RAMA, SASK.- As has become tradition at the PALS Draft Horse Field Days in Rama, Cowboy Church was held on the PALS ground on Sunday, Aug. 23.
Even though skies were cloudy with on-and-off rain, the service was held as planned, thanks in large part to the shelters utilized by both the musicians and the audience.
Worship leader Judy Johnson of Rama opened the service with prayer.
“Lord, thank you for this day, and for the teamsters who brought their horses for our field day. We pray that you will keep them all safe. We pray for the sick and the shut-ins, and for anyone battling cancer or any other disease.
“We pray this in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
The theme for the service was miracles. Johnson read a true story, Defying Death by Kim D. Armstrong, from the book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: A Book of Miracles.
“I was working a 16-hour shift one Saturday in ICU. It was my turn to take the next admission. When I got the assignment and report, I knew it was going to be an emotional evening. Mr. Smith, a 76-year-old gentleman, had suffered a massive stroke confirmed by a CT-scan. He arrived on the unit around 3 p.m.
“I learned that he’d been an active man with a wife, four adult children, and several grandchildren. He was very close to his family even though three of his children lived in different states. Mr. Smith was an avid gardener and kept busy all hours of the day.
"When Mr. Smith suffered his stroke, he had a large amount of bleeding into the brain, and this resulted in a respiratory arrest. The family was given the news that his condition was grave. He had seizures almost continuously. His heart rate and blood pressure were unstable. He would not live through the night.
“His wife asked us to do whatever we need to do to keep him alive until her three children could come say goodbye. One daughter lived close by and she remained at her father’s side. Mrs. Smith called a son in Delaware, a daughter in New Jersey, and another son in Virginia.
“Two hours later I was hanging the fifth intravenous medications to stabilize Mr. Smith’s rhythms and blood pressure when Mrs. Smith asked me to pray with her that her husband would awaken and be well, but if he had to die, that he would live long enough for his children to arrive.
“’How long before everyone can get here?’ I asked.
“About seven hours.”
“I prayed with her. ‘God, please stabilize Mr. Smith’s blood pressure and heart rate so he can live through the night.'
“About 10 minutes after our prayer, his heart rate dropped to 40, then 30, and then down to no rhythm at all. The cardiac arrest team was called. They worked on Mr. Smith for 20 minutes. Because of the bleeding into his brain, it was determined that even if we could get his heart rhythm back to normal, Mr. Smith would never awaken from a coma. After talking with Mrs. Smith the emergency room director called the code, stopped all resuscitation measures and pronounced Mr. Smith dead.
“Because he was my patient, it was my responsibility to remove all the lines and tubes, and bathe him.
“Everyone had left the room, and as I removed the intravenous lines and tubes, I prayed again for him to get a rhythm back to live long enough for his children to come to say their goodbyes. Normally the procedure is to remove the EKG leads and turn the monitor off. For some reason I had not removed the leads yet, but I turned off the monitor in the room. As I was beginning to remove the breathing tube, the other nurses came running in.
“’What are you doing?’ one asked.
“Turning around, I told her I was taking out the lines and cleaning Mr. Smith after his death. One nurse flipped on the monitor at the bedside. I looked up at it and got chills. Mr. Smith had a heartbeat again. Is I watched, the rate increased from 30 to about 50.
“’It’s just the drug effect,’ said one of the nurses. ‘We all know this happens sometimes, it doesn’t mean anything.’
“But when I checked for a pulse, I felt one in his neck. I turned the ventilator back on to give him oxygen. As we stood in the room watching the monitor, we all realized that Mr. Smith, who had been pronounced dead a few minutes before, had a heartbeat. He was alive again.
“At 10:30 p.m., all four of his children walked into the room. Mrs. Smith smiled at me as we acknowledged that God had answered our prayer.
“A few hours later, Mr. Smith died, his family at his side, having said their goodbyes. He didn’t get well and make it out of the hospital, but God still performed a miracle. Mr. Smith lived for eight hours after being pronounced dead.”
After this story about a miracle Judy Johnson shared an experience she had with Walter Hughes and their own guardian angel.
“A few years ago we were hauling cattle to Kelvington when all of a sudden a blizzard blew in. It was so bad that it took us four hours to travel what should have been one hour. When we got to south of Hazel Dell, there were snow drifts four feet high, and lots of them on the road. We knew that the semi wouldn’t bust through them and were thinking of spending the night in the truck.
“Then all of a sudden there were lights behind us and Walter got out to talk to the driver. He was a young cowboy in a battered old 4 x 4 Ford with a collie dog in the passenger seat. He said if he could get past us he could likely bust through the drifts and we could make it home.
“He was able to get past us and hit the drifts hard enough that he got through. We didn’t see what direction he went and we had never seen him before or since. God sent us a cowboy when we needed one.
“There are miracles around us every day, we just have to see them. The birth of a child or an animal is a miracle. It can be as simple as a snowflake, as no two are the same. And just look at your body. It is composed of parts that can last 100 years or more for some.
“I read somewhere a wise old lady said that the best proof of a miracle is the planting of a seed and the beating of a heart.”
Providing gospel music during the service were the Rama Rednecks: Judy Johnson of Rama (vocals and Calamity Jane), Shelden Landstad of Rama (vocals, acoustic guitar and mandolin) and Elaine Head of Sturgis (vocals, keyboard).
Gospel favourites performed included: Amazing Grace, One Day at a Time, Church in the Wildwood, In the Sweet By and By, I Saw The Light, Swing Low Sweet Chariot and I’ll Fly Away.
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