GPBC Blog

By Butch Whitten--

On February 7, 2019, I was headed to the gym in Beaverton, next to City Hall. It felt like a normal day to me. After working out, I caught the MAX to the Beaverton Transit Center to catch my bus home. Arriving at the transit center I saw my bus was about to leave. I hustled off the Max to catch my bus. In my hurried panic, I tripped on the curb and landed on the pavement. The pain in my leg stopped me from getting back up. TriMet called an ambulance to take me to the hospital. Once I reached the hospital, I had a heart attack and died. They were able to do CPR to bring me back to life. Thank you, Jesus! 
  
They said that I was in the ICU for a week. I didn't know this because they had put me in a coma. The hospital tracked down my sister, my only living sibling left in my family. She lives in Palm Springs, California and didn’t know what to do. She wrote a message on my Facebook page to reach my church family, hoping they could come see me in the hospital. All the nurses in the ICU said that I had more visitors than other patient they had seen. Pastors Wayne and Jay were there as well as many other people from church. 
  
The Bible verse that came to mind was Ecclesiastes 3:1 -2, "There is a time for everything. There is a time for everything that is done on earth. There is a time to be born. And there is a time to die." I remember going into the gates of Heaven, but God made me make a U-turn to come back to life in Portland. I remember Pastor Wayne’s words of encouragement, “God isn’t done with you yet.” God said that I have more work here to do, such as work with my AA friends and sharing the gospel with the lost.  
    
It's been over two years, and I'm still alive! When I died, my kidneys didn't come back to full life. I go in for dialysis three times a week to stay alive. I’m praying for a kidney transplant to come through for me up on Pill Hill at OHSU. Would you join me in praying for that? 
  
People are calling me a modern-day Lazarus. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in a miracle. I know that my survival is a miracle. Another miracle is that God prompted me to share my story with you today. I want to draw your attention to the words Paul wrote in Philippians 1:20-21 that captures what I am living now.

I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.
  
I love each and every one of you. Keep His light shining bright in your life!