Prodigal: This is fine as daisy!
Me: I have been working hard on it.
Prodigal: Let’s take a break.
It was hard to believe that one week earlier Ryan was at home with his younger brother, Jordan, watching cartoons and eating Popsicles while the two boys recovered from routine cases of chicken pox.
When one large pock behind Ryan’s ear turned red and began to swell, Cheryl and her husband, Jeff, weren’t too worried. But as the swelling continued, they realized something was terribly wrong. Within hours, Ryan’s neck had swollen so much that it pushed his head over against his left shoulder. What’s more, his temperature shot up to 105 degrees. Rushed by ambulance to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis, Ryan’s condition worsened.
The infection was being caused by streptococcus bacteria, which had invaded one of Ryan’s chicken pox. At that point, the swelling had so severely twisted Ryan’s neck that doctors were afraid it would break and damage his spinal column. Believing the infection had entered Ryan’s bones, doctors wanted to operate so they could scrape the infection from Ryan’s vertebrae and insert pins to hold everything together. Still, they were certain Ryan would not survive the surgery. They also knew he would not survive without surgery. Concluding there was nothing left to do but wait, they fully expected Ryan to die from a broken neck.
Alone with Ryan in his hospital room, Cheryl wept over the realization that her son was dying. There had been another Ryan, years ago, but he’d died too. Ryan Updyke wasn’t actually Cheryl’s brother, but he might as well have been. The little boy had been just three years old–and Cheryl seven–when he became part of her family. The son of Cheryl’s mother’s best friend,a single mom who worked evenings, Ryan spent most afternoons and evenings at Cheryl’s home. When he was sixteen, Ryan was diagnosed with bone cancer. He died eighteen months later.
When Cheryl and Jeff married and had their first baby, they named him after the “little brother” Cheryl had loved and lost. Cheryl’s son didn’t know about the young man whose name he shared. She had been looking forward to telling him about the older Ryan one day. Now it seemed that day would never come. And yet it felt like hope was draining away with every passing hour.
Cheryl saw Jeff’s Bible lying on a nearby table. Picking it up, she read Psalm 91:11: “For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. “Sobbing, she began to pray. Through her tears, she prayed, “Lord, send four of Your angels to guard the four corners of this room. Watch over my son, protect him, comfort him if he’s in any pain, and guide him home to you if he’s not going to stay here with us.”
The following night, it was Cheryl’s turn to stay home with Jordan while Jeff spent the night by Ryan’s side. The next morning, Cheryl phoned Jeff. She could hardly utter the words “Good morning” before her husband said, “You need to get down here right away.”
When Cheryl walked into Ryan’s hospital room, he opened his eyes–mere slits in his still-swollen face–and called out, “Hi, Mommy!” Ryan’s doctor turned to Jeff and Cheryl and said, “Well things are turning around. Thank God we didn’t take him into surgery! Let’s just see how he does.” Ryan’s swelling continued to subside by the hour. He was still weak, but recovering quickly.
One day when he’d been home about a week, Cheryl said, “Ryan, you were so, so sick!” They talked about his stay in the hospital. She was thankful he remembered nothing from the first ten days when he was either in excruciating pain or unconscious.
“I prayed for you, Ryan,” his mother said. “I prayed for angels to watch over you and help you not feel bad.”
“Yeah, I know,” he answered.
She looked at him quizzically. “What do you mean, you know?”
“I know,” he said. “I saw the angels.”
Cheryl glanced at her son. “Really? Where were the angels, Ryan? What did they look like?”
Ryan said matter-of-factly, “They were standing in the corners of the room. And flying around too. There were mommy and daddy ones, and baby ones and grandma and grandpa ones. They were yellow and white and really pretty.”
Cheryl didn’t know what to think. She half-believed him. Then again, maybe through his coma, he’d heard her praying. “I had a dream too,” Ryan said as he hopped around the table. “About Jesus. We were planting stuff in a garden. He said I was a good boy and that He loved me.” She looked at her son in wonder. “That’s interesting. Anything else?” Ryan was getting fidgety now. He’d sat for too long and was ready to play.
He started skipping toward the door. Cheryl turned back to her mirror. But he stopped and said over his shoulder, “Oh yeah. Ryan says “Hi.”
1 John 4:13-15
By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
Jennifer Van Allen
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org
