A Father's Promise

When Guy felt a tingling sensation in his toes after coming home from work one day, he ascribed it to the usual chilliness of winter in Albany, New York. Forty-eight hours later, however, he was paralyzed from the eyes down.

As Guy lay in a hospital bed, connected to a ventilator and unable to communicate except by blinking his eyes, the neurologist explained that an autoimmune condition known as Guillain-Barré syndrome was responsible for his paralysis. Guy was reassured that the condition would not be fatal; he would only be at risk if the paralysis affected his heart, but such cases were extremely rare.

One of the doctors informed Guy that he might not be able to walk for one year, but Guy, in his 30s and in good health, felt confident that he would be able to return to normal health sooner than predicted.

That night, Guy woke to a commotion around him; several doctors were standing at his bedside in the intensive care unit. One of them tore a paper from the electrocardiogram, and Guy heard him tell another doctor to fax it immediately to the cardiologist.

Instantly, Guy remembered the words of the neurologist earlier that day — Guillain-Barré syndrome would only be fatal if the condition reached his heart. Fearing for his life, he started to panic, the horror of the moment compounded by the fact that he could not move and had no way to speak to anyone. In that moment, Guy felt the weight of helplessness and did something he had never done before — pray.

Having grown up in an atheist household, Guy had never consciously chosen atheism, but he also never tried to learn about God. As he lay immobile that night, unsure of what to expect, Guy decided to make a deal with God: if God were to heal him from his paralysis, he promised to follow God and to tell others about what God had done for him. But Guy was about to discover that it would be difficult to keep his end of the agreement.

After his prayer, Guy felt certain that God whispered two promises to him in that hospital room. The first promise: he was going to make a full recovery. The second promise was a bit more unexpected: he was going to have another son.

The fear that Guy had felt in that moment surrounded by doctors dissipated, but Guy realized he had a long road to recovery ahead. Guy resolved to make use of his time in the hospital room. Recalling the visualization exercises that injured basketball players use in place of physical practice while recovering, Guy spent hours envisioning himself running through a neighborhood nature preserve. Less than three months after his paralysis began, he was able to run five miles a day in the very area he had been picturing: the sights, sounds, and even smells along the trails were just as he had envisioned from inside his hospital room. His recovery had been a complete miracle.

And then, a year to the day after Guy’s prayer, his third son, Dylan, was born.

God had kept his promises, but unfortunately, Guy had not yet fulfilled his. Guy felt compelled to work harder, putting his prayer for healing in the back of his mind as he focused on his job to provide for his family. He neglected to put in the effort he had promised God in his prayer.

Many years later, Guy’s career eventually led him and his family to California, where Dylan joined a Christian club at his school. Dylan began attending Saddleback’s High School Ministry services, becoming the first in Guy’s family to follow Christ and join a church. As a freshman, Dylan was not yet able to drive, so every Sunday morning, Guy would drive to Saddleback to drop Dylan off, drive back home, then head back and pick him up two hours later.

After a few weeks of this routine, the back and forth was wearing on Guy. He asked Dylan if, instead of dropping him off, he could accompany his son to the services. Dylan happily agreed, and for the next few weeks, Guy became the token dad attending a Saddleback Student Ministries (SSM) service.

There, God spoke to him for the second time. As Guy saw the passion and devotion the students had for their faith, he couldn’t help think something like this was missing from his life. He had an unshakeable emptiness that he still felt inside. In that service, Guy decided to pray to receive Christ, surrounded by high school students in The Refinery.

Since then, Guy has gotten plugged in and involved at Saddleback Church. He now helps other members connect to their purpose as a SHAPE guide and creates discussion questions for Talk it Over, helping people go deeper in their small group discussions after the weekend service.

Going through many life experiences not knowing Christ and then coming to Christ as an adult has led Guy to rethink many of his past views and experiences. He’s now come to recognize the times when God was patiently working in his life, protecting him and gently nudging him toward Christ.

Accepting Christ has not automatically made Guy’s life easier; learning to place his trust in God is an ongoing process. Studying God’s Word helps him keep things in perspective now.

He is very grateful for the loving church community that accepted him. Through his personal story, he even encourages high school students not to give up on their parents. As Guy often says, “We need you as much as you need us, if not more so.”

Learn more about getting your own fresh start with God atsaddleback.com/freshstart

Learn more about Saddleback Student Ministries (SSM) atsaddleback.com/students