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BOB WICKLIFFE lived in Long Island, New York and worked in NYC. Arriving at his job on 9/11/2001, Bob watched in horror as people jumped out of windows from the top floors of the World Trade Center, and he saw the 2nd tower fall from a distance. A Christian and a relative of mine, I can say with certainty that Bob prayed, thanking God for his safety during that surprise attack. The things he personally witnessed first-hand were hard to forget.

Fast forward 12 years to 2013. Bob, then retired, and his dear wife Dottie now lived in Pennsylvania. As Bob had always loved children, he volunteered to be the Commissioner of their new church’s Upward Children’s Sports Ministry. Bob was at a soccer game when he fainted and fell due to AFib (a heart problem). He broke his neck / back and was instantly paralyzed from his chest down. As he lay on the ground, he worshiped and praised God, and was ready to go home to Heaven if that was God’s Will.

In a sense, what happened to Bob on that fateful day in May was similar to 9-11 in that it was totally unexpected and life-altering. Yet, with his and Dottie’s faith in God, Bob had a radiant smile which people commented on as they couldn’t understand it. They were told it was because of his love for God and joy in His Salvation. When I visited them, Bob was more cheerful and upbeat than I’d ever seen him. The Lord used Bob (and Dottie, an example of steadfast Christian love) to encourage Believers and witness Christ’s Love to many in person, with at least 5 people becoming Christians and 1 coming back to faith in God. In God’s timing, Bob went to Heaven five years to the day after his injury!

Bob and his wife had said that this was the happiest time of their lives. God had given them a new Christ-centered love for each other, as a result of being together for most of their waking hours, which wasn’t the case before his injury. Bob’s legacy of his faith in God continues through the 14 YouTube videos listed under “Bob Wickliffe,” which at present have received almost 10,000 views. Dottie has had many opportunities to continue sharing about Bob’s faith, his paralyzing injury, God’s grace to sinners, and Bob’s videos. Some opportunities are with her new doctors who ask what health issues she has, and she tells them Caregiver Burnout (like PTSD) from caring for Bob most of the time during his last 2 years of life, after his main nurse left.

What of you, dear reader?

Life is full of unexpected tragedies. Proverbs 27:1 warns us, “…you do not know what a day may bring forth;” and James 4:14 states, we “do not know what will happen tomorrow.” The people who died on 9-11 had no idea they’d experience death and “after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27) when they woke up that morning! Bob certainly had no clue as to how his life would be changed in that one day.

Another terrorist attack, an accident, an illness, or a freak storm may claim YOUR life without warning! Or, it may leave you paralyzed without any hope of recovery in this life. Bob had put his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of his sins years earlier. If he HAD died suddenly, he would have gone directly to Heaven (see 2 Corinthians 5:8-10). He was READY, you see. Ready to die if called to die suddenly, yet ready to suffer patiently and joyfully if it was God’s Will that he linger in a state of suffering. Ready for anything! In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus talked about a wise man who “built his house upon the rock” (the rock being HIMSELF and the salvation only He can offer) and a foolish man who “built his house upon the sand” (the sand represents anything which is NOT that Rock)! Jesus said: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Be prepared! Build your house upon the Rock and, like Bob and Dottie, you’ll be ready for anything!

-Chet Jelinski

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