O Death, Where Is Thy Sting?

By Reverend Larry W. Greiner

Apart from a few misplaced shots, the first 16 holes were uneventful. At the 17th hole I hit a disappointing tee shot. It caught a tree overhanging the area just in front of the tee box. My ball landed just twenty yards away, near the base of the tree. Taking my three-wood, I sent the ball flying down the fairway. My satisfaction was suddenly interrupted by a stabbing pain. Glancing down I saw a yellow jacket (a cross between a bee and a wasp) sitting on the back of my glove hand. Fear struck my heart as I realized I was standing on top of one of their underground nests!

I reacted immediately. "I must get to a hospital," I said to the guys. "I've been stung by a bee!" Nothing more needed to be said. They knew of my dangerous allergic reaction to bee stings, having almost died from one fourteen years earlier. In my case, a bee sting is a lethal injection. It was my custom to carry a bee kit with me, but on this particular day I had absent-mindedly left home without it. Foolishly I had decided to play anyway. The kit would have given me a little more time to get to the hospital, but alone it would not save my life.

I began to walk briskly toward the parking lot. I knew that running would spread the poisonous venom more rapidly through my body. Miraculously, of all the holes, the 17^th tee was the closest spot on the whole golf course to our cars, approximately 50 yards away.

A swarm of angry bees dogged me, blanketing the back of my pant legs. My brother Bevan brushed them off as best he could as I kept walking. At the parking lot, I climbed into the passenger side of my brother-in-law's car which was the first vehicle we reached, while Bevan collected the golf clubs and would follow in his own car.

While it had taken only about three minutes to reach the car, I was already beginning to feel the deadly effects of the sting. Soon I would go into anaphylactic shock. My throat began to swell and constrict. Breathing became increasingly difficult. I was vaguely aware of Bob speeding out of the driveway and onto the highway. My head spun as I began to drift into unconsciousness. Death seemed imminent. "Bob," I whispered, "I'm going to heaven."

That was the last thing I remember as I passed out and went into anaphylactic shock. Bob did not know the exact location of the nearest hospital, so he headed in the direction of where he believed there would be medical facilities. Drivers, almost intuitively, pulled to the side of the busy highway giving him a clear road. Traffic lights turned green. Bob said later it was as if God was parting the "Red Sea" for us.

Within ten minutes he saw a small hospital sign, but no directional arrows. Not sure which way to go, Bob made a quick decision and turned right at the next corner. Within a block he saw the emergency entrance to the hospital! A group of medical aids "just happened" to be taking a break outside as Bob pulled up. "He's been stung by a bee!" he shouted. The staff immediately dragged my limp body out of the car and rushed me inside. The doctor in charge told Bob that if he had driven another block or had made a wrong turn it would have been too late. I would have died. The medical staff could not understand how I survived. It was an absolute miracle.

An excerpt from the medical report reads as follows: "This forty-one year old gentleman came to Montgomery Hospital brought by his brother-in-law from Valley Forge Golf Course where he was stung by a bee on the wrist and also on the leg. [They found only two stings on my body!] He had a near-fatal reaction fourteen years prior to this one. He was in total respiratory and circulatory collapse by the time he got to the Emergency Room and he had to be physically dragged out of his brother's car by Dr. Hayes and several of the aides. He had a very faint pulse, a heart rate of about 20 and was not breathing at all. He was emergently intubated and given epinephrine, high-dose of steroids, large quantities of intravenous fluids and his hemodynamic status improved rapidly."

Waking up the next day in intensive care, with a tube down my throat, my wife and family at my bedside, I felt like I had been resurrected from the dead! My dear wife Sharon had brought my Bible to the hospital, and, after everyone left, I remember turning to the book of Psalms. I randomly opened to Psalm 68. My eyes fell immediately upon verse 20: "God is to us a God of deliverances; And to God the Lord belong escapes from death" (NASV). God had miraculously spared my life at the very door of death. He had more work for me to do. I remember in the hospital telling my ten-year-old nephew Bobby that "We as Christians are invincible until our work on earth is done and God calls us home."

After two days, I was released from the hospital. The Doctors have said that someone who has a severe reaction to a bee sting must understand that each sting thereafter will be worse than the previous one. Now I make sure my bee kit is with me at all times, spring, summer and fall. Winter now happens to be my favorite time of the year.

In pondering my brush with death, from the time I was stung until the time I passed out, one important thing comes to mind: at no time was I afraid to die. Beyond the shadow of a doubt, I knew that if I died I would go immediately to heaven. Through it all, as the bee venom was rushing through my body, I had an unexplainable and indescribable peace. It was the supernatural peace Jesus Christ promises to all who believe in Him. "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:26,27). I also clearly remember feeling, as never before, the presence of Jesus Christ before I passed out.

As a young child I received Jesus Christ as my personal Savior, after my mother explained how Jesus died on the cross for me and took the punishment for my sins. He rose from the dead, and by believing in Him I would one day go to be with Him forever. From that day on I knew that if I died I would go immediately to heaven.

Without Christ you should be afraid of physical death because after that there is a spiritual death for your soul in hell which will be eternal.

The Christian, however, does not need to fear death. "For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he [Jesus] also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Hebrews 2:14,15).

Jesus said, "I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and death" (Revelation 21:18).

My friend, are you ready for death? You can be. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosever liveth and believeth in me shall never die [eternal death]. Believest thou this?" (John 11:25,26).

Are you ready to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior? If so, then pray a prayer like this: "Dear Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I am sorry for my sin. I believe You died for me and rose from the dead. Come into my heart right now and wash away my sins. I receive You as my very own Savior. Thank you for dying for me."

If you sincerely prayed that prayer, receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you were born again spiritually. You are now a child of God forever and Jesus lives in your heart. You have been forgiven all your sin, and you have received everlasting life. Welcome to the family of God!

Now you can say with the Apostle Paul, "O death, where is thy sting, O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:55-57).

©1999

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