Participants:
Series Code: UP
Program Code: UP190122A
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00:15 Despite knowing the best health practices
00:17 and doing the best we can to follow those practices, 00:19 sometimes facing cardiovascular disease 00:22 is unavoidable. 00:23 Today, we'll hear from Bobby Davis in part two 00:26 on how his trials became a blessing. 00:29 Thanks for joining us today on the Ultimate Prescription. 00:54 Welcome, and thank you for joining us again 00:55 on the Ultimate Prescription. 00:57 I'm your host, Nick Evenson. 00:58 And we've got a special program here. 01:00 If you saw before, Bobby Davis shared on this program with us 01:03 about his cardiac event. 01:05 And, Bobby, welcome back to the program, 01:07 we're gonna hear part two today. 01:08 And you're gonna share about the blessings 01:10 that this really was in your life, correct? 01:11 Amen. 01:13 Yeah, and you are the producer of the Today show here at 3ABN 01:16 and the magazine editor, is that right? 01:17 Yes. Excellent. 01:19 Well, thank you again for sharing with us. 01:20 And, Dr. Marcum, you are speaker/director 01:23 of Heartwise Ministry and a practicing cardiologist 01:26 for those of you who don't know. 01:28 And, Dr. Marcum, 01:29 what do you think about Bobby's story here? 01:31 Well, you know, I hear... 01:34 I'm privileged, Bobby, 01:36 that I get to work with patients 01:37 every single day of my life. 01:40 And I've got to see people 01:41 that have faith go into this procedures 01:44 and people that don't have faith 01:47 and everyone that I send to a bypass, 01:49 so I'm the cardiologist part of this, 01:52 and I refer to the surgeons 01:53 and so I try to introduce 01:58 a spiritual component if appropriate. 02:01 You know, for some people it's appropriate to say, 02:03 but I've never had anyone say, 02:05 may I offer a prayer for you say no. 02:08 But I think as we're gonna find out today, 02:10 having a spiritual life, 02:12 when you go into the health problem, 02:13 it's a blessing. 02:15 And we're gonna find out today 02:17 how much more it can be a blessing 02:20 once you've actually gone through it 02:22 and dependent on God for your very survival, 02:24 and realizing 02:26 that if it's not His will for you to survive, 02:28 He's still... 02:29 You're safe in His arms no matter what happens. 02:32 So those are the things we're gonna talk about today. 02:34 But let's back up a little bit. 02:38 You had some symptoms in your chest. 02:41 You had an angiogram done, 02:43 you had to travel all the way to a different state, 02:47 had a great surgeon did the bypass surgery. 02:50 We talked about 02:51 how you experienced this procedure, 02:53 which is called a coronary artery bypass graft. 02:57 That's right. 02:59 We call that... A cabbage. 03:01 And how many cabbages did you have? 03:02 I had a cabbage times three is how the nurses 03:05 would always explain to each other 03:07 at the shift change. 03:08 "This is Bobby, 03:10 he's had a cabbage times three." 03:11 And it always made me laugh. 03:12 And I believe that you've taken 03:14 a picture of the cabbage on the outside. 03:15 I did. 03:17 You took a picture of the cabbage on the outside. 03:18 I couldn't wait to stop by a grocery store 03:21 on the way home from the hospital 03:22 and get a picture with three cabbages in my hand. 03:26 Yeah, that is great. 03:27 But these are conduits, 03:29 these are actually coronary artery conduits 03:31 and we like to take arteries to arteries if we can. 03:35 Sometimes we can take multiple arteries, 03:37 we take the left internal mammary, 03:39 we can take a radial artery, 03:41 sometimes we can take the right internal mammary. 03:45 We only can do that 03:47 where the blockages are 'cause they have to reach 03:49 south of blockages, right? 03:51 But this doesn't take away our disease 03:54 nor does the bypass necessarily take away all of our symptoms. 03:58 It just helps to treat them. 04:00 So you've gone through this 04:02 now, I think on our last program, 04:04 we brought you all the way up to your getting out of bed. 04:06 So share with us 04:08 how the hospitalization ended up and what happened 04:11 after you got to the floor? 04:13 Sure. 04:14 One of the things that I was keenly aware of, 04:17 even here before my surgery here in Carbondale, 04:21 at the hospital 04:22 there is that my purpose in life 04:26 truly is to be of maximum service to God 04:29 and to the people around me. 04:31 And because of that amazing peace 04:34 that I felt and I have to back up, doctor, 04:36 and tell you a quick little incident that happened. 