Stories of Influence- The West Nile Warning

WEST NILE WARNING

Do you remember the feeling when you are on vacation, your feet up on a porch rail or lying in a hammock, the breeze blowing across your body as you hold a cold beverage and gaze into a distant painted landscape or amazingly colorful sunset.   Think about it for a minute.....imagine it.....wait for it......feel it! If you are so busy running around every day and don’t take time to smell the roses, what are you doing?.  Are you hoping that your busyness will one day lead to an early retirement?  For most people who think they have to get it all done today......they usually miss life in hopes of enjoying it later..... the grave catches them all too often and all too soon.   Such was a guy named Jim Schmidt, (aka: Armadillo Jim and oilfield salesman for Spectrum Tracer Services), who a year ago this week, lay in a hospital bed,  on ice, with a fever and virus inside his body called the West Nile. Don’t get me wrong, Jim often stopped to smell the roses; he did a lot with his family and made sure he was in church and in a Journey Group.  But slowing down?  Not even on his radar.   Until West Nile.  Amazing how something like a little mosquito bite can change your entire outlook on life.   Although Jim has a miracle story thanks to many things: people, prayer and a God who is full of grace and mercy......he learned a lot in his West Nile trial.   First Jim will tell you that without faith, it is hard to go through such a fiery trial.   His journey was not a typical "get up and go to work, go to lunch , study the bible, enjoy a fellowship group, dinner with the family and home most nights" ........ Jim’s journey through the West Nile virus was lying on a a bed of ice for the first five days and nights of 14 days in intensive care......  mixed with no sleep, curdling screams and shrills.... as the agony of the fire inside his body burned.  Jim said it felt like thousands of fire ants inside, chewing on his nerves and inside the marrow of  his bones. Then, add the catheter, no appetite, (lost 23 pounds in 9 days), and an attack on his central nervous system and  you would have thought he caught epilepsy at times.  West Nile has no rhyme or reason on whom and how it attacks.   A mosquito-born virus, West Nile is silent and can be deadly.   Today Jim will tell you that his Journey group of men were praying hard, his larger family of “journey brothers” (Jim has been through the Journey four times in the past seven years) , the Friday morning Anchor group (mostly Journey guys) and churches and friends across America gave Jim the jolt he needed to get out of the hospital,   (although without a cure or remedy) to begin his journey back to wellness.  Journey brothers ministered to Jim and anointed him with oil, ushering in a presence of the Holy Spirit in Jim’s home that brought joy and uncontrollable laughter to a torn up body and a face that had no smile in over a month.  And if you know Jim, he is always laughing.   West Nile tried to steal that.  The Bible promises us that the joy of the Lord will be our strength and laughter makes a good medicine.   Jim will tell you he learned a lot from the West Nile virus, near- death experience and 40 days of suffering, but what he won’t tell you is that you must work harder.  He will tell you to work smarter and that you must believe that God is and that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him”   (Hebrews 11:6).  Jim  will tell you to give balance to your life. Today, whenever Jim sees someone running to a meeting or snacking instead of taking a healthy and balanced lunch, he shares his story to remind that person that we are not promised tomorrow.   America is enamored by performance and working around the clock.   Jim was in that category.  He was raised a Texas farm boy who knows the value of a hard day’s work.   In Jim’s life as a salesman in the oilfield, an author, entertainer and leading about five nonprofits, a children’s foundation and in wearing his other hat as Armadillo Jim, there was rarely a time when you would find Jim on the couch.   Today, Jim is home earlier, he doesn’t count being late to a meeting as something to worry or fret about and a cell phone is something Jim says is a tool not an appendage.  Jim says, "If my golf ball goes in the water, so what?  If my teenager’s music is too loud or the door is slammed too hard, so what?  If I miss a sales bonus by one customer...so what?  Life is to be lived.......without the worries, control and desire to do it all today......”   Jim would want every reader to know that without a faithful wife (who carefully listened to our Holy Spirit for wisdom and instruction and then removed Jim from the hospital, taking him off all medication), in addition to the  prayers of the saints, he believes he would not be alive today.   Through this Journey Jim has come to believe that God was Able, God was Willing and God Did heal. Jim also says that there are tremendous  WARNINGS learned in the WEST NILE.   1. West Nile virus, like sin, may lay dormant for a week or two, but then symptoms begin to arise.   In the case of West Nile, there is nothing you can do once the mosquito has bitten you.  In the case of sin, such as pornography, adultery, workaholism, greed, etc. these can be avoided by obedience to God’s word and an inoculation such as being diligent to study God’s word through programs like the Journey.  Currently, there is no medical cure for West Nile. Thankfully, however, sin has a cure.....it is repentance and acceptance of Jesus’ paid sacrifice on the cross.   2. West Nile virus is like hell.  Pain, suffering, sleeplessness, fiery sensation, torment........   3.  We must warn people about the dangers of West Nile and encourage folks to avoid mosquito bites as much as possible but more importantly...........   4.       Don’t take the American comfort pill.....comfort is poison to the believer.   The pain and suffering Jim endured was able to make him more empathetic to children suffering from terminal illnesses as in such cases of St. Jude’s Children’s hospital or the MD Anderson or Cancer Treatment Centers.   He also now thinks of soldiers who suffer as in the cases of Wounded Warriors. He now thinks of saints of old who suffered (voluntarily) by being sawed in two, boiled in oil or thrown to the lions.   But Jesus WARNS everyone in Luke 16:19 that there is a place where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies.  In Ezekiel 8:3 we are WARNED that if we know someone who is lost and do not WARN them about eternal consequences, then their blood is on our hands.   WEST NILE has made Jim a WARNER.   For 30 years Jim has invited all into “taste and see the goodness of the Lord."  Jim has guided Journey Groups and invited men to participate in God’s plan for their life.....but in all these years, Jim had never warned one person about HELL.  Today, Jim has added balance to his life and balance to his message.  Jesus saved us, but if we needed a savior, what did we need saving from?  The world and some pastors say it is not politically correct to WARN people of HELL.  If so, then you will have to argue with God’s word which has over 400 verses about HELL and Jesus has  over 36 lines WARNING us.   Jesus WARNS us in a graceful way, talking about a person who went to HELL.  Now, you can use a similar method of WARNING..... there was a guy who got WEST NILE,  (it was fiery, tormenting,  seemingly hopeless, sleepless, etc.), and you know what that guy is doing today?  He is warning everyone about HELL.   Be balanced in life and in the word.  God is good, God is graceful and God is a WARNER!