Aflame For God 25 – Miracles… Disaster… BUT GOD!
“I will know by the gleam and glitter of the golden chain you wear, by your heart’s calm strength in loving, of the fire you have to bear. Beat on, true heart, forever; Shine bright, strong golden chain; and bless the cleansing fire and the furnace of living pain!” – Adelaide Proctor
Read the beginning of the series HERE
Early in January 2017 We met and all agreed that 2017 would be the year of miracles. We even made this video to share our heart’s dream… But we couldn’t have known…
In late January Levi and Rebekah headed to Zambia, Africa to minister and in early February I flew to Bogota for a 3 week pastor training and crusades in some of the hard places of Colombia. In June of 2016 my son-in-law Oscar introduced me to Carlos the head of outreach for YWAM in Colombia. Who said that he had many jungle pastors and smaller towns on the West coast of Colombia that needed help, but no foreign pastors they had asked where willing to go. Oscar said “Ha dad will go anywhere” and so we booked a trip for February 2017. The Holy Spirit flooded these meetings. We had an amazing time in the jungle training these pastors. Then came a huge city wide crusade in the big mountain town of Montelibano. They set up a large stage in the street on the first night we preached to over a 1,000 people in the street. Many gave their lives to Christ that night. The second night we preached to 1,500 people and the third night over 2,500 people showed and hundreds were saved or rededicated their lives to Christ. In total we shared the gospel with over 5,000 people in those 3 days. Brooke, Oscar, and I were bursting with joy and rejoicing at what God did in this city. Over the three weeks there, I was deeply convicted that this type of training and crusade program needs to be happening all over the world. This is my future plan for my part in Mission Critical. Thrillingly I was invited by 18 countries this year to do that very thing but then…
March was all about awesome and anointed Tres Dias retreats and getting Mercy’s House Liberia up and roofed. It was so thrilling to see the walls go up. When we got the roof on I was going to Liberia in May to hold crusades and see the project! I was also planning and praying for a trip in June to preach to tens of thousands in Pakistan, a pastor training and crusade trip to central Africa in August, and so on! But then… tragedy…
On Tuesday, April 11th, 2017 I left the house for a routine inspection of an office building to make a little money to help finance our ministry. I set up my ladder and then remembered that I needed to send the last $1400 to Liberia to put the roof on Mercy’s House. I pulled out my phone, opened the money transfer app, sent the money, put my phone back in my pocket and climbed the ladder. I don’t remember anything else but I fell sixteen feet and landed on concrete. Miraculously there was a lady there who saw and called 911. EMS had me to Memorial Herman Hospital in the Woodlands in 11 minutes but with all of my injuries the doctors told Lisa, my wife, I wouldn’t survive. Shattered face, 3 brain bleeds and a closed brain injury, 8 broken ribs, broken collar bones and sternum, busted shoulder, blindness, 3 broken vertebra, internal bleeding that eventually killed my spleen and part of a kidney and on and on… But God!!! My warrior princess wife, family and dozens of church, Tres Dias, and other brothers and sisters in Christ began flooding the hospital and prayers and messages began coming in from around the world. My son-in-law and daughter, Oscar and Brooke, flew in from Colombia, Mercy and her fiancee Bobby came down from Arlington, namely, the army of God showed up and began to pray a hurricane of prayer around me and very quickly “the tide of the battle began to turn.” I was out cold in ICU for 25 days battling pneumonia, sepsis, urinary infection, blood infection, a hemothorax lung , a pneumothorax lung and more but God’s army stayed with me and prayed continuously throughout those 25 days, Lisa posted prayers every day on facebook that electrified people around the world. My sister Michelle heroically guided Lisa through the whole process of dealing with the hospital. The people of God began giving tens of thousands of dollars to take care of me. Miracles!!!
On the night of May 3, 2017 the hospital told Lisa, “Please just put him in hospice and let him die.” She went home cleaned up and was in her prayer closet praying that God would wake me up when suddenly her phone rang and it was our pastor, Frankie Mazzapica. He had been supporting and encouraging my family through the whole disaster and he called to get the latest. Lisa told him about hospice and then said, “Pastor, if he would just wake up everything would change!” He said, “Well, we’ve seen God do many things in his favor already. Let’s pray he wakes up.” They prayed. Lisa drove to the hospital, walked into my room, and I opened my eyes and said, “Hello beautiful!” “She said, “It’s you! it’s really you!” I said, “Yes, why am I tied to this bed and where am I? BUT GOD!!! Miracle!!!!!! My doctor’s and surgeons rushed to see me and exclaimed, “Holy ________! Your a miracle! Oops excuse our language!” We all laughed. I was so happy to see my family and hear the amazing stories of all God had done to rescue me. A week later I went to rehab and 17 days later I came home to recover. I quickly improved so much that I was able to preach at my home church Celebration Church of The Woodlands on August 9, 2017 and people all over the world watched the video. Miracles!!!! Then… disaster again…
On August 17, 2017 Hurricane Harvey had pounded Houston until our kids came to our rescue and evacuated us to Willis north of The Woodlands. That night our house flooded with 5 feet of water and everything we owned in this world except a bag of close and laptop for each of us was destroyed. BUT GOD! Immediately our church and Tres Dias brothers and sisters began to help out and currently we are sleeping on a nice air mattress at our oldest son Luke’s house. There are now 5 adults and 5 grandkids 7-years-old and under living in a one bath house and we are having the time of our lives. I was blessed to preach at the second anniversary service of my daughter Mercy’s African church in Fort Worth and she gave me perhaps the sweetest introduction I’ve ever had. See it HERE. We don’t know yet what the next chapter of Aflame For God will look like but we are confident that it will be MIRACULOUS!!! STAY TUNED!!!
Aflame For God 26 – The Flame Spreads To Asia!