September 2016

Second Baptist Church

(Est. 1902)

Monrovia, CA

{an evangelical orthodox church}

Bishop Dr. Wm. La Rue Dillard, Parish Church under-shepherd

A CRIMINAL ACT OF A TRAGIC DEATH, RESULTS IN A TRIUMPHAL MIRACLE!

By Bishop Dr. Wm. La Rue Dillard

There has been critical thinking about God, and we put Him on trial for the things He’s allowed in our lives, wondering why He’s not done better, only to find that we are the ones on trial, God is the judge! Wm. La Rue Dillard

A CRIMINAL ACT OF A TRAGIC DEATH, RESULTS IN A TRIUMPHAL MIRACLE! Today is Saturday, August 27, 2016, and the day is drawing to a closure as the sun sets in the western sky. My mind returned to September, 3, 2014, around 10:20 in the morning. I was sitting in the office of Dr. Jon Kobashigawa, my Cardiologist at Cedars Sinai Hospital in Beverly Hills, CA. The troubling information I received from him caught me by surprise, and saturated my mind with sadness following the consultation regarding my heart condition. He related to me and my wife the sad news: “That my name will be removed from the search list for a heart transplant as of September 19, 2014, when I would turn 78-1/2 years-old, and therefore, too old for the surgery.”

Needless to say I was struck with sadness, and was down-trodden in mind and spirit. I looked at my wife Betty Gay, and she seemed teary-eyed. I didn’t want to show my mental state of mind, so I said “Yes” quickly to my doctor, at the same time trying to show my assurance, and fearlessness that things were going to be alright.

It had already been medically and scientifically determined that I had an enlarged deteriorating heart that was worn out, and I would not live without a heart transplant. The disease called “Cardiac Amyloidosis” was a hereditary disease. Some months earlier, I had already received a defibrillator to help regulate my heartbeat, but that was not the answer to my serious condition.

Using Hezekiah’s method, (II Kings 19:14), I went into the church sanctuary of my Parish and spread my troubles before God. I asked Him to help me deal with my condition that would bring glory to His name. Moreover, to heal me, if it is according to His will. I truly put it all in His hand.

Throughout my Christian life from the age of 20 years old, I have sought to get my directions and marching orders from God through His Word.

Searching the scriptures for an answer and comfort, that Wednesday morning, September 3, 2014, was a day of serious tragedy I later found out.

On Thursday morning September 4, 2014, I was reading the scriptures for comfort and instructions in order to move forward to please the Lord by my actions, demeanor, and walk.

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Isaiah 45:9b, captured my attention.

“Shall the clay say to him who forms it, what are you making? Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands?”

God’s ways are far above His human creation. We cannot know the mind of God. Thus, it folly to question or criticize God’s ways.

God is in control of all things concerning us. He has infinite wisdom, mankind is finite. We Christians are often ushered into the very heart of God to find the answers to our questions about the nature and extent of God’s control over our lives.

There we behold and experience both sides of a paradox which yields to a greater truth. God is absolute sovereign of the universe, but He has given us freedom.

We question tragedies in our lives, but seldom do we question triumphs. I have discovered three presuppositions which guided me, and I share with the Christian church about God’s involvement in our troubled world and our often calamitous existence.

First, God is supremely in control even when He limits His control.

Second, He is sensitively in control as He grants us the gift of free will, knowing what we may do with it.

Third, He is sublimely in control as He intervenes and brings good out of evil that happens to and around us.

Fortified with these three gigantic truths about the nature of God, we can confront the disquiet within us about the pattern of history and about our own topsy-turvy lives with our concerns, crisis, and complications.

In the evening of September 5, 2014, was a day that my mental sadness turned to joy when a call came from my doctor Jon Kobashigawa, M.D., telling my wife that “they have found a heart for Bishop Dillard, to get him to the hospital as soon as possible.” That was the turning point in our journey.

God was in control even when a tragic situation visited the home of Joseph and Veronica Baeza family of Fresno, CA when Joseph Baeza was shot on September 3, 2014, a criminal act indeed, he passed away on September 5, 2014, in the presence of his family.

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A year had passed before my contact with the Baeza family on September 6, 2015. Returning their call, I introduced myself as the recipient of Joseph’s heart. We made arrangement to meet her family at Second Baptist Parish Church, in Monrovia, CA on November 8, 2015.

It was a joyful meeting of our families’ togetherness. The news was carried on TV Channels 4, 7 and 47 in Fresno, CA. Yes, A Criminal Act of a Tragic Death, Results in a Triumphal Miracle! Tragic for the Baeza family, triumph for the Dillards.

I have learned over the years, that greatness of character and personality is not produced by a smooth, easy life. It is the difficulties as much as the delights of life that we are forced to grow and mature as Christians.

The sure conviction of my life after over 60 years of experiencing God’s providence is this: He never allows more than we can stand. He uses all that happens to us to bring us into a deeper trust and dependence on Him, and His intervention is perfectly timed to help us without negating our freedom. We have free will. Amen Until He Comes, I Am Serving Christ Joyfully Bishop Dr. Wm. La Rue Dillard Parish Church under-shepherd

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