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Back in August, when the Delta COVID variant was going strong, I tested positive and just kind of felt like I’d be okay.
And then my wife tested positive at the same time. I wasn’t feeling horrible. I just couldn’t get my fever down. So I went into a hospital here in Dallas. I figured I’d get some oxygen and that was going to be it.
After a few days, I got on a ventilator, but it didn’t help. I got worse until they needed to sedate me to see if that would help. A couple of days later they had to lay me on my stomach so my lungs could work. It’s one of the last things they do to somebody to try to save them. They called my wife, Vanessa, and said, “We’ve done all we can do. His lungs are like bricks.”
Then I had COVID pneumonia. They gave me 100 percent oxygen, and my body still wasn’t responding. I was on the ventilator for 22 days. By the time Vanessa got that call, I’m unconscious. When I later heard her part of the story, I felt so much for what she went through. It was harder than what I had to go through—we have two kids and she’s talking to the doctors and nurses on the phone, hearing the worst-case scenario, and trying to hold it together.
Vanessa decided when she heard that bad news that God was speaking to her: “This is not final. This isn’t what I have planned. You’re hearing this, but don’t take that to heart.” She gathered everybody she could to pray and our church just stepped up and prayed and prayed.
She went to sleep that night not knowing if I was going to make it. Overnight, things dramatically changed. The nurse told her I was able to cut back to 50 percent oxygen. I wasn’t out of the woods, but I was a lot better than I was the day before. I came off sedation, but she still hadn’t been able to come up and visit yet.
She did get to start coming in September. From that day on, she came every day, and that’s just another testament to our church. Our church made sure our kids were picked up and taken to church and taken back home and taken to their activities so she could come to be with me at the hospital.
And God, throughout everything, gave us peace, gave me peace.
I was in the ICU for two months. After I had come off sedation my heart rate and oxygen still weren’t very good, but that gradually got better. And then my lungs had issues. My right had so much damage from COVID that even on the ventilator it would collapse. I had to get chest tubes twice.
With the various treatments for my lungs, down my throat and trachea, the doctors were saying, “I don’t know if he’ll be able to sing again” because they knew I was a worship pastor. The pulmonologist thought he might have to remove my right lung.
But God said, “That’s not happening, so don’t take that to heart.” And God, throughout everything, gave us peace, gave me peace.
I’m grateful for that experience because it was a sweet time with Jesus. He was there, and how many times can I count where he was so, so close? He made me “lie down in green pastures.” And I know it gave me so much more empathy for what people go through because I’d never experienced this type of ordeal.
I was in a hospital bed, but at peace. The doctors and nurses saw that and felt it. The nurses would come to our room just to be in our room. They would come to get away from the death and darkness they saw every day. Of course, we knew what was going on, and God was with us. I spent a third month in long-term, acute care, which means you’re getting better but still need care. The only difference is you can go down and do physical therapy in a gym.
When we finally got to come home, the church came in a church bus and welcomed us into our driveway. It was very emotional and … our church has just been through a lot after losing our pastor [Jimmy Pritchard]. I know God used my story here at church to give some hope in a way.
After coming home, I did outpatient therapy, just learning to walk and praying about, “What does it look like when I can come back to church? What am I going to be able to do and when?” But through it all, I had peace about my future. There were so many answered prayers and so many things I could point to that were miraculous; God had his hand in all of it.
I was made to be in relationship with God and continually learning that nothing in life matters as much as that relationship.
January 16 was my first Sunday back. It was emotional, it was prayers answered—it was just a great day. I was walking out in the dark, you do a bumper intro, and people are standing up and clapping just to see me. It was great. It was all glory to God. It’s just that he saved me and uses me still. What can be better than that?
It’s a victory for me to be able to come back and be here. So that was an amazing day. I don’t want to forget this feeling. I always want to remain grateful in this.
I went to the pulmonologist two weeks ago and my lungs are doing OK. The pulmonologist said, “You’re going to heal over and then you’re going to be fine,” and even “It’s good that you are using your voice and singing.” So, it’s all green lights from here.
So what’s my story? I was made to be in relationship with God and continually learning that nothing in life matters as much as that relationship.
Want to share a story of what God is doing in your life or your church?
