of us that doesn't want to give allegiance to something/Someone greater than ourselves.  We fear losing our "independence" (as if we are all on our own).  
YET. what I am writing about are unusual things.  It is in such things that I see more clearly the hand of God- the times I survived, the times prayers were answered clearly, the times things clearly happened providentially.  Some call such things "Godwinks" (Squire Rushnell's term).   

In both Old and New Testaments, miracles are recorded to point to the power of God- and the identity of Jesus Christ.  I think of the ten plagues against the mightiest empire (and Emperor) of the world at the time.  Think of Elijah's stopping/starting the rain, provision in famine, bringing a boy back to life. 
Think of Elishah's 16 miracles- like prophesying the death of Ben-Hadad, that the Shunamite woman would have a son, multiplying loaves of bread, providing oil for a widow, healing Naaman of leprosy. Isaiah's prophecies fulfilled in his lifetime (eg. the defeat of the huge Assyrian army), the making the shadow move miraculously, the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel.  But Isaiah's specific prophecies of the birth (9), miracles (61), death (53) of the Messiah are amazing in and of themselves. These are but a few examples.  I didn't speak of Gideon, Samson, Ahab's prophecied death, and so many others. 
In the New Testament Jesus has 37 miracles recorded and references to many others unrecorded.   Things like miracles over nature- stilling a storm, walking on water; miracles over death- the widow of Nain's son, Jairus's daughter, Lazarus and various people raised from the dead when he died on the cross, and of course- His own resurrection.  
There are the miracles of his prophesying the future- specifically his own betrayal, denial by his friends and death, the destruction of Jerusalem (70 AD).  There are numerous healing miracles of healing the blind, deaf, lame, leprous- in part as a testimony to his identity as Messiah (Isaiah 61, and Luke 7:22).  There are miracles of provision- the unusual and large catch of fish at the beginning and ending of his ministry (Luke 5, John 21), telling Peter to get a coin from a fish's mouth to pay his taxes, feeding of the 5,000+ (recorded in all four gospels), turning water into wine (just for joy).  John ends his gospel saying, "Jesus did many other things as well" (21:26).  No one can record every miracle.  At some point even miracles become boring.  But as I write about some of the miracles I have seen- I realize I will NOT record some- they are too personal.  I will NOT record some because I have not seen them- but believe they are there (like the time I avoided the accident if I would have been on time).  I will NOT record some because what may have been very important to me, might seem too trivial to the reader. 

There are those (like the great Benjamin Warfield) who say miracles ceased to exist when the Bible was written or at least disseminated among people.  In a modified way, some have said that miracles still take place- rarely mind you- on the mission field to help win people to Christ.  But such thinking limits God, lowers expectations, and is akin to Deism (the thought of God winding up the world and letting it go on its own).   God still answers prayers.  This is one of my greatest points in writing this.  We do not pray enough.  

Enough of heady explanation.  In fact, one of my theses is that you can't explain miracles away satisfactorily.  We are called to love God with the mind- but also with the heart and soul.  Miracles are not merely for the mind- but may inspire our love for God, and even others.  

Disclaimer- I have already lost some because this seems too heady.  But alas, I am what I am.  I grew up Presbyterian in America.  John Calvin, our founder, was a great thinker (some say the greatest in Europe at the time).  Deep faith and even love for God- can come from thinking.  But miracles inspire us and give us hope, and make our heart sing. 

So I will try to talk about miracles in my life.  This is more of a personal exercise, but maybe someone can be inspired by it.  

1) Personal Miracles
2) 

Peace in the New Year

 In the Old Testament, the New Year ("Head of the Year") was "Rosh Hoshanah."  It is followed ten days later by Yom Kippur- ("Day of Atonement")- Levitcus 23:27-32 (16:1-34; Nbrs 29:7-11). 
      In our culture we talk about "turning over a new leaf" (a description similar to starting a new page of our lives); Wiping the slate clean and more. 
       It is important to believe we can have a second chance.  Forgiveness, and the ability to get beyond the pain of the past and the mistakes that hold us down, is so very important.  Forgiveness frees us.  Truly an artificial calendar is just a measurement of time.  A new year is but a mile marker.  In the face of eternity, time is but a very small subset that we try to measure to help us understand our finitude.   Christ came to free us from our sins and to give us the power to move on from our mistakes, our sins, and even the mean things that we have had to face that are beyond our control.  Jesus describes this change like being born all over again (John 3).  It is a true fresh start.  Paul put it like this: "If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things are passed away, behold everything has become new" (2 Cor. 5:17).  Just saying that badness or sadness or madness is in the past does not really help.  We need the power of God to help us rise above.  The death of the man-God was the second most powerful spiritual event ever.  The resurrection after that death shows us the power of God to rise above human sin, and to take us with Him in that freedom. 
       In the wake of terrorist attacks, in the the shattering of our comfort zones with the threat of fear, it is important to know- no one can take away our eternal life.  No terror can defeat our ultimate peace.  This life is full of trouble.  Jesus said it- "In this world you will have trouble- but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  So... yes, we can still wish and pray for each other's peace and happiness in the new year.    

