Celebrating a Miracle

Seven years ago today, my husband was shot in the line of duty.  I ran into the medac who reached him first that evening just this week.  Every year during the week before the anniversary of the shooting, I will run into someone from the team that night who helped save his life.  I don't find that coincidence but something else, something more magical at work.  The medac, who's now an ICU nurse, said he writes it on his calendar every July 29 as Mike Fey Day.  I like the thought of that.  Then he looked at my daughters and said, "Your daddy is a very strong man." He turned back to me and said, "We were just talking about that night and about how many miracles had to occur for him to live.  We all agreed that God was present that night."

I have no doubt that God was indeed present that night.  And seven years later I am so grateful that he is still here to be by my side as my husband and to be here as the great father that he is to our three daughters.

This experience has also taught me so much about the power of forgiveness.  The man who shot my husband tried very hard to kill him that night.  He shot him in the neck, and when backup arrived, the shooter had his gun pointed to Mike's forehead trying desperately to unload it as the gun miraculously jammed again and again and again.

I have forgiven this man again and again and again, and yet my forgiveness tends to misfire too.  There are times when I'm reminded of what this shooting has taken from us, and I get angry all over again.  Still, I am a work in progress and I am trying and getting better at this forgiveness thing each year.  Today, after church I walked back to the chapel and lit a candle for this man's soul and prayed that the light of this candle would lead him to a better place, a place of healing and maybe even forgiveness.