I spent two days in the hospital…

For a “minor, minimally invasive heart procedure”.

Wait.  Do “minor” and “heart procedure” belong in the same sentence?

After all, they may put “minimally” in the description, but they don’t take out “invasive”.

“Invasive” means they are going inside my heart.

In this case, twice.

A camera will go through one vein, and a little device that looks like a double umbrella will go through another.

Once inside the heart the surgeon will use the camera to exactly place the device and open the two umbrellas, closing a hole between chambers of the heart.

When it’s someone else’s heart, that’s minor surgery. When it’s mine, I have questions…

In fact you could say I have worries:

What happens if the surgeon’s hand moves just a little to one side and the camera (Really, you are putting a camera in my heart?) goes through the wall of the vein?

Can that umbrella-looking device open up while it’s still in a vein?

I did some praying before the procedure. I asked a small group to pray for me too….  

They prayed for success of the procedure. (It’s obvious the procedure, which happened about 18 months ago, was successful since I am writing this post.)

They also prayed that God would reduce my worries before the procedure.  And He did.

No butterflies in the stomach during the days. No nights without sleep. When I got to the hospital, the doctor offered to give me the “happy shot” right away if I couldn’t wait until the procedure. I waited.

The fact that God was willing to calm my fears is what makes him the most real to me.

I am able to see God more clearly in his answer to the smaller of the two requests.

That got me wondering…

Why does God show up in the small details of our lives and of History?

Why in the Bible does God makes his presence known in a whisper, not a whirlwind?

The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  1 Kings 19:11-12

Why does He come into the world as a baby, not a conqueror?

Luke 2:12
This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Could it be because it is easy to believe in a warrior at the head of an army, or the power of a whirlwind…

but it takes faith  to believe…

That a baby can change the destiny of the world…

That the Lord God Almighty can be contained in a whisper…

That the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob would pause to calm the fears of one of his frightened children like me.

NOTE: This post was first published in October 2013