It is a sunny Sunday afternoon, on the cusp of spring-turning-into-summer, and I am sitting by the river that runs through the city where I live. All around me are hoards of people – locals, tourists and students alike – packed to near capacity in the beer garden at the front of a popular pub.
Ancient oak trees provide us with shade. On each side of the pub, green fields spread out, left to lie fallow in case of flooding. Ducks and swans intermingle with motorboats and rowing boats on the river. Up above, the sky is blue. In so many senses, it is the epitome of Englishness.
A small group of us have gathered to celebrate the birthday of a friend and, as I sit down, I spy a man just along from me. Let’s call him Steve*.
Steve is in his early forties and I met him about two years ago. Since then, I have seen him a couple of times, but only ever through our mutual friend, today’s birthday girl, or her husband, and usually at a distance, without the opportunity to interact.
“Watcha!” he greets me, with a broad grin.
“Hi Steve,” I reply, “How are you?”
“I couldn’t be better,” he tells me, “I have so much to be thankful for,” and, before I know it, he’s pouring his heart out, bringing me up to date with his story.
***
Several years earlier, Steve has been involved in a serious accident. While driving a racing car around a track, he is hit head on, and the collision leaves him with serious damage and discomfort all down his right hand side. From his shoulder, through his arm, to his hip and his knee, he is in pain … and the pain is robbing him of sleep.
In the strange season following the accident, when recuperation and recovery are absolutely key, he meets a Christian believer who introduces him to Jesus. Not long later, he makes a commitment to Christ and joins the church which our mutual friend and her husband attend regularly.
He is like a sponge in his enthusiasm to dig deep into his new found faith. The pastor of the church disciples him in the basics, and he is soon learning to pray and read the Bible, amongst other practices.
The pastor and people in the church pray for his healing, but he remains in pain, and sleep continues to evade him. Over the course of time, he learns to live with it.
One Sunday afternoon, almost exactly two years ago, our mutual friends get in touch. “We’ve got a friend from church who could do with prayer for healing,” they tell me. “Would you be willing to pray with him, if we invite him over?”
Without hesitation, I respond to say yes.
And so it is that, one mid week evening, I meet Steve, sitting in the living room of our mutual friends’ home. His clear zest for life comes tumbling out, as he tells me his story. He is bubbly, friendly and clearly loving every aspect of his new found faith in Jesus. As he draws to a close, and with some trepidation, I suggest we stand and gather around him to pray.
With Steve in the centre, our mutual friends stand behind and before him, and I stand to his right. We invite the Holy Spirit to come, and we each ask God to heal him, in the name of Jesus. One at a time, I lay a hand gently on his right hand shoulder, arm, side, hip and knee, each time asking Jesus to come and bring healing.
“Whoah!” he exclaims loudly, “What’s that tingling?” He describes a warm glow spreading through the right hand side of his body, clearly at a loss for words.
“Perhaps it’s God healing you?” I suggest and, later that evening, as we part company, I pray fervently that Steve’s pain will dissipate and disappear.
***
Sitting in the beer garden, two years on, Steve brings me up to date.
“I lay my head on the pillow that night,” he explains, “and I slept like a baby, for the first time since the accident.” He is watching to make sure I’m taking in what he is telling me, and I nod for him to continue. “When I woke up the next day, I was completely pain free; it was such an incredible feeling,” he tells me. “I couldn’t quite believe that God who, until a short time before, I had denied even existed, was now concerned enough about me to want to heal me.”
“Wow, Steve!” I respond. “That’s so encouraging.”
“I can’t stop telling people about Jesus,” he carries on. “All I want is for everyone I know to experience what I’ve experienced.”
***
*Name changed to preserve confidentiality.
[Photo by Peter Oslanec on Unsplash]
