Religion column: Becoming an instrument of peace — and love
When Peter saw (John), he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to live until I come, what is that to you? You follow me! “ — John 21:21-22
Valentine’s Day can be a bit nostalgic, even far-fetched in its thoughts about love. But real love among comrades takes guts, perseverance and commitment. Seven years ago this month two of my Ivy Tech Community College students were brought together in the most desperate of circumstances.
One of the students, Dylan Deem of Spencer, had just received his second heart transplant, after the first failed. The other student, Sam Bradley, and I visited him in the Indianapolis hospital, where he lay, his chest kept open, for fear doctors would need to re-open it. I doubted he would make it, but didn’t say that, of course. We prayed for him and we followed his recovery since then. Now at 30, seven years into the process with a transplanted heart, never knowing when rejection or other complications may occur; Deem is reflecting through Facebook on the mature man he has become. He once wrote, “I’m a simple guy who just wants two simple things: to be happy and healthy.”
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I helped Deem finish up his associate degree at ivy Tech, and this is what he has to say to the many folks who have followed his journey — then and now. “God has given me strength to be the healthiest version of myself right now.” After seven years of ups and downs, having written a book, ("Heart of a Champion") and gone to athletic competitions around the globe for people who have had transplants, he has definitely learned discipline, strength and endurance better than many of us who have struggled with a two-year pandemic.
Bradley went on to finish a degree at IUPUI, but didn’t find engineering in a small cubicle to be to his liking. Springing from one of these solid hard-working Monroe County families that stress faith, family, and country, Sam found his niche and Christian calling through City Church of All Nations, where he meets with a large men’s group that is surprising for its vulnerability and openness. This group really opens up to each other, and in spite of COVID, has carried on. Bradley has invited Deem to come there to share his life story, which he has done in several churches over the years.
Both young men have a connection to a small Presbyterian flock in Greene County. Sam preached there once as a first step toward his Christian calling. With great joy, I baptized Deem there in 2016. His exhausting struggle for health and search for God led him to confess Christian faith. Then their paths went other ways.
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\Both are strong examples of what faith can do in a young person’s life. Peter wondered what would happen to John (above) but had the choice of following his own path, not another’s.
Both local men strive to be instruments of peace — and love! Everyone should learn that lesson to follow — even when we know not how or when our pilgrim journeys will end. But, as we travel, we can all pray with St. Francis:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where injury, pardon; where doubt, faith; where despair, hope; where darkness, light; where sadness, joy.
Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console; to be understood, as to understand; to be loved, as to love; For it is in giving that we receive; in pardoning that we are pardoned; and in dying we are born to eternal life. Amen.