February 12, 2010 5:00 am was a defining moment in my life and the life of my wife. I had been suffering from some chronic headaches and on this particular morning I opened my eyes and felt no pain at all. I got out of bed and started to walk out of the bedroom and my legs stopped working when I reached the foot of the bed. I stopped and just held the end of the bed and for some reason my wife woke up and asked me what is wrong? I just stood there and answered in a soft quivering voice “I am not sure.” I had no feeling in either of my legs and it was all that I could do to take two steps to the chair. When I reached the chair I sat down rather abruptly and realized that my arms were both numb as well. I am not an alarmist when it comes sickness and doctors and like a lot of guys I know I am rather stupid when it comes to taking care of me. For the first time in my 53 years of living I asked someone to call 911 for me. I knew that I was not capable of placing the call myself and therefore I needed to ask my wife for help.

It is not that in my heart that I feel like a tough guy; it is just that I have never wanted to admit that I could be one breath away from meeting my maker. Well there is nothing like a 5 am wakeup call from God to humble you. It may not be the correct “preachers” definition of humble but my definition is simply “I can’t He can.” I realize now maybe for the first time in my life that I am just a little baby in need, I am in need of care, comfort, food, I am in need of everything. I am not able to do anything in my power.

I know that this goes against the power of positive thinking concept but not really. I believe the most powerful thing we can do is to truly allow God to lead us. I think it will help our stress and we hear and read all of the time that stress is the number one killer. The tough reality is that most guys (guys like me) never figure this out in time to really enjoy the peace that it brings.

The title of this story is ‘Crisis will Magnify Character.’ The reason I chose this title is because my wife is a living example of this. My wife is the type of person that literally 3 weeks ago we were in a restaurant and a homeless man was cold and she gave him her coat. It was a very nice winter coat I am sure that he was warm with her coat. She is an AWESOME lady.

The morning that I was asking her to call 911 she was not crying she was totally cool and placed the call and then knelt down beside me and prayed that I would be taken care of. She was and is a rock not because she is tough but because she is humble - she knows (she can’t but He can.)