• Home
  • GracEmail Ministry
    • What is GracEmail?
    • Latest GracEmail
    • frequently asked questions
    • GracEmail Category Index
  • Written Ministry
    • Articles
    • Special Bible Studies
    • Books
    • Online Books
    • Worship Resources
    • Interviews
  • Videos
  • About
    • The Personal Pages
      • Photo Albums
    • My Professional Life
  • Contact

Edward Fudge Ministries

Joyously drawing water from the springs of salvation Isaiah 12:2-3

You are here: Home / GracEmail / PEPPERDINE, HOSPITAL AND HOME

PEPPERDINE, HOSPITAL AND HOME

Last week (May 2-5, 2006) I attended the Pepperdine Bible Lectures as I have done every year but one since 1991. This year I was among an estimated 6,000 pilgrims drawn from 42 states and 22 countries to the picturesque mountainside campus of Pepperdine University, overlooking the Pacific Ocean at Malibu, California. I taught two well-received classes on the purpose and duration of spiritual gifts (about which more details later). Besides 250+ classes throughout the week, there were two worship assemblies each day in the university Fieldhouse with soul-stirring congregational singing and sermons from First John by preachers from France, Australia and the U.S.A. The experience was enriching, enjoyable, fulfilling and tiring.

My brother Benjamin and sister-in-law Susan live in Upland, east of Los Angeles, so I flew into and out of nearby Ontario, spending a night with them before and after my time at Pepperdine. As we prepared for my flight home to Houston on Saturday morning, I began experiencing multiple symptoms often related to a heart attack. Instead of taking me to the airport, Benjamin and Susan drove me instead to the San Antonio Community Hospital which was only seven minutes from their home. I was immediately admitted to the emergency room, attached to a heart monitor and IVs in both hands. EKGs quickly showed that I was suffering atrial fibrillation — a runaway and irregular heartbeat somewhat analogous to a defective timing belt in an automobile.

After eight hours treatment in the E.R. to restore proper heart rhythm, I was admitted to a hospital room and assigned a primary care physician and a cardiologist. Further tests were scheduled to rule out heart damage. My wife Sara Faye had been notified on Saturday morning that I was in the hospital, immediately flew to California and was at my side by that evening. Sunday brought repeated blood tests, a stress test and an echocardiogram. Those results came Monday morning and were encouraging. However, blood tests results raised some other issues which were not resolved until Monday evening, when I was finally released. (An interesting side note: The emergency room doctor, whom I judged extraordinarily competent, also turned out to be a Christian. Discovering that I was a Bible teacher, after I had stabilized, he asked me a question about a passage he had recently read in Malachi.)

Sara Faye and I spent an enjoyable, restful and grateful Monday night with Benjamin and Susan, then had a safe flight home to Houston that took most of the day Tuesday. I have an appointment Thursday with my regular cardiologist and hope, God willing, to return to my law work this Friday. I will be making dietary adjustments (goodbye, Oreos!), taking new medication and treasuring each new day. Praise God who gives us life and breath — and who promises us perfect bodies in the resurrection for immortality in redeemed heavens and earth face to face with himself forever.

Filed Under: GracEmail, our mortal life, this world we inhabit

Search

SEARCH more than 1,200 gracEmails by verse or word below:
Enter a term in the search box and press enter. You can also further restrict the search to a sub-category by using the drop-down menu.


Sign Up to gracEmail

Click HERE, then fill in the blanks and click “Subscribe.”

Or send a completely BLANK email to:
join-edwardfudge@injesus.netatlantic.com

  • Home
  • Site Map
  • Latest GracEmail
  • Written Ministry
  • About
  • Contact

Copyright © 2023 Edward Fudge Ministries · KT Websites · Log in