Rejoicing over an EKG

"Sir, your EKG had a funny result and we need you to go to the hospital to have another EKG done."

That was not the best phone call of my life.

Last week, I went to the doctor for an ear problem. I came out of the visit with a blood pressure problem. While at the doctors, my blood pressure shot up and that became the chief concern of all the medical people in the office.

The poked and prodded. They asked lots of questions. They drew blood. They took an EKG. Then they sent me on my merry way. It was while at the pharmacy, picking up medicine for my ear, that the phone rang and the above sentence was spoken.

Let me tell you, in that moment, when I was told to go to the hospital for a heart test, I didn't exactly jump for joy. I wasn't thanking God or rejoicing in my hardship. In fact, I was scared. I have a wife and two young children. As I drove to the hospital, all I could think about was a potential surgery or a major heart issue.

I sat in the waiting room almost in a panic. What would my family do? What about my wife? What about the church? I could literally feel every beat of my heart.

Yet Paul, in Philippians 4:2-9, tells the Philippians, and us, that we should rejoice always. In fact, he says it twice. We should rejoice instead of fret and worry. He says don't be anxious about anything, but taking everything to God in prayer. After you do that, thank him for listening.

That's some tough application. How do you thank God in a moment of fear as you wait in a hospital waiting room for a heart test that could change your life and the course of your family? Paul's answer, and it's a good one, is that God is already in that moment.

You see, we know God has worked in our past. We feel his presence in the present. We don't often think that he's also present in the future too. But he is. He is already in the room with the test. He's already with the nurses administering it. He's already in the car on the way home from the hospital. God is already there.

And in that, we rejoice. We rejoice in the peace of God that goes beyond all understanding. We rejoice in the peace of KNOWING God is in charge of all things--past, present, and future.

As it turns out, the next EKG has a normal reading. The first machine had some sort of a glitch. I felt quite relieved when pulling out of the hospital parking lot. I still have some high blood pressure issues. That will be the focus of my next doctor visit.

But for now, I rejoice. I rejoice that God answered prayer. I rejoice that he is present in my life. I rejoice that he is in the future.

I rejoice. And I say, rejoice.