I Can’t BREATHE!
I worked with my close friend and brother Rjay Barsh, assistant coach at Boise State, on this post. Rjay is a righteous and powerful voice in the wilderness. One of the best coaches and men in the entire coaching, fathering, and preaching world today!
These three words echo in every street corner and home of black men, from 2014 Eric Holder to 2020 George Floyd. The concept of breath for Black America is in jeopardy. Most everyone by now has seen the horrendous footage. Mr. Floyd’s unjust, brutal, and unnecessary death has shook the world. A world that had came to a complete stop as a result of the Corona Virus, is now spinning out of control.
God introduced breath and life to man in Genesis 2:7. I used a picture of a baby coming into this world taking his first breath to remind us all of the value of breath and life. Sadly due to man’s choice in the garden, breath can now be removed by another man. Just look at Cain and Able.
Ruah is a Hebrew word translated with three different words : “wind” or “breath” or “spirit“. I believe it helps us see breath as more than just Oxygen. It is “Spirit”! It is also a name for God the Holy Spirit, the Holy Ruah.
How precious is life? How precious is breath? They are divinely connected. You can’t have one without the other. When my daughter Paige was in 2nd grade, we took a trip to Fort Worth to see friends. Something triggered a severe asthma attack. That night I made a blanket tent and stayed up all night holding her in my arms as she gasps for every breath. The Albuterol machine was not helping as it had the past to counter the asthma attack. It was a very scary night as I prayed to God to help my little Paige breath.
The next morning I made a dangerous decision. Do I take Paige to the local ER or make the 6-7 hour drive back home to Siloam Springs, Arkansas to take her to our local doctor and hospital. I made the wrong choice. When dealing with life and breathing, never take it for granted. “I can’t BREATHE”.
All the way home, I watched the life and breath slowly leave my beautiful innocent little angel. She was taking hit after hit on her Albuterol asthma medicine. I felt helpless as nothing seemed to stop the attack. Paige just kept saying three words “I Can’t BREATHE”.
When i finally rolled into our driveway in Siloam, it was only to pick up my wife Sheri and head to the Emergency Room. The ER doctor told us if we had not arrived when we did, Paige could have suffered some serious results including death. Her Oxygen level was so low that she was barely hanging on to life.
As soon as Paige was able to travel, which was in about three days, we took her to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock to see specialist. It was a very challenging couple of days as doctors put Paige through test after test while telling us nothing. Finally it was time to hear the fearful news! I will finish this miracle filled story a little later.
On the last few days of my father’s life, we found ourselves in a hospital in Joplin. The doctor decided our last hope of extending dad’s cancer riddled life was to try a new medicine. Dad was barely hanging on to life as night approached. This medicine gave us hope.
I kept hearing dad try to say something, but I could not quite understand what he was whispering. It was at that time, mom realized exactly what dad was saying, “I can’t BREATHE”. Dad was having an allergic reaction to the new medicine. His throat was swelling shut. Just in the brink of time, we were able to give him something to reverse the allergic reaction and prevent him from suffocating.
This may sound meaningless considering dad went home to see Jesus just hours later, but I cherish every second and word we shared together those hours. I realized then how valuable every second and every breath is in life.
We must learn as a human race to allow the Holy Spirit, God’s Breath, to breathe peace, love, and healing power into our nation! How? Through us! We must let Jesus Love show up in each of us. Can The Holy Spirit still bring power and healing as He did through Jesus? Let’s return to my daughter Paige’s story to answer that question.
As the doctor came out to talk to Sheri and I about the results, fear was pounding on our front door. Would Paige ever recover and how serious is she? Did they find something bad?
The doctor explained to us that Paige had the worst case of asthma that he had ever seen. He showed us an X-Ray of her small underdeveloped lungs. He told us she would not ever be able to enjoy an active life, definitely no sports. It seemed like many of our dreams for Paige had just been taken away. At least it was not life threatening as they told us Paige would never breath like a normal person.
By having her blow into a device, he showed her breathing level compared to a normal person. He told us we could take Paige home, but he wanted to see us again in a couple weeks.
For two weeks, I saw the determination of a little girl attack satan’s lies. She was set on taking the words that she had heard from the doctor and show him what Jesus could do when we prayed. She blew on the breath tester over and over for two weeks. By the time we went to see the doctor just a couple weeks later. The little girl who said over and over, “I can’t BREATHE”, was doing more than just breathing, she was blowing twice as well as two weeks earlier.
When the doctor took new X-ray of Paige’s lungs, his face said it all. “This can’t be the same little girl!” He showed us the two x-rays, before and after. He just kept repeating there is no scientific way to explain this. It is a miracle, an unexplainable act of God. Paige was healed and has went on to enjoy a highly active and athletic life.
The same power that healed Paige. Ruah, God’s breath, is the only answer to heal our nation today. We need to pray, calling on God to breath life, removing death, end hate, and bring change to our country!
As Rjay and I expressed, Eric Holder and George Floyd’s words “I can’t BREATHE” bring instant emotional memories that hit close to home to many people including each of us. Watching life leave a man was a brutal reminder of how precious life is. As a nation, we have to value life and breath of all people. We must love each other. We must let God breath His healing restoration on us!
I love the story of the old man who told a young kid that he would tell him the secret to success. He told him to meet him on the beach the next morning. He took the young man out into the water until the water came to his shoulders. The young man said, “This has nothing to do with success. All we are doing is walking out deeper and deeper into the water.
At that point to old man reached out took the young man’s head and forced the young man’s head under water. The young man struggled gasping for air. Then the old man did it again. When allowed to breathe, the young man said angrily, “What does this have to do with success?” The old man replied, “When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe, you will most likely find it.”
When we want Jesus worse than we want to breathe, then we will be back to beating to the drum of the Master! When the parents of a black young man and the parents of a police officer can both go to sleep at night not fearing something bad might happen to their son or daughter, then we and only then will we be both united and have found the solution to this problem, His name is Jesus! His last three words before he gave up his spirit (Ruah), His finale breath, were not “I can’t BREATHE”. His last words were “It is finished!” Those words apply to racism. Jesus showed us the solution, the example, and sent the Holy Spirit to overcome this demonic weapon of Satan.
Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit (Ruah) into His disciples, then he commanded them to wait until He completed His trip to the Father’s right hand. He told them to wait expectantly until the Helper, our Guide, our Power Source, returns. 50 days later on Pentecost, a weekend we celebrated just last Sunday, the Holy Spirit (The Holy Ruah), the Breath of God became available for each and every one of us. We need the Holy Spirit more than every before. We need Jesus!
Photo by Alex Hockett on Unsplash