AMBASSADOR FOR AN INSRUTABLE GOD
It's hard to publicly represent a King who keeps his own counsel.
Richard Doebler
July 1, 1991
I wish I'd missed a recent phone call.
"You've got to listen to this radio broadcast tonight," the church member urged. "It's the story of a 'miracle man.' It's fantastic! He died, saw a glimpse of heaven, and then came back to life-all because faithful friends were praying. Isn't that tremendous!"
"Yes," I acknowledged, with less enthusiasm than he. "Tremendous." What was I to make of such a call? Was this to help me believe for more of the miraculous? Why did I feel subtly accused, painfully reminded of the shortage of spectacular answers to prayer in my ministry? I wondered if my caller wished I would join the spiritual elite and begin raising the dead.
Time has not erased my disappointment from a spring day more than twenty years ago. Our high school baseball team trailed by a run with two out in the bottom of the ninth, and my coach sent me to the plate to pinch hit. With the pressure on, I swung at a curve ball and struck out.
Going to bat in the ninth is nothing, however, compared to stepping into an intensive care unit, called by a desperate family to pray the equivalent of a home run. All too aware of what is at stake, I pray before I pray officially: "God, if ever I needed a hit, I need it now."
Then I perform my role as a minister, God's representative to a family with its back against the wall. I pray with them for healing. I give them a reassuring hug.
"I'll be praying for you," I say as I leave the room. "God's in control!"
Then, sometimes only hours later, I get word that the patient has died. I walk back through the corridor, the echo of my footsteps punctuating the sterile air, mimicking the empty echoes in my heart: You didn't connect. You struck out.
How can we pastor on those occasions when our faith-filled aspirations ...
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