A Gunshot & the Gospel

             The year—1978. My fiancé Brian and I served in leadership at Camp Hope for the disabled, located in Kent Cliffs, New York. Our counselors arrived. We had a great group of them and even some who lived with disabilities as well.

            One of the boys’ counselors was Tony! This fella won the hearts of us all and his campers as nothing seemed to stop him in his specially designed sports wheelchair. He wore a smile most if not all of the time.

            Brian and Tony became fast-friends, and that friendship has stayed sweet and strong over the decades from those days when we were all much younger … and thinner (ahem).

            I’ve asked Tony to be my guest blogger this week. May his testimony be a blessing to you!

             “I grew up in the ghettos of East Baltimore. There has always been high drug and illegal gun trafficking in the area. Most do not know that homicide in Baltimore is higher than New York City!

            I spent my pre-teen years listening to Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcom X publicly advocating for “black power” and equal rights for African Americans. Yes, I was around to hear them when they were actually alive! There was a Black Panther recruiting center just around the block from where I lived.

            As a result of illegal gun trafficking, I suffered a gunshot wound to my back which left me a T9-T10 paraplegic. The prognosis was that I would be permanently paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of my life, as told to me by the John’s Hopkins surgeon.

            When I sat in my wheelchair, I felt like I was suspended above a bowl of Jello. No feeling at all below my waist.

            My year and a half in rehabilitation was spent at Good Samaritan Hospital in Maryland. It was a shock to me and my physical therapist when I began to have feeling in my legs. Eventually, feeling and function returned in my right leg and waist.

            From my upbringing, I knew that only a “miracle” would have allowed me to gain mobility, so I began asking questions about the existence of God and what that had to do with me.

            As a result of being involved in a youth group Bible study, I discovered that the Lord Jesus Christ died a substitutionary death to pay for sins … my sins. There is no “scale of justice” here!  No good weighed against the bad. If that were the case, I would have been found wanting and sentenced to eternal separation from the God I love.

            Because the Lord Jesus Christ’s sacrifice was a substitute for me, I needed to accept and trust His sacrifice to be enough to buy my soul’s eternal safety.

            So, at a Youth for Christ meeting I acknowledged His sacrifice on my behalf and accepted it as a sufficient sacrifice. He volunteered to satisfy the price for sin I couldn’t pay.”

—Tony Hewitt

“Whoever has the Son has life;

whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,

that you may know that you have eternal life.” I John 5:12-13

            November 25^th that same year Tony sang at our wedding. The song? He Touched Me by Bill & Gloria Gaither. Here is a version you can listen to—although not Tony—sung by an okay group (smile):  

He Touched Me (Live At Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, SC/2018) - YouTube 

            In 1987 we shared in Tony and Teresa’s special day as they were joined in marriage! They’ve continued on through life with the joy of the Lord as their strength, being a blessing to so many lives around them.

            Thank You, God, for the lives of this brother and sister in Christ—for their zeal for you and their commitment—not only to each other—but to You for the cause of furthering the Gospel. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

 

*gunshot *paraplegic *Baltimore *miracle *YouthforChrist *Christssacrifice

*Hetouchedme *Gaither *commitment *Gospel 

Photo: Tony & Teresa Hewitt (used with permission)

Happy Adoption Day—So You Don’t Go Through This Life Alone

  

          Today we celebrate a family event—Min’s Adoption Day! Anniversary #26! Here you see us pictured (November 14^th, 1997) gathered around Judge David Klim.

            Outside a blizzard had hit our fair city. We often joke about that in connection to taking Min into our family as he was somewhat of a “storm” himself! Min’s life, however, would be fraught with physical and mental challenges.

            Here’s a piece I wrote during one of those times (May 31^st, 2012) when Min was recovering from major abdominal surgery:

 

            “Last Sunday should have been our son’s high school graduation. That’s what is marked on the calendar. But what actually took place was abdominal surgery. Of course, God knew this all ahead of time. He even knew before we adopted Min that he’d one day face this surgery due to his genetic disease.

            Week ago Monday our son had an ultrasound to study his kidneys, which can become problematic for kids with neurofibromatosis type 1. During that scan, a large mass was discovered. We spent the rest of that week helping Min through additional test, resulting in surgery by week’s end. Now that the grapefruit-sized mass is removed, our son lies recovering—very slowly and not so smoothly.

            Because of our son’s other life-struggle, Asperger’s, we’re staying with him around-the-clock, attempting to keep his busy hands from undoing IVs, stopping him from removing tubes that must stay put, and protecting his long incision. A 24/7 task.

            A thought occurred to me when doctors told us our son would have a large active tumor removed … This is why we adopted Min—so he wouldn’t go through this alone. Oh sure, there were other reasons, but perhaps none so important as this (with exception to teaching him about the Savior so he’d one day accept Jesus into his life).

            Did we adopt Min because we needed him? Not in one sense of the word. Did we want him? Yes. If we hadn’t adopted him, he was slated to go to an orphanage for the “unadoptable.”    

            I thought about what it might’ve been like if Min faced this surgery and rough aftermath in a hospital without family … perhaps alone and so full of fear.

            I’ve also reflected how my relationship with God, Who adopted me, is similar. Did He need me? Not really. Did He want me? Yes. And He is with me through all the trials I go through. That’s a great reason to be adopted!

            I’m eternally thankful my loving Father took me in and made me a part of His family so I don’t go through ANYTHING alone.

            During Min’s struggles with testing, surgery, and rough post-op, he cried, ‘I’m so glad you are here to help me.’

            Min, we are too … and we’re also grateful God is with us all, so we don’t go through this life alone.”

I’m So Glad I’m a Part of the Family of God

Bill Gaither - The Family Of God (Live At Gaither Studios, Alexandria, IN/2022) - YouTube

 

*adoption *neurofibromatosis *NF *Godsfamily *belonging *neveralone *happyadoptionday

 

Note: A shorter, redirected version of this May 31^st, 2012 piece is entered as a letter to Min in his memoir, A Home for Min Soo—Putting Together the Pieces of my Life by Kim, Min Soo (available through online booksellers. Also available in eBook and audiobook forms).