Life Savers by Susan L.

It was nice to spend last night with a friend. Dinner and a uTube video by Ronald Rolheiser. It was a thought provoking video about the paradox that is God and about hearing His voice in all things: good and what we mere mortals deem as bad. Before I invited Jesus into my heart, my hunger for something more, something outside of myself was fanned by authors like Stephen King. His book, The Stand, and another little book called The Girl who Loved Tom Gordon, a classic tale of good vs evil fanned the fires of my hunger. Dan Brown's The Davinci Code made me want to find my own Holy Grail and follow the knights on their quest for spiritual enlightenment. I've witnessed Christian ire that bordered on a witch hunt when The Davinci Code first came out. If Dan Brown had been there, I would have feared for his life. Being burned at the stake was a strong possibility. The author of the Harry Potter series would have been strung up beside him without a second thought. I was and still am greatly saddened by this response because I knew God can and will use anything and everything to bring His children home. Who are we to question His abilities or His tools? About the Life Savers. My friend had a bowl full of minty ones on a hall table. They brought to mind the time when I was four or so. We were driving somewhere. My parents had given my brother and I a Life Saver candy. A rare sweet treat. Mine went down the wrong way and became deeply entrenched in my windpipe. I remember my mom pulling me into the front and tossing me face down over the front seat. There was a small, shiny pebble trapped in the light blue floor mat. Everything else around was beginning to turn black. What felt like hours passed as my mom pounded fruitlessly on my back trying to jar the candy loose. My parents were beginning to panic and head to the nearest hospital as I gaspes and struggled for air. Any air! My father cried out in frustrated rage and fear, "Jesus Christ! Woman, do something!" The candy came flying out, rattling against my teeth with a force beyond my mother's thumps. It lay innocently beside the stone on the floor. Breathing never felt so good. To this day I rarely eat a Life Saver and if I do it is quickly crunched into pieces. Now, what does this have to do with Dan Brown and Stephen King? They were the back thumps when my life in the world was choking me to death. "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith." 1 Jn 5:4