What I Learned In A Brazilian Emergency Room
My family and I lived as missionaries in Maués, Amazonas, Brazil. There, we taught English as a Second Language and worked with an organization that shared the gospel as they drilled wells in regional indigenous communities.
The heat and humidity are brutal in the region. I always joke that the Amazon has four seasons: hot and hotter, plus wet and wetter. I ranked the temperature by how many shirts I changed and how many cold showers I took daily.
My point? Overheating was commonplace, but one afternoon, it was worse than usual, with shortness of breath and chest pains. So I did what any guy would do: I hid it from my wife and waited until I was too sick to delay any longer.
When I arrived at the Hospital, I was lucky. The regional cardiologist was there and took over my care.
He determined I was in full-blown Atrial Fibrillation; my heart wasn’t pushing blood properly, so I couldn’t catch my breath, and I was almost blacking out at times.
The Hospital didn’t have the drugs needed to convert my heart back to a normal rhythm, and my wife had to find them at a local pharmacy. God was with her, and she found them at the first pharmacy.
After a second night in the Hospital’s emergency room, and with the new drugs, my heart still hadn’t converted to a normal rhythm, and the cardiologist decided to send me to Manaus for further treatment.
In that region of Brazil, when the doctor sends you to another city for treatment, the municipality pays for transportation. The plan was to put me on a 45-minute flight to Manaus the next morning.
However, in the morning, we learned that the mayor had failed to pay the bill with the airline for several months, and I wouldn’t be flying. Instead, I would take an overnight ride on a line boat that left at 5:00 pm that evening.
I arrived at the Manaus Hospital at about two PM the next day, tired and frustrated.
At the Hospital in Manaus, I met Michael on the same test circuit. He was in a wheelchair and having severe chest pains, nausea, and pain down his left arm; textbook heart attack symptoms that we all know.
He heard Rosaria, my wife, and I speaking English and asked if we were American. As we talked, I learned he was an American, Married to a Brazilian, and that he taught English in Manaus; he was also having heart problems.
Do you believe in coincidence? I don’t; instead, I believe in an all-powerful creator, God, Jesus, who orchestrates the events of our lives.
I should mention I was an American, married to a Brazilian, taught English, was having heart problems, and was waiting for treatment in the same Hospital with Michael. It was hard not to begin to feel my situation wasn’t an accident.
We spent the day getting to know Michael and his wife, Rose. They were good people having a bad day, and their camaraderie made the day a little easier.
At one point, I felt the Lord wanted me to pray with our new friends, especially Michael. Usually, my bad Portuguese was my excuse for not obeying, but they both spoke English, and I had no excuse!
I laid hands on them and prayed for them both; as I brought them before the Lord, it was like the heavens opened over us, and the Spirit fell. Afterward, as we dried our eyes and hugged, they thanked me for the prayer. We exchanged numbers, planning to get together while we were in Manaus. Then, we went back to our testing circuit.
I was discharged at about 9 o’clock that night. Michael is still in his wheelchair and still suffering after 8 or 9 hours of testing and waiting for a cardiologist to arrive at the Hospital.
We had to stay in Manaus for a cardiology appointment, and the Lord blessed us with a wonderful time, including meals out, movies at a real theater (there is no such thing in Maués), shopping, and more; we even had a little suite to stay in, away from our friends. It was indeed a gift from God.
In contrast, we’d left Michael in the Hospital in the same wheelchair, waiting for treatment. At about three in the morning, the night after I’d left the Hospital, Michael’s wife, Rose, called. He had just died, still in the same wheelchair and still waiting for treatment. She was devastated.
This experience raises so many questions,
- Why do bad things happen?
- Why did I have to have heart problems?
- What good am I to God sick? How can He use me?
- Why did I leave the Hospital to be blessed, and Michael lingers in the Hospital, suffering and finally dying, never having received treatment?
Let’s look at these questions one at a time.
First, why do bad things happen?
The most basic answer, though highly unsatisfying, is simply the fall of man; because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, death and sin entered the world.
Next is the issue of consequences. Years earlier, I knew I had heart issues and should change my diet to avoid further problems. I chose to ignore that advice even after a heart attack five years earlier.
Lastly, there’s the question of perspective. Are circumstances dire, or are we just failing to see them through God’s eyes?
One Sunday, we were walking to church and got caught in the rain. I whined, “God, why did we have to get rained on?” God answered, “Child, that’s not rain; my love, mercy, and grace are being showered down on you.” My perspective changed!
So why did I have heart problems and go to Manaus?
God’s answer: “My son, it was never a problem. You were always safe in my hand. I sent you on a mission to speak my word to Michael’s heart in his last days.”
Second, what good am I? How can you use me while I’m sick? Can’t someone else do it?
God’s reply, “Child, sick, you were my perfect tool for this mission; I’ve prepared you for years to touch his life.” In hindsight, does he address me as a child because I whine like one so often?
Third, how is it just that I lived and enjoyed God’s abundant blessings, and Michael suffered and died?
“What’s just, child, is that I didn’t let him die without Me. He chose Me on his last day; you’re living in my blessing because you chose me long ago,” God replied.
Finally, why all the delays? Couldn’t it have been easier?
God’s reply: “Without the delays, child, you would’ve missed your appointment with Micheal. I put you where I wanted you when I wanted you there.”
The Father’s plan is an intricate tapestry being woven over the days of our lives. Though we watch, we fail to see what he is doing. We only see the bottom with messy, loose threads — not even a shadow of the Father’s work.
His ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9) and beyond our finite understanding. Also, the book of Hebrews tells us, “Faith is the essence of believing in things unseen.”
Perspective changes everything. When you’re struggling, ask God to help you see the situation through his eyes. Let the Lord guide you. Like clay in a potter’s hand, God can use you wherever and in whatever condition.
Finally, to paraphrase the book of 2 Timothy 4:2–5
“Preach the word, be ready to speak His word when it’s convenient or when it isn’t, Complete His mission, and do the work of an Evangelist.”