Election Perspective

 The earth is the Lord's and everything in it; the world and all who live in it. (Psalm 24:1)

Before Him all the nations are as nothing.  They are regarded as worthless and less than nothing. (Isaiah 40:12). 

The king's heart is in the Lord's hand. (Proverbs 21:1)

For to us a child is born, to us, a Son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.  (Isaiah 9:6,7)

I saw...one like the Son of Man, and He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.  And to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. (Daniel 7:13-14) 

And the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings...(Rev. 17:14)

He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.  (1 Timothy 6:15)

and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings on earth...(Revelation 1:5)

THOUGHTS: As America enters its election day, stirred up by politicians, by the media, and by the circumstances that many know we are not what we are especially not what we could be, but we are also not what we should or ought to be.  Many are afraid.  Some sociologists speak of a great election angst.  Some fear the great benefits of the nation will disappear, and others fear our progressive freedoms will be taken away.  Both sides say democracy will end if the other is elected.  

Let us take a breath.  Presidents come and go.  Even nations come and go.  Believers are not left only putting our trust in elected officials.  We can have courage.

My hopes are that assassination attempts will stop.  My hopes are that there will be no impeachment attempts at whoever is elected- such things divide and deflate the nation.  My hopes are that the government will bring peace.  The Christian prayer is that whoever is elected will be blessed so that there may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (1 Timothy 2:1-2).  So praying that the King of kings will guide us. 

Prayer: King of kings, Lord of lords, may you be with us today- protect us in this vulnerable place of elections.  Set over us- by a just vote of your people- a leader who will lead us so we may have peaceful and quiet lives.  Grant peace, justice, courage, hope- and even love to our nation and to our world. 

Aging Well

 This week, began a third small group Bible study about "Senior Spirituality."  It was the study of my dissertation 24 years ago.  Back then the over 55 group was the fastest growing segment of our population in America with 31 million.  Today that number has doubled to 62 million.  Our culture teaches us to fight aging- coloring our hair, hiding wrinkles and age spots, contacts or laser surgery to replace glasses, etc.  But despite our putting on the brakes, the car keeps moving forward.  Often we expect curriculum to be graded for kids (curriculum for K, 1, 2, 3, etc.) and even teens or young adults.  But we do not look at scripture the same when we were  5 as when we are 15 or 25.  But we also shouldn't just group people into "adults."  God is the same for all ages, but how we view and need God changes with our circumstances, but also with our age.  Psalm 23 was different for most in confirmation class than when we had our first child to when we had our first grandchild.  

Older adults have specific gains and losses. From a secular point of view older adults are seen as losing a lot.  In our culture of valuing making money, being productive, looking beautiful/handsome, and having energy- we only see older adults as having lost these things.  We forget that older adults have experience, often more money (though older adults have a deep disparity between those who have nothing and those who have way above average), and they have more leisure/flex time and peace than the younger adult.  Yet there are clear losses.  For Christians, each loss is like a cross to bear in which we can learn but also grow closer in dependence and love for God.  Each loss is an opportunity.  John Calvin talked about the first and hardest part of the Christian life is what is called "mortification."  Mortification is dying to our pride (like our sense of indispensability), and realizing we will have to give up everything in this life eventually.  Jesus said "If anyone follows me, let them deny themselves, take up their cross daily and follow me" (Lk. 9:23).  Part of denying ourselves (our living for our own comfort), is to recognize our losses can be opportunities for spiritual awakening (vivification).   When we truly can let go of our losses and adapt to them as opportunities to adapt to what God is doing in our lives, we can come alive to Him.  Below is a chart of older adult gains, losses, and spiritual opportunities.  Part of aging well, is recognizing where we are in life, adapting to that, and living the best life where we are.   

This is a prayer to age well by Teillhard de Chardin- the famous Christian French Philosopher: 
When the signs of age begin to mark my body, and still more when they touch my mind; When the illness that is to diminish me or carry me off strikes from without or is born within me; When the painful moment comes to which I suddenly awaken to the fact that I am growing ill or growing old; and Above all at the last moment when I feel I am losing hold of myself and am absolutely passive within the hands of the great unknown forces that have formed me, In all these dark moments, 0 God, Grant that I may understand that it is you—provided only my faith is strong enough— who is painfully parting the fibers of my being in order to penetrate to the very marrow of my substance and bear me away within yourself.

