A Personal Miracle with a Public Message

Many people would say that miracles just don’t happen today. Skeptics would say that miracles never happened, believing that given enough time, science can explain any supposedly supernatural event. Even some Christians think that miracles ceased with the passing of the New Testament apostles. One thing is for certain, miracles reported in the Bible always had an important message. The following is my story, a very personal miracle with a very public message.

March 28, 2014, I was working out on the elliptical orbiter in our home. My wife was in the living room, watching the morning news. She heard a loud crash. She ran back to our bedroom to find me unconscious, without a pulse, and not breathing. I had fallen from the orbiter and was halfway lying/sitting in the narrow cul-de-sac formed by the orbiter, the wall, and our bed.

She called 9-1-1. Fire and rescue was on the way. She immediately began CPR to the best of her ability. But the awkward position of my body made chest compressions difficult to achieve. When fire and rescue arrived, she sat down in the living room and prayed, “Father, whether you leave him with us or take him away, I need you right now.” She called a few people and asked them to pray. Meanwhile, fire and rescue were working to revive me.

The paramedics immediately moved me so I was flat on the floor. One began chest compressions. The other set up the defibrillator. They shocked my heart with no response. They repeated this two more times, both times with no response. Eventually, they had done all they could do and were preparing to pack up and deliver the devastating news to my wife. The deputy sheriff was leaving our room in order to start the paper work to investigate the untimely death of a 50 year old male. The deputy hadn’t made it to the hallway when he heard one of the men say, “Wait a minute. He just started breathing on his own.” They immediately began to induce hypothermia and rushed me to the hospital.

The doctor told my wife, mother, and step father, that I had suffered a Sudden Death Cardiac Arrest. A blood clot had formed in one of my coronary arteries. He had extracted the blood clot. At this point, all vitals were strong. I would remain in a medically induced coma and intensive care for at least several days. However, the doctor cautioned against too much optimism. I had been without an appreciable supply of oxygen for at least 14 minutes. It was impossible at this point to know the full extent of damage that had been done. Family and friends continued to pray.

Seven days later, after a nasty bout with pneumonia, I woke from my medically induced coma. My wife said, “You have no idea what happened, do you?” Still on the respirator, I couldn’t speak. I remember thinking, “I don’t even know where I am.” She said, “You had a heart attack.” I thought, “A what?” Then she asked, “Do you remember your dissertation?” (I was in the middle of writing my PhD dissertation.) I thought and then nodded ‘yes.’ She asked, “Do you remember all of it?” I thought carefully and nodded ‘yes.’ Five days later I went home. Six weeks later I was back at work. A few week after that I picked up where I left off on my dissertation.

Over the course of the next 6 weeks, we learned just how serious things had been. Only 2% in our area survived these attacks. Of those, half lived with permanent damage to vital organs. My cardiologist calls me “Rev. Lazarus.” My family doctor told me that the only explanation for my survival was the merciful intervention of our good and powerful God. Personally speaking, God had performed a mighty miracle in my life.

But an event like this leaves you with questions. ‘Why me?’ I’m no more special to God than you! Yet, the more troubling question was ‘What does this all mean?’ I’ve come to believe that this miracle means nothing more and certainly nothing less than the miracles we see in the Bible. These miracles always had at least one message for a watching world: God still has the power and desire to redeem and restore. If he extended my life, he extended my life not just for me but for you. He wants you to know that he still has the power and desire to redeem and restore your broken world.

My experience is only one small reminder of a much greater miracle with a much more important message. God stepped into our mess when he sent his only son, Jesus–the long-promised messiah. Jesus delivered God’s message to us in person. In his son, God himself made the death payment for our rebellion. Three days later God raised him from the dead, validating everything his son ever said or did. By his grace, through repentance and faith, we who are part of the problem can become part of his solution. My story is a small echo of God’s own personal miracle with a very public message.

Cris Alley, PhD