Peace in the ICU

Luke experienced a tangible picture of the body of Christ coming around him in his time of need.

“I felt the love and deep care from people in a real way that is so easy to brush aside during casual Sunday morning chit-chats. It was an incredible feeling to know I had such a large prayer team to come around and support me. I just knew everything would be alright.”

God met me when I was going in to get  a “simple” wisdom tooth surgery. My bottom two teeth were coming in at a weird angle, so I needed to have the whole set removed. I took some time off of work so I could have the surgery performed on a Friday. Momma Baldwin came up so she could drive me around and maybe take a funny video of me on the laughing gas. At least that was the plan.

We arrived at the oral surgeon and everything went smoothly. We checked in, they gave me the knockout drugs, and everything was fine. Until it wasn’t. I remember waking up to the doctor and nurses shimmying around in the office. 

One of the nurses said, “Hey, there’s a lot of fluid in your mouth, clamp down on this so we can get it out.” 

I remember thinking, “Cool, looks like everything is done and I’ll be going home.”  Within ten seconds of that thought, my eyes went dark. I blackout. I am definitely not walking home.

I learned later that as the doctor was removing the last tooth on the right side of my jaw, he struck an artery and I started to bleed. At a certain point he realized that I was swelling up so bad that if he did not put a breathing tube down my neck immediately no one would be able to. I was then taken to the ER to get two surgeries: one to stop the bleeding artery and another to remove a golf ball sized blood clot in my neck. All of this happened right after I had blacked out. 

“I took a look at the craziness and decided to go to God to be at peace.”

I remember waking up in the ICU. I was so confused and had no idea what was going on.  The only thing I was sure of was that I was lying on a bed and there were lots of hospital people around me. One of them told me that I had something good for me in my mouth and that I should keep it in there, even if it gets uncomfortable. I tried to motion to let me write something. I simply wanted to ask ‘what is going on’ but I was told that I could not write anything yet. Obviously this was very frustrating, since I have no idea what was happening. 

Even though this could have been a time where I raged at the lack of care from the hospital staff and also feel a general sense of angst at what was happening...that is not what I wanted to do. Instead, I took a look at the craziness and decided to go to God to be at peace. I knew that since I was at the hospital, that meant something had gone wrong. And even though I was lying on my back, unable to speak or move, worrying could literally do nothing good for me. It was in the midst of lying in the ICU, that I experienced something that began to change me.  I was so relaxed and just basked in God. I had not felt this in quite some time. I was just going through old Switchfoot and Third Day songs in my head, simply focused on loving life. 

“He is still present personally in my life and He will use His power for my good.”

During the next few days, while I was still in the ICU, I had a bunch of friends come and visit me from the different campuses of Four Oaks. For the first time in my life I saw a tangible picture of the church of Christ coming around a brother in need. I felt the love and deep care from people in a real way that is so easy to brush aside during casual Sunday morning chit-chats. It was an incredible feeling to know I had such a large prayer team to come around and support me. I just knew everything would be alright. 

God taught me many things through this crazy experience. First, He is still present personally in my life and He will use His power for my good. It was a big wake up call for me to get out of my college, apathetic lifestyle. During my last few years at college, I had grown away from campus ministries and was living in the self-indulgence of video games and sin. God used this medical emergency to say, “Hey Luke, you need to put more work into being an adult. But more importantly, you need to be growing as a Christian and in your love for Me.” To be honest, there is still more work to do, but now I see this entire experience and recovery as a blessing from God. 

The second thing God taught me about was the power of a church body that is focused on God. Four Oaks became something special to me during the post-surgery time. From the various hospital visits to the food deliveries afterward, our church became a real representation of the love Christ has for His church. It made me cherish it and want to be a part of that love going forward. Since recovering, I have wanted to be more involved with the people and families that attend Four Oaks and spend more time talking to them, rather than just glancing at them and walking by. Four Oaks has become a family to me, a home away from home, and I will always be grateful.