Early Efforts to Unite Roman Catholic and Protestant Churches

 "My prayer is that they would be one, even as we are one." John 17:17

Certainly the Protestant Reformers did not want to start their own denomination.  Most- Luther, Bucer, Calvin, wanted reforms for the church.  
Most believed the medieval church was corrupt.  There was simony (selling of offices- or appointments to religious positions for money), nepotism (giving special appointments to relatives), all kinds of sacerdotalism- so that the priest alone could absolve sins, the priest alone could read scripture (and only in Latin), the priest alone could say how many years someone would spend in purgatory (or getting out of it), and the priest alone ruled the church (no elders, deacons, boards).  
     In hindsight, we may think such efforts would be futile.  Nowadays it seems that the differences (between Roman Catholic and Protestants) are sharp.  But before the Council of Trent that condemned the Protestants (yet accepted some of their ideas about stopping corruption),  there was a real chance at reconciliation. Many thought that the oneness of the church was important until Trent (1545-63). 
      The Diet of Speyer 1526 was held by the Holy Roman Emperor as a way to make peace.  He was out of favor with the Pope, and the Turks were pressing upon Austria.  Charles V wanted to have a peace so both sides of the reform issues could fight the Muslims together.  His solution was to suspend the edict of the Diet of Worms (condemning Luther and his followers) and that each prince could declare their area's religious preference.  So, Saxony and Hesse could be Lutheran.  
     So there were several discussions or colloquies to try to bring the Roman Catholics and Protestants together.  Hagenau in June/July 1540; Worms November 1540; and Regensburg 4/1541 (and the Regensburg book of Bucer and Gropper). In the end Regensburg came up with a common article of Justification by Faith.  The reaction was that there was vast disappointment that common agreement on a union in all things in the church was not reached.  The emphasis was not on the one point of agreement. Johannes Gropper (Catholic) and Martin Bucer (Lutheran then Reformed) recognized each other as Christian and had mutual respect for each other.  There was another colloquy in Regensburg in 1546 but the catholics rejected their compromise and emphasis of justification through Christ in the sacraments. 
    There was also the Peace of Augsburg 9/25/1555 between Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire and the Schmalkaldic League (German Protestant princes).  This  basically allowed rulers (and thus their regions or subjects) to choose between Roman Catholicism or Lutheranism.  Calvinism was not allowed in the Holy Roman Empire though there were certainly elements of it- Prussia was primarily Calvinistic.  One of the problems with this peace is that many who were not Lutheran or Roman Catholic still found themselves in danger of being charged, tried, and condemned with heresy (Zwinglians, Calvinists, Anabaptists).  It was only after the Thirty Years War and the Peace of Westphalia of 1648 that there was religious peace.  Religious Freedom and the sovereignty of states (including the Netherlands) was recognized.  But with all the fighting came disillusionment with state-run religion that still effects Europe today.  
     My contention is that this Thirty Years War was caused mostly by those who wanted power and physical resources (land, castles, money).  True religion goes against such things.  Jesus would rather have the cross than cause a rebellion against Rome or the Bureaucracy of the Jewish rulers.  His desire for oneness was not only not heeded, it was totally forsaken and rebelled against.  Luther said, "Love God and do what you will."  But then he did not show that love toward those who differed with him (nor did the Pope, nor did Zwingli). 
     Today, the church is again divided.  It has become so argumentative that many would rather not be affiliated with any denomination lest they be 1) Seen as contentious; 2) Have someone else encourage them to think differently in the name of unity.  We say we value truth over love.  But love is the truth.  God is love as well as light.  They are not incompatible.  When we choose only "truth" or "light" we fall into the darkness of disunity and even hatred of those who will one day be with us in heaven- who believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  If the church cannot teach us to be united above our differences, then it is no better than the worst political divisiveness.  
      One of the great things that has happened were the ecumenical councils that began in missionary efforts (Edinburgh 1910).  But Vatican 2 (1962-65) began to recognize Protestants, encouraged the liturgy and the reading of the Bible in the vernacular.  In 2015 Pope Francis declared division among Christians as "the work of the father of lies" and declared the oneness and brotherhood of those who believe "whether they are Evangelicals, Orthodox, Lutherans, Catholics, of Apostolic."  In 2016 Pope Francis celebrated the Reformation and even had a Vatican stamp made with Luther and Melanchthon kneeling before the cross. 
     The great sin of our day is not what we believe about justification- or celibacy.  The great sin of our day is a lack of love and unity.  

Prayer: Lord, let me be a peacemaker.  I believe what you said, "blessed be the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God."  Help me to sacrifice my pride and my all to be true to you- in truth and love.