more of the story.

When the orthopedic doctor returned from his “break” (no pun intended), he told Chris that since he wasn’t able to get the ‘hat on the post’-- the broken bone end to end and not overlapping as it was-- we had two options: 

Make another attempt at a reduction or schedule a surgery for another day. 

Two things immediately went through Chris’ mind-- first was that after waiting a few days with Charlie’s arm mangled and him in pain, I’m not coming back and putting him through this again and second, he was wondering, “God, why aren’t you helping.” 

Without missing a beat, Chris told the doctor, “Let’s go for it. You’ll get it this time.” The doctor said, “I’ve got one thing I haven’t tried.” 

While they knocked Charlie out once again, Chris was asking God why He was taking so long. 

Chris said that while he knew that the situation wasn’t life threatening, after all, it was just a broken arm, it was indeed horrible to watch and know that if they didn’t get it right, it might possibly affect Charlie for the rest of his life. 

It was then, that Chris said God reminded him of a word he’d heard and taken to heart during Bible conference a month earlier. 

God said, “Pray for everyone.” 

Chris said, “I’ve been praying this whole time for Charlie and the doctors. And so have all the people from several churches.” When all that Chris got back was “pray for everyone” again, he knew what God actually meant: 

Chris was to put his hands on the doctor and pray for him. 

Chris told the ortho doc, “Let me know when you’re about to start yanking on his arm again.” They put Charlie’s fingers in a contraption with pulleys and tied weights around his upper arm and began to lay out the materials for another splint and cast. 

Chris saw that it was now or never and told the doctor that he was a pastor and that he and dozens of people were praying, not just for Charlie, but for him. This caught the attention of the several people surrounding Charlie and Chris said, “Can I pray for you right now?” The doc just kind of shrugged and said, “Sure.” 

Putting his hand on the doctor, Chris began to pray, “Father, I thank you for Charlie and for this entire situation, for You knew that these would be the doctors in this room today and that they would be here to help Charlie. You have orchestrated this and I pray that You would guide the doctor’s hands. Give him insight as to what to do and how to get the bones right. Cause it to click into place. I thank You for doing this. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.” 

They lifted their heads and got to work. 

It looked worse than before, so bad in fact, that Chris thought that any second he would see bone burst through the skin. Sweat poured from the doctor and Chris prayed and spoke quietly in tongues as the staff looked on. 

The doctor looked distraught and Chris spoke up, “Come on bro, don’t quit. You’re gonna get this.” He kept bending and twisting that arm until finally, he said, “That’s about all I can do.” 

They decided to wheel in the x-ray machine and take an x-ray first, before wrapping it again. The doctor himself held Charlie’s limp arm up for the x-rays and left as the machine was rolled away. 

In his heart, Chris was talking with God again wondering-- Why did You have me pray for the guy when You knew it wasn’t going to work? Chris was sure that the third attempt was just as unsuccessful. 

When the ortho doc returned, he had a fist extended toward Chris. Chris was like, “What is this guy doing?” until he said, “We got it. The hat’s on the post.” Chris looked at him incredulously giving him a weak fist bump, “It’s good? You got the bones in place?” He said, “Yeah, we got it.” Chris shook his hand. “Thank you. I knew you could do it.”  

Chris said that he was flabbergasted, shocked. He would’ve bet his life that it hadn’t worked. He couldn’t believe it and he thanked God over and over. 

When Charlie woke up, his first words were, “How much longer are we gonna be here?” 

It took about two more hours for them to be discharged during which time, Chris borrowed a phone charger from one of the nurses, called home and began to fill me in.