One A Divine Crucible

Chapter One

A Divine Crucible

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. Remember therefore what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. If therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. ’” (Revelation 3:1-3/NAS)

“I'm dizzy!” my wife Shelley exclaimed as she sat up in bed. “What?” I said as I awoke from being sound asleep. It was 3am on Monday, January 19, 2004. With noticeably slurred speech she again said, “I'm dizzy.” “Lay down” I said, trying to figure out what was happening.

Wanting to go to the bathroom which was on my side of the bed, she sat up and attempted to come over towards me. Her body appeared as if she had little control. She was experiencing an extreme case of vertigo.

I had to literally pick her up as she faced me and carry her into the bathroom. I then carried her back into the bedroom and carefully sat her on the edge of the bed. As I did, her eyes rolled back in her head as she lay back down. I was extremely alarmed at this point, thinking that I might be losing her, and decided to immediately call 911 for an ambulance. Being cost conscious, my wife said to me with her slur, “Don't, it will cost too much.” This time I didn't listen to her.

Just two months before, in November of 2003, we had flown to China with my in-laws to adopt our precious little China doll, Ana. It had been an incredible trip that we had been anxiously anticipating for 13 months.

The thought to adopt had been placed within us a couple of years earlier by 1