Kristina Cowan with her dad on Easter Sunday, 2016
What would you give for one more week with your loved one?
Today would’ve been the 88th birthday of my co-author’s father. As she writes in our book, “The human heart isn’t wired for separation. It’s unnatural. Unsettling. But separation can make us stronger. If we let it, it edges us closer to the golden promise of the Christian faith. A reunion without end awaits us on the other side of forever.”
In honor of Kristina Cowan’s dad, here’s an excerpt from a memoir she wrote about second chances:
Somewhere in Time: How Second Chances Heal
Four years ago, my dad died. Twice.
The first time, he was alone, slumped over the wheel of his truck. A swarm of good Samaritans revived him. One smashed through the glass of his passenger door. Several others hoisted him onto the sidewalk. A nursing student skilled in CPR restored his breathing. Emergency workers shocked his heart back to life and sped him to the hospital.
Dad was almost eighty-three, his health declining. His rescuers—a group of average people passing by—managed an uncommon feat. Even an experienced emergency room team would have struggled to do it.
Some of our family believed God had started a miracle in Dad’s rescue. Soon he would regain consciousness, and the miracle would be complete. Why else would God have allowed it?
I wasn’t so sure. Two weeks earlier, I had talked with my dad about his heart condition. He didn’t want procedures to extend his life. “If the Lord wants to take me, it’s my time,” he had said. God isn’t predictable. I too wondered what he was doing. Dad might die before I reached him. Or he might wake up and go home a changed man. As I tossed my clothes into a suitcase, I braced for whatever awaited on the other side of my plane ride.
To continue reading, buy or borrow When Losses Become Legacies here.