On 9-11-01, I Was...

In Yaounde, Cameroon - in the seventh week of being away from my wife and the comforts of home, I received a phone call in the middle of my Bible Class.  I took the cell phone from our Education Director, Peter Thomas who lived near Bremen, Germany, stepped out of the bare, ground floor room where 20 Africans were learning more about the Bible and our church, into the hallway of our national overseer's home.  Pressing the phone to my ear I heard my wife's trembling voice, crying between words, trying to tell me, "We've been bombed!  They've bombed us.  They've hit the twin towers in New York!"  I heard myself responding, "It's o.k., honey.  It's o.k.  We're gonna be o.k.  The Lord is still in charge."  My only regret was that I could not reach over and touch her, at least to give her a reassuring pat on the arm.  I wanted to take her into my arms and just hold her.  I somehow knew that if I could be there with her, her spirit would settle down and she would feel comforted.  But, from 10,000 miles away that was impossible.  When she was sure that I had the message and realized the somberness of the moment, then we talked of how and when I would be home.  All flights into and out of America had been cancelled.  We had no idea if and when the planes would fly again.  For all we knew this was the beginning of WWIII . 

After the phone call, I announced to the class what I had learned over the phone.  After a stunned few minutes of silence the national overseer of our church asked if I wanted to cancel all the classes.  My response was, "What would we do then?  Since we are all here present, and I could not board a plane for home - why not continue doing what we believe the Lord called us to do?"  So we continued our normal schedule without a hitch.  God is in control. 

I saw many things happen over the next few days that confirmed to me beyond a shadow of any doubt that God was in control of my life.  He protected, blessed, strengthened me and those with me in very special ways.  Bishop Iniobong Ukpe went to a neighbor and arranged for us to get cable TV brought into his home for the next few days so we were able to hear all the reports that were being broadcast on CNN.  It gave us a feeling of being connected with the world. 

When I went to the ticket office on Saturday we were told that I could not stop in Switzerland because too many Americans were waiting there to go back to the US.  I had to buy a ticket on to some other place - so I invited myself to go home with my German colleague.  My bags were checked to Bremen, Germany.  It's a long story.  But - In the end, I was able to leave Cameroon a day earlier, changed my flight plans, and arrived in Atlanta on the first day that planes were allowed back in the USA.  Because of this emergency, I had to buy a different ticket from Europe, and the only seat left to buy was in 1st class!  Since my bags had to be re-routed to Atlanta, they delivered both suitcases to my front door in Cleveland, TN so didn't have the hassle of going through customs with the suitcases!

Doctors Orders

One thing you must remember: There will be NO COMPLAINING! Doctor's Orders. Actually, this sign is in the drug-store drive-through window where I pick up Mom's meds occasionally.


I'm not sure I understand this sign, even though it is written in English!

Once again, we've spent several hours in the hospital. Yesterday it was at Erlanger, a hospital in Chattanooga. Ever heard of "Heart Arrhythmia"? It just means "irregular heartbeat". I don't like it...but it seems to be a necessary part of life for Frances and me these days. It seems that her heart has been receiving conflicting electrical impulses which are supposed to tell her the correct moment for the heart to beat. Because of these confusing signals, the doctor suggested a procedure of intervention of one electrical signal via a catheter into the heart muscle, applying heat to one of the signals, thus "killing" it. That would leave the other signal stronger and cause the heart to beat normally. This is called "cardiac ablation".


Many signs were written in English and in Spanish.


Consideration for others in the room, especially if you have a cough or a fever, is highly recommended.

What a day. I was up at 3:10a. (couldn't sleep that extra 20 minutes until 3:30, which is when I had set the clock for.) I wanted to get my coffee, read my Bible and settle my nerves a bit before waking Frances at 4:00. Even though I got side-tracked in my reading for a few minutes and I woke her at 4:10, we were able to get everything in order, leave here at 5:00, arrive at the hospital on-time, and everything went as planned...


Heart monitors, Blood-pressure monitors, oxygen level monitors, heart-rate monitors, and "you-name-it" monitors are a prominent part of modern day medical treatment.


This sign is prominently displayed in the consultation room in my "primary care physician's" office. That's the local walk-in clinic.

At 10:00a., when the doctor had finished the procedure, he came to explain it all too me and very skillfully - with $64 words - told me that now there is a 50% chance that what he did will work and the bad electrical signals will "peter out" within a couple of weeks. He says that there is also a 50% chance that what was done will make no difference and then he will see her on the 25th for further medical treatment. Don't you love those 50/50 chances on things?


Is there an ominous note here? Are they suggestion that you ought to read up on this book about life after death?

Well, at 2:00p, the nurse came in to say Frances was doing well and began removing heart monitor, bp cuff, etc., and etc. in preparation for our leaving the hospital. I discovered that there was drizzling rain as I crossed the street into the parking garage. This reminded me that I had seen the weather predictions were for possible light freezing rain sometime during the day. However, we had no freezing rain.

As we approached Interstate 24 heading East, I noticed that the traffic was backing up rapidly! I quickly made the decision to go to the old highway (US11) and follow it until I was past the area where I75 and I24 connect, thus beating all that traffic jam. Wrong decision. After an hour of bumper to bumper stop and go on the old highway I finally discovered that there was work on two lanes and everyone was merging into one lane. Once past that spot, the traffic was released and we were soon home. No further problems. So - Thank God - we're once again out of the docs office and now waiting for any signs of improvement in regular heart-beat.

So many friends called to say they were praying. Family and friends mean so much at times like these. I do believe that God pays attention to us when we pray. I feel better today than I did yesterday, that's for sure!!!