September 22, 2004 will be a day that I will remember forever. Seven years ago today, I suffered-but survived a “widow-maker” heart attack. I completely occluded my left-main coronary artery.  Thank you LORD for extending my life upon this earth.

The miracles that surrounded that event are numerous. Those people closest to me have heard them before. Whether it was the miracle that my day off had been changed from Tuesday to Wednesday, so that I was at home rather than 20 miles away at work when I started having the event;

Whether it was the miracle that I left for the hospital rather than calling 911 and would have died at home waiting for an ambulance to arrive; Or whether it was the miracle that there was a heart-team already at the hospital at seven in the morning preparing to do an elective-procedure on someone else. They were miracles that God used to save my life.

I am grateful to have lived another 7 years. I have been able to continue to support and enjoy my family, experience the thrill of being a grandparent, authored a national best-seller (well, in my office at least), and learned spiritual lessons that I never knew before.

A local athlete recently suffered the same heart attack and died at the ripe old age of 27. WOW! We all think that we will live a long life and often forget that we aren’t in control of that decision.

I am reminded that we all actually live forever. After we separate from this physical body, we will all rise; some to live, and others to be condemned. John 5:29 Which will it be for you?