04:39 As I was in the back of the ambulance 04:42 being transported to another hospital 04:44 suddenly my phone went off. 04:46 And I looked at it 04:48 and it was your Biblical Prescriptions app 04:52 that it come up with a Bible verse, 04:54 and I don't... 04:56 I wish I could remember which verse it was, 04:57 but I was picking up four of those a day, I believe, 05:01 and it happened to be one that just intensified the peace 05:05 that I felt and assured me 05:08 of God's presence in that ambulance with me. 05:10 And I remember thinking, 05:12 now that's very odd 05:13 that this would go off right as I need it. 05:16 And I can tell you for the next month, 05:19 month and a half, 05:20 or whatever it was between hospitalizations 05:22 and the surgery, and whatever. 05:24 Every time that phone would go off, 05:26 I'd look at it. 05:27 And I read one more precious promise from God 05:30 that you and your team put together 05:32 and I want to thank you, 05:33 in fact, that's how I contacted you 05:35 is to say thank you for this app. 05:37 It's just an amazing thing for me. 05:39 It's God's app. That's right. 05:41 But it's 10 minutes of worship, 05:43 and it keeps us plugged in, 05:45 you know, we have technology, can do bypass surgeries, 05:47 we now have technology that can keep us plugged in 05:50 to worship. 05:51 That's right. 05:52 And it was amazing how appropriate 05:54 it was for each stage of this journey that I went on. 05:58 But, you know, 05:59 one of the things that I also felt was amazing 06:03 during this, that blessed me and I'll say quickly 06:06 was that a verse came to my mind 06:09 as I was in the back of that ambulance. 06:11 And it was the words of Jesus before He left this earth. 06:15 And I'm trying not to paraphrase too much, 06:18 but He says, "My peace, I leave with you. 06:22 Not as the world gives it, do I give you. 06:25 "Let not your heart be troubled." 06:27 And as I remembered those words, 06:29 I welled up with tears, 06:30 and I started laughing and crying at the same time 06:33 all by myself at the back of that ambulance. 06:36 And then the last part of that verse says 06:37 "And do not be afraid." 06:39 I believe that was my special promise 06:42 from God. 06:44 I'm sure I mean, 06:45 I've heard this Bible verse many, many times, 06:48 but I'd never memorized it that I can remember. 06:51 And yet it was verbatim in my mind, 06:54 and I know God just placed it there for me. 06:57 And, you know, 06:58 even in the hospital here in Carbondale, 07:00 I was privileged to listen with my heart to the nurses 07:06 and the phlebotomist and all kinds of people 07:10 that were coming in and out of my room 07:12 for several days. 07:14 And I was able to minister to these people, 07:17 which was something I was keenly aware of. 07:19 These were opportunities that God had lined up 07:22 before the beginning of time, 07:24 knowing that I would be in that hospital 07:26 with this person, 07:28 and I had something that I could share with them. 07:31 And so my whole time there had purpose 07:34 and had meaning 07:35 even though I was waiting for surgery 07:37 and seemingly on hold. 07:39 The same thing happened in the hospital in Atlanta. 07:42 I cannot tell you how, I mean, 07:44 the very first night I was out of, 07:47 I was in intensive care the first night 07:50 and at some point I began speaking with my nurse, 07:54 I was aware enough that she was there 07:56 and she asked me some questions. 07:57 She says "You're not from here, are you?" 07:59 "No, I'm from Illinois." 08:00 "Well, what do you do in Illinois?" 08:02 I said, "Well, I work for a Christian 08:03 television network." 08:05 "Really." 08:06 And out of the blue she said, 08:08 "What denomination are you... 08:09 is the network?" 08:10 And I said, "Well, 08:12 our teachings are Seventh-day Adventist teachings." 08:13 She goes, "I know a Seventh-day Adventist. 08:15 In fact, I work with her, there she is right over there." 08:18 And she called this woman over. 08:20 And she said, "Bob is an Adventist." 08:23 And the lady just lit up 08:25 and she was so excited to see me. 08:27 She goes, "You're the first Adventist 08:29 I've met here." 08:30 And I'm sure there have been many. 08:32 But she says, 08:33 "I was raised Seventh-day Adventist." 08:35 And she says, 08:36 "Well, I haven't gone to church in a while 08:38 and I really need to go back but..." 08:39 And then she kept talking. 08:42 Later on after a couple of days, 08:44 I think may be my last night there, 08:46 that lady came back to my room, 08:48 and she wanted to talk to me some more. 08:51 And she starts talking about how she was raised 08:54 in the Caribbean in one of... 08:56 in St. Thomas, I believe, 08:58 and she had come to United States 09:01 to finish her nursing degree. 09:03 She was raised an Adventist 09:05 but she'd gotten away from the church. 09:08 And she was going to school and I asked her 09:10 where she went to school, to nursing school. 09:12 And she says, "Well, 09:14 it's this little college in New England, 09:16 you probably have never heard of it, 09:18 Atlantic Union College." 09:19 Well, 09:20 I was grinning from ear to ear 09:22 because my parents both retired from teaching 09:24 at Atlantic Union College. 09:26 And I said, 09:28 one of your instructors had to be my mother 09:30 and she goes, "Who's your mother." 09:31 And I told her who my mother was 09:33 and she about fainted. 09:35 And then the next words out of her mouth was 09:38 "That's it. That's my sign. 09:40 I will be in church this Sabbath. 09:42 So, how in the world, 09:45 30 years after she graduates, 09:47 she's taking care of her nursing instructor son 09:51 who's in the hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. 09:54 There is no coincidence and it was the young man 09:58 who had major problems with his father 10:02 that I was able to share about my father, 10:06 and about my Father in heaven. 10:08 It was the lady 10:10 who had a husband who needed prayer. 10:14 And he had dealt with some things 10:15 that I had dealt with in my life, 10:17 you know, addiction to alcohol and things like that. 10:20 And she didn't know how I got help 10:22 and I was able to share with her about that, 10:24 and share how she can get help herself 10:26 in dealing with all of that. 10:28 So there was so many 10:29 of these so called coincidences. 10:31 And, of course, after the first one, 10:34 I'm just counting the blessings, right? 10:36 And I probably have 12 stories I could tell you about it. 10:39 But in the process, 10:41 I was aware that as these people 10:43 were doing their very best to help me 10:47 that I could somehow help them in return. 10:49 And not just in a physical way 10:53 but in a spiritual way which is really... 10:57 I became so aware of it that I couldn't go... 11:01 I couldn't be distracted with anything else. 11:05 I didn't watch TV. 11:06 I didn't do any of those things 11:08 that people sometimes do in a hospital bed 11:10 because I was thinking about these people 11:13 that were constantly around me 11:15 and listening to them and making those friendships. 11:19 After I left the hospital, or the day I left the hospital, 11:22 I went back to that ICU unit 11:24 and started talking to all the nurses 11:27 that were there. 11:28 And it was amazing. 11:30 They couldn't believe I was the same man 11:32 because here I was up and walking. 11:34 Of course, they're used to seeing me 11:36 laying flat in bed. 11:37 But it was... 11:38 I went back about two or three weeks later, 11:42 after seeing my doctor for the last time down there 11:45 before I was back here at work and I saw them, 11:49 and again they did not even recognize me. 11:52 So the changes were dramatic. 11:55 But the change for me 11:56 was I had the deepest 11:58 spiritual experience of my life. 12:01 And I know full well that it's because I came up 12:03 against life and death. 12:06 And I was not only willing but eager 12:09 to make peace with my maker. 12:11 And there were things, 12:12 you know, there are always things 12:13 that oppose the grace of God in my life. 12:15 And if I hang on to those things, 12:17 those are the sticking points, 12:19 those are the things 12:20 that will destroy my relationship with Him 12:22 and with other people. 12:24 And as soon as that relationship is mended, 12:27 it changes everything 12:28 with every person that comes in my life. 12:30 Now that process has not stopped, 12:32 it continues to this day. 12:35 I am keenly aware that every conversation I have 12:38 with every person I come in contact with, 12:41 is a brother, a sister in Christ, 12:43 is somebody that needs help, 12:45 is somebody that needs me to listen to them. 12:49 One of the things I discovered and rediscovered, 12:51 I guess, through this illness 12:53 is that God has given me a talent 12:55 of being an encourager. 12:58 This world needs more encouragers. 13:00 And I believe all of us should be encouragers. 13:02 Now, I didn't think 13:04 that was a particular talent or a gift 13:06 that God had given me, 13:07 but I certainly discovered that 13:09 because the reaction that I got from these people, 13:12 I mean, whether it was talking to them about 3ABN, 13:16 for example, 13:18 the lady that admitted me into the hospital, 13:21 ended up coming to visit me 13:23 because my sister could only come rarely. 13:26 So she came and spent hours with me. 13:28 And the next thing you know, she wants to know about 3ABN. 13:31 And she still talks to me and tells me 13:35 that she's still watching 3ABN 13:36 and now she's got three more ladies in admission 13:40 that in the admissions department 13:42 that are all watching 3ABN, 13:44 only because I listened and I cared. 13:48 That's powerful. 13:50 Yeah. 13:51 There's more to come. 13:52 We'll be back with more from Bobby Davis 13:54 on his experience 13:55 and how his trials became a blessing 13:56 in just a moment. |
Revised 2020-02-24