Logan's Miracle

The 700 Club television program, hosted by Pat Robertson’s son Gordon, is the flagship of the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). Thirty-five years ago, I earned a graduate degree from the university that CBN spawned. Back then Pat Robertson ran the show and the university and everything else. I worked for the network while I was a student, so I got to meet Pat at an intimate new-employee reception. When I shook his hand to introduce myself I had the impression I was encountering one of the humblest men I’d ever met.

Yet I’ve never been an ardent devotee of either the 700 Club or Pat Robertson. With the passing of time I focused on family and finances with seemingly little time to dedicate to televised Christianity. Eventually, even my graduate degree seemed irrelevant in the face of Matt’s brain injury and ongoing care.

So, I surprised myself one day recently when I stumbled upon the 700 Club after a decades-long hiatus and decided to watch. I was most intrigued with the segment profiling a young man’s brain injury and his miraculous recovery. Logan was a freshman in college and was skateboarding from the library to his dorm when he crashed on the sidewalk and landed on his head. Unconscious, with blood coming from his ears and nose, it looked grim when first responders arrived.

Logan was rushed to the hospital where he was placed into a drug-induced coma to slow the swelling in his brain. His parents were notified and immediately got into their car to start the four-hour trip to be at his side. Simultaneously, their church was alerted and prayers and prayer chains were commenced.

Over the next few days Logan’s brain injury required an even deeper coma and the long-term prognosis worsened. Still, faithful family and friends persevered in prayer, believing that a miracle was at hand.

And sure enough, just like in a made-for-television event, Logan’s swelling decreased and he regained consciousness. It wasn’t long until he was transferred to a rehabilitation center where he spent only two weeks engaged in a remarkable recovery. Today, Logan has no cognitive or physical deficits and has returned to college. He will live a normal life following this amazing supernatural intervention.

It’s no wonder then, at the close of the segment, that Logan’s parents wanted the viewers to know why the word Immanuel (“God is with us”) meant so much to them during the Christmas season. When all looked dark and dreadful and they faced the real prospect that Logan could either die or remain profoundly disabled for the rest of his life, faith rose up within them and they knew without a doubt that God was with them and He would restore their son.

O joy divine! It was a happy ending so typical of Christian broadcasting. I was glad for Logan and his parents. I understood why the word Immanuel had such significance for them. God heard their prayers and answered them in a matter of days. God really was with them.

At the same time, I couldn’t quench the resentment surging within me. God had not answered the thousands of prayers uttered on Matt’s behalf. The Christmas season was not warm and fuzzy. The word Immanuel was nothing more than a word and held no deep meaning.

I wondered how Logan’s parents might have felt about Immanuel if Logan had died. How they might feel about the Christmas season if every year it reminded them of the son they had lost. Would they still feel the presence of God? Would they still have been featured on the 700 Club?

It was easy to surmise that in the aftermath of Logan’s death their testimony would have been far less triumphant. And it would never have made it onto the 700 Club. Christian broadcasting is all about success and the more phenomenal the better. There’s no place for mere survival, especially if that survival is accompanied with prolonged sorrow, despondency, and pain.

Logan’s miraculous experience reawakened in me the stark recognition that I no longer believe in God’s nearness like I did long ago. Of course, Jesus Immanuel walked the earth two thousand years ago but he doesn’t walk down 65th Street in Windsor Heights. He’s alive and busy in this world but does he have time for me? He has the capacity to listen in on every conversation in the universe but does he even hear me?

For every Logan there are thousands of others who aren’t as fortunate. For every set of parents like Logan’s there are millions of others who believe in the goodness of God but still struggle with daily life for whatever reason. For all of these people Immanuel is a word but not a comfort.

When I watched Logan’s parents describe how God responded to their faith I wondered where their lives would lead them. Would unforeseen heartbreaks cause their newfound confidence in God to whither?

I also wondered if Gordon Robertson and the 700 Club would ever be honest about life’s setbacks and conflicts of faith. What happens to faith when it fails to produce success? What happens to the 700 Club if it doesn’t have parents like Logan’s who can sell the unconditional, tangible presence of God to millions of followers?

I wish we could have a little more seasonal honesty. Even with Andy Williams singing that it’s the most wonderful time of the year and Jimmy Stewart discovering what it means to have a wonderful life, it’s still a miserable time for many who despair of ever seeing the light of hope. Gallons of eggnog and carloads of gifts don’t suppress the melancholy that comes from loss. And thinking about a baby in a manger two millennia ago doesn’t bring back to life what has long been dead.

For Logan and his parents, it doesn’t matter if the season is less than bright for some. They have their miracle and their Immanuel. Their sentimentality will be unchanged until life challenges them on a road without a bridge. Then a new kind of faith, unfamiliar and untested, will need to be found to survive the uncertainties lying beyond what they always thought was true.

God is with us. It feels good to be honest.