My guest story today is from my friend, Praying Medic. He’s a paramedic and has been for much longer than me. It’s amazing to hear about how God is using him as he serves the sick and injured. He’s an amazing example of how an ordinary person can live the extraordinary life of Jesus. Connect with him at www.mewe.com and on his website www.prayingmedic.com The story below is from his book, My Craziest Adventures With God Volume 1. Make sure you grab this one. It will certainly encourage and inspire you.
My Partner Was a Door Gunner
Not all emergency medical technicians discover their calling straight out of high school. Some of us work strange jobs on the way to becoming an EMT. The guy I worked with today took some interesting detours. My normal partner was gone for a while on another assignment. My temporary partner called out sick. So today I worked with a guy who doesn’t have a regular partner or unit. As twilight approached and I loaded the gear in my ambulance, six o’clock was drawing near and so was my partner. Ken had been an aircraft mechanic for years and loved being around anything with wings or rotors. In the past, he worked on helicopters for the army. He also spent time on the trigger of an M-60 as a door gunner over Iraq.
We called dispatch to let them know we were ready for the start of our shift and they gave us an assignment to cover an area on the west side of Phoenix. We both needed coffee so when we got there we found a gas station. We called dispatch to let them know we arrived at our destination and they immediately moved us to a different location. Back on the road, we chatted about jobs, friends, good times, marriage ups and downs, kids, and the painful memories that come with the kind of work we do. He told me that the last time he was deployed, his wife didn’t object to him going overseas. He thought it was odd, but he didn’t ask why. A few days after he got to Afghanistan, she filed for divorce. He’s been driving back and forth to court hearings in LA and he doesn’t have a penny to his name right now.
After chatting with a buddy who deployed with him to Afghanistan (whose life was saved by Ken’s quick thinking) he decided he might do well in EMT school, so he sign up and completed his training. This was his first job in EMS. He’d been with the firm for two months, just like me. He had no idea he was going to have an encounter with God in less than an hour.
We found a spot that would provide shade during the heat of the day and Wi-Fi access for my laptop. Bloggers need to stay connected to the mother ship and I had some serious writing planned for today, if time allowed. We make our plans and God makes His. A few minutes later we got a call to downtown Phoenix. Traffic was picking up and the freeway was a parking lot so we took side roads to get to the call. On the way he told me about this pain (add) he had in the middle of his back.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
“How long have you had the pain?”
“A couple of days. I think I strained a muscle.”
“On a one to ten scale how bad is it?”
“About a five.”
I told him a few stories about people I had seen healed before we arrived on scene. The call was for a non-emergency transfer of a patient going from one hospital to another. We had a few minutes to spare so before we unloaded the gurney I asked, “Do you want to be healed?”
He looked at me a little surprised, but said, “Sure”.
“Are you absolutely sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” he said with a smile.
“Okay, why don’t we get you healed before we go inside? Turn around for a second.”
He turned to face away from me and I placed my hand on the middle of his back. “Holy Spirit, bring your presence and power. Pain I command you to leave right now in Jesus’ name. Muscles be healed.” I asked what he felt.
“That’s crazy.” He said. “I feel tingling all over my back!”
“That’s the power of God healing you.” I repeated the process and asked what he felt.
“Wow. This is really crazy. It feels pretty good now.”
“Is there any pain at all?”
“Yeah, there’s still a little tightness.”
I repeated the process one more time and asked what he felt. He twisted as far as he could to the left then right, bent backward and forward trying to see if he could make the pain come back. “There isn’t any pain at all! Man… this is crazy!”
We went inside and transported our patient, who had a hole in her heart. She was going from one hospital to another for surgery to close up the hole. She was nice, but rather large. At 348 pounds, we should have called for a bariatric gurney and another crew for lifting help. But my partner was up to the challenge having just been healed by God.
He spent the rest of the morning twisting from side to side every time we stopped. Every time he checked, there still wasn’t any pain and he exclaimed, “Man… this is crazy!” We talked about God. I told him about Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The cool thing about divine healing is that it allows God to be the topic of conversation for as long as you want. But my partner had another problem that needed the attention of Doctor Jesus.
During his time overseas he’d had close calls with a mortar explosion and an IED (improvised explosive device) that gave him a few scars. Eventually, he left the army and began working as a civilian contractor. He said he would have gone back in the army if he hadn’t partially torn his Achilles tendon, which made it hard for him to run. The VA wanted to do surgery to try to repair it, but he decided to live with it the way it was. I told him, “God is going to heal you before the end of our shift.”
Just before the end of shift, dispatch assigned us to post at a hospital. I told him to get out of the ambulance. It was time to be healed. We walked to the back of the ambulance and I had him put his injured foot on the rear bumper. “Is there any pain in your Achilles tendon right now?”
“Not right now. It doesn’t hurt unless I run.” I had him flex his foot as far as he could. “Okay, that hurts,” he said.
“Watch carefully what I’m going to do, because one day you’re going to be doing this for other people.” I placed my hand near his heel. “Holy Spirit, bring your presence. Tendon, I command you to reattach to the heel bone right now in Jesus’ name.” I waited a few seconds then asked what he felt.
“This is crazy. I feel like it’s swelling up. Like when your foot goes to sleep and then it kinda throbs… that’s what it feels like.”
“That’s God healing you. Flex it again and tell me if it hurts.”
He flexed his foot. “Yeah, it still hurts a little.”
I placed my hand on the back of his foot. “Lord, bring more of your power. Tendon I command you to reattach right now. Spirit of pain I command you to leave. Inflammation leave now.” I asked again what he felt.
“Wow. This is just crazy.”
“Dude, that’s the kingdom of God,” I replied with a smile.
We got in the ambulance and finished out our shift.
A few months later I happened to run into Ken at work and we talked about how he was doing. The back pain never returned. I asked about his Achilles tendon. He said he did some hiking on Camelback Mountain after we prayed and he had no pain or problems with it. He was still amazed at the healing and he was telling his partners about his miracle.
-Praying Medic
Blessings,
Jesse and Kara Birkey
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http://www.amazon.com/author/jessebirkey
Jesse and Kara Birkey are committed lovers of Jesus who seek to show others the extraordinary life of Jesus is available for everyone. They have authored two books, been featured in films and seek to serve the Lord in whatever ways they can. Follow their blog here.
Bring Jesse and Kara to your venue. Find more information here.
Get a sneak preview of Jesse’s upcoming fiction, Finding Home.
Life Resurrected, Extraordinary Miracles through Ordinary People has been endorsed by Sid Roth and Mark Virkler and is a collection of inspiring stories making it clear that the extraordinary life of Jesus is available to all who love Him. It’s also the testimony of Jesse’s life, the road he travelled bringing him into the arms of Jesus. Get the paperback here. Get the Kindle Version Here. View the trailer here.
Marriage What’s the Point? One couple finds meaning in a crazy mess is the story of their marriage—The tragedy and the restoration. They bear their hearts in an attempt to get others to bear theirs and finally receive the freedom they’ve longed for. Get the paperback here. Get the Kindle Version Here.
Jesse is also featured in the film DeadRaiser, a movie shining the spotlight on resurrection testimonies across the nation. Find more information here.
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