EDITOR'S NOTE: In October 2021 I began a new venture writing a newspaper column titled "Finding Faith" for the Forum Communications Co. network of newspapers and websites. I was asked to contribute to the company's ongoing conversation about faith, lending a Lutheran and fairly ecumenical approach to the discussion. The column was published in several of the company's papers and websites, including The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. This column originally appeared as a "Finding Faith" column on March 17, 2024.
By The Rev. Devlyn Brooks
No matter how tough life seemed to get, our mom had a familiar adage that many who grew up around Midwestern Scandinavian grit will recognize: “Well, it could be worse.”
I’m not sure it could have been worse for Paul Alexander, who after more than seven decades of requiring an iron lung to stay alive, died March 11. Stricken with polio at age 6 in 1952, Alexander was brought to a Dallas hospital, where he was placed in an iron lung to breathe for his paralyzed little body.
More than a year later, he was finally brought home after his parents purchased a generator so that they could ensure they’d always be able to power the iron lung machine. But doctors weren’t optimistic he’d live much longer.
Then, shortly after coming home, Alexander’s older brother made him bacon. And Alexander later said that small act of kindness sparked a feverish desire to live.
And live he did.
Paralyzed from the neck down, Alexander could only move his eyes. But his will to live was so strong that eventually taught himself how to talk again, and even more miraculously how to breathe on his own again. Thanks to his perseverance, over time Alexander could leave his iron lung for small periods, and eventually even hours every day.
At the age of 21, he earned his high school diploma, and later attended the University of Texas, earning a bachelor’s degree and later a juris doctor, propelling him onto a career as an attorney.
“I can do things to help people,” he was quoted as saying, “and maybe make their lives better like I wanted to be.”
I don’t know if Mr. Alexander ever considered himself a faithful man, but I see the Holy Spirit written all over it. He was a man so full of the Spirit that he didn’t let his inequitable circumstances pull him down. Whereas the circumstances of this world could have left him bitter and given him many reasons to give up, he forged ahead to create a law practice and even write his own memoir which was published in 2020.
Life in this earthly kingdom is tough. That’s