Shadow Healing

One winter morning, there was a traffic jam on my drive to work, but rather than get stressed about it, I cued up some music on my iPod and got drenched by the Holy Spirit. As drivers crept slowly toward the pile of cars that lie motionless on the freeway in the rain, I immersed myself in an incredible time of worship and thanked God for lifting me out of the period of spiritual dryness I had been in.

Not long after I arrived at work, my partner and I responded on a call to Northeast Tacoma. We got in our ambulance and made our way north of the downtown area through the mud-covered tide flats, then turned a corner and climbed the long hill that overlooks the port. We crested the hill and a few minutes later, arrived on scene. Inside the apartment building, we found the crew from engine three interviewing a middle-aged woman as she held a wad of tissue to her nose.

I looked at the lieutenant. “What’s the story, morning glory?”

“Donna here has a pretty good nosebleed. We checked it when we first got on scene about ten minutes ago and she was still bleeding. It’s been going on for about two hours.”

“Hi Donna,” I said, as I introduced myself. “I have a few questions for you, if that’s okay. First, tell me this… have you ever had nosebleeds like this before?”

“Just once, about a year ago. My nose bled for a couple of hours and I had to go to the hospital and have it cauterized.”

“I see. Are you taking any blood thinners right now?”

“Just aspirin. My doctor increased the dose a few days ago. Do you think that might be the problem?”

“Could be, but it’s hard to say. You didn’t take a fall or have any kind of trauma, did you?”

“No.”

I had a few more minor questions to ask and I watched her carefully as we talked. She kept checking to see if there was any more blood coming from her nose, but it seemed like the bleeding had stopped.

I only have one more question for you. “Is your nose still bleeding or has it stopped?”

She held a tissue to her nose then pulled it away. “Well look at that,” She said. “It seems to have stopped.”

“Are you sure?”

She grabbed a new tissue from the box and held it to her nose then checked it. There was no blood on it. “I’m certain of it. I’m not bleeding anymore.”

“Well that is strange, isn’t it?” I asked.

“You know what’s really strange about this? I think the bleeding stopped a minute or two after you got here,” she said.

The lieutenant asked Donna if she wanted to go to the hospital or stay home. “I guess I’ll stay home. No sense in going to the hospital if I’m not bleeding.”

“You’re welcome to go in and get checked if you want,” the lieutenant advised her.

“No… I think I’ll stay home.”

He had her sign a release form then one of the firefighters tapped me on the shoulder. “Hey man, we could use your magic powers. Any chance you guys could go on our calls with us today?”

The other firefighter joined him. “That’s what we need! A medic who does miracles! We can wait for him to show up and get people healed—then no one will need to be transported!”

The lieutenant looked at me. “What’s your unit number again? I might request you guys to go on all our calls with us. It sure would make things a lot easier.”

Even though they were joking, the guys knew there was something supernatural going on. “Really funny guys,” I replied. “But I don’t think dispatch will let me follow you around all day. So, Lieutenant, do you need us to stick around, or can we clear?

“Looks like your work here is done. I guess you can clear. Thanks for your help.”

“All in a day’s work, Lieutenant. See ya on the next one.”

“I sure hope so.”

My partner walked with me to the ambulance. “Care to explain what that was all about?” He asked.

“Well she has a nosebleed for two hours and everyone’s thinking she’s going to have to go to the hospital to have her nose cauterized. Then we show up and a few minutes later, the bleeding stops. I guess they thought one of us had something to do with it.”

“Why would they think we had anything to do with it?”

“There’s a story in the Bible, in Acts, Chapter 5, where sick people were brought out into the streets because people believed that if the shadow of Peter fell across them, they would be healed. Apparently, they knew the sick could be healed by the mere presence of someone who carried God’s power walking past them.”

“And they think one of us has that kind of power?”

“Yes, they do. Pretty crazy, huh?”

As we drove back to town, I wondered if that was what we had just seen. The firefighters were convinced that it was, but I wasn’t completely sold on the idea yet. Despite of my doubts, I thanked God for His great mercy and healing power.

This is an excerpt from my book My Craziest Adventures With God – Volume 1.