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Moving
Heaven and Earth
Keith
called me during the spring season of 2001 when he was first
diagnosed with cancer.
His surgeon had given him my phone number and recommended that
he call me for additional resources for his medical treatment
plan.
After spending an hour or two on the phone with Keith, I felt
confident that he would experience a strong recuperation from
surgery for cancer. He had all the signs of patients who
experience a good prognosis; he was diagnosed early, had taken
good care of himself and seemed younger than his 51 years. He
had lots of support from his loving wife, Karen, and his adult
sons.
He truly loved his work, always looking forward to each new
workday.
Keith was a heavy equipment operator and owned his own company,
which included
the inventory of a variety of large earth moving machines.
Although he was the “boss” of many employees, he loved getting
behind the controls of bulldozer or crane himself to excavate.
Keith rose at 4:30 every morning, enthusiastic to get a start on
the day.
Therefore, with all of these factors in his favor, I was
especially stunned in mid August, when Karen called from their
home in northern California, to tell me that Keith had passed
away.
He simply never regained his stamina following surgery,
gradually lost more strength, and eventually slipped away.
As I often do in these circumstances, I found myself asking God
“why?”
Why to the end of Keith’s vibrant life? Why to the end of his
happy marriage?
Why to the end of his successful business? Why to the end to his
joy of living?
Three weeks later, on September 11, America was attacked in a
savage sabotage, requiring a variety of emergency personnel to
come to the aid of thousands of victims. The first rescuers on
the scene were the fire, police, and emergency service
technicians,
all risking their lives, and many losing their own, in their
attempt to save civilians.
After the initial first day or two had passed and the most
immediate rescues were accomplished, the dangerous work began to
carefully remove rubble, in an attempt to rescue victims who
were buried underneath the debris. The challenge was to remove
the unstable tonnage of concrete, glass, steel and smoldering
materials, carefully enough to save anyone who might be trapped
below, without endangering the safety of the rescue workers
themselves. The only people qualified to accomplish the massive
removal of the debris were hundreds of heavy equipment
operators, working around the clock.
Much like other Americans, I watched the rescue operations on TV
from the comfort and safety of my own living room, and, like so
many others, I found myself saying a little prayer for the
rescuers, especially the heavy equipment operators, navigating
amongst the smoky, dusty debris. I thought “Dear Lord, these men
need a guardian angel!”
Just a quickly as I breathed that prayer, I felt a response that
the machine operators did have a guardian angel…
At last I had an answer to the “why?” of Keith’s passing away
the previous month.
Now he is a guardian angel watching over the safety of other
heavy equipment operators.
An excerpt from “Where the Red Tailed Hawk Flies”
Copyright 2005 by Gabriella Graham/Red Tailed Hawk Publishing |
