God Gave us Physicians: a Tribute to my son Blessing Dinnaya Jacobs on his 10th birthday

My call to the Christian vocation did not come until I was thirty years of age. Maybe because I was one of those people who did not think much of ministry, or among those who had set their minds on what they wanted to do in life. My journey to finding God or God finding me took me to more than one avenue and also led me to try a religion other than Christianity. When I finally accepted the call, I wanted to do things differently. I was not impressed with the ostentatious lifestyle of the ministers particularly the televangelists, who make it seem like prosperity is the litmus test of one’s faith. I wanted to be a good student of the word with the view to rightly diving the word but with humility and impeccable cadence-a task that I have done a poor job accomplishing. But I also understood the grace of God and His relentless availability to me in times of distress, when all human options lie outside the realm of possibility. I had this bold assurance that no matter whatever situation I faced, I will pray my way through it. Maybe this was because this ministry thing was God’s idea and not mine. Maybe because I saw myself as the worst candidate for the job but God insisted that I am the man for the job. However, for whatever reason I had this arrogance (in a good way) that when I pray that things would change. The most amazing thing that was people close to me knew this. Ten years ago, my former spouse (bless her heart) was pregnant with our first child. As she progressed in her pregnancy, she was told by the doctors that our child would have birth defect, and advised her to abort the baby. She was troubled but she did not accept the doctors’ recommendation. Some Christian ministers and believers alike have the tendency to make disparaging statements about the doctors when they make recommendations based on their expertise and their wealth of experience relative to health issues especially if they report a poor prognosis. They make it seem as if the physicians are not part of God’s healing source. I hear things like “the doctors said I have two days to live, but that is a deception from hell, they are not God,” and many more negative things alike; almost making it seem as if there are no Christian doctors. In my case, I knew that the doctors were honest about their finding; and meant well by asking us to abort the baby because of the difficulty raising a child with such health challenge as they have reported about our son, but I also know that there is a God, who is still in the business of healing, restoration, and recreation. One morning, while I was in the shower thinking about this report about our baby’s health and the aftermath effect it would have on us, the Spirit of the Lord said to me, “he would be fine, do not be afraid! Nothing would happen to him. I don’t remember if I told my former spouse about this experience or not, but on June 25, 2004, one hour past my birthday, I was called into the OR of the Rhode Island hospital to see my son for the first time.

He was the best looking baby I had ever seen! He is ten years old today. Blessing is one of the smartest and kindhearted young man there is. Everything about Blessing is so special. He started walking before he was nine months, and did not crawl. He stopped using diapers on his own, had all his teeth almost at the same time, and the lists go on. Blessing is always willing to help, and has a calming presence. He also has analytical mind, and his grandmother thinks that he makes facial expressions similar to mine. Blessing is very caring, and loving. Join me today as we celebrate his 10^th birthday!