Miracle in a music box

The baby was just 1-year-old, and his name was Jamison. He was facing sinus surgery, and they were going to put tubes in his ears. His parents were concerned, and his father insisted that he be baptized before the operation. This was performed in a private ceremony on Jan. 9, 1991. The surgery went well, and Jamison’s parents were understandably thankful.

However, the child was an asthmatic and continued to have chronic sinus and ear infections. Little did his parents know that exactly one year to the day from the date of his baptism, Jamison would be fighting for his life and that God would use that date to reveal Himself.

In January of 1992, Jamison was in the doctor’s office several times and was given antibiotics. As the days went by, Jamison’s condition steadily worsened. Wendy, his mother, was working as a school bus driver for a tiny country school. She hired a babysitter to sit with her son while she drove her school bus route delivering kids to and from school.

One day Wendy got a message from the babysitter that Jamison had taken a sudden turn for the worse. She agreed to stay with the child until Wendy could get home, but she said that Jamison had become unusually lethargic and advised Wendy to take him back to the doctor.

Wendy hurried home and took Jamison to the doctor, but this time he didn’t come back home. Instead they admitted him to the hospital where the doctors said the child was extremely sick and had double pneumonia. They put him in an oxygen tent and prohibited Wendy from holding him or comforting him. All she could do was sit in the room with him.

At one point, they asked her to step out of the room so they could put in an IV. They shaved one side of his head and inserted it. As a young parent, that was a little unnerving for Wendy to see. Shortly after that, visitors were prohibited from visiting her son in his room because he had become critically ill, and they didn’t want to chance any further infections. At that point, Wendy came face to face with faith.

At the time she and her husband were members of a nearby church, and their son’s godmother was on the prayer chain committee of that congregation. This friend reached out and soon had the entire congregation praying for Jamison. There was an outpouring of love and prayers from the church, the community, and the families from the school for whom Wendy worked.

So prolific were the prayers and inquiries into Jamison’s condition that the nurse’s station told Wendy they were overwhelmed with calls and suggested she have a spokesperson update everyone as to her son’s medical status. Clearly, God was receiving a flood of prayers for Jamison’s recovery.

Meanwhile, the child’s condition deteriorated. A few days after he had been admitted to the hospital, Jamison became unresponsive. Doctors performed an arterial blood draw and, although the procedure as quite painful, he didn’t even move or flinch. They also told Wendy that Jamison’s pupils were not responding to light, so they scheduled him for further tests and a spinal tap.

By this time, Wendy was beside herself. Although she believed in the efficacy of prayer, and Heaven was being bombarded by scores of prayers around the clock, her son was not getting well. Wendy needed to hear from God. Was He listening? Did He hear? Did He care?

At that point, God spoke. The hospital brought in some forms for her to sign, and the date on the papers jumped out at her. It was Jan. 9, 1992 — exactly one year after Jamison’s baptism at the time of his sinus operation!

Wendy turned to her husband and said, “We can’t lose him today because he was baptized a year ago today.” God was speaking, and He wasn’t through yet.

In less than 30 minutes, Wendy’s pastor arrived to pray for Jamison. At the same time, he casually mentioned that he was preparing his sermon for Sunday and he was going to talk about baptisms and name all the people he had baptized the previous year. Then the cleric informed Wendy that Jamison’s name was the first one on his list because he was the first one the pastor baptized that year. Then he pointed out what he thought would be news to Jamison’s parents. Their son had been baptized exactly a year ago that very day.

Wendy then shared with him that the same realization had come to her just moments before he had arrived at the hospital. The pastor prayed; God had spoken again, but He still wasn’t through. He still had more to say.

The minister had barely said “Amen” when a friend entered the room with a stuffed clown and a musical box for Jamison. They played the music box for a few seconds before they were told that friction from the music box and oxygen don’t mix. The music box was quickly shut off, but in those brief seconds when it was playing, Jamison seemed to hear the music, and he suddenly became responsive. He woke up!

Wendy was stunned. Clearly God had spoken and had moved to restore her son, and He did so in His own way.

Jamison spent 10 days in the hospital, and during that time, the parents of the students at the school where Wendy worked pulled together and carpooled to cover her school bus route. The church held a spaghetti feed fundraiser to cover the medical expenses. She definitely felt the power of prayer and the love of a community.

Although Wendy doesn’t attend church, she does plenty of talking and praying to God while she is driving her car as she travels from place to place taking photographs for The Madera Tribune. Wendy writes that she is “thankful and blessed.”

For his part, Jamison is happy and healthy, a Madera county resident, and a home owner. He is a graduate of Fresno State and a journeyman electrician.

God has indeed spoken in His own time and in His own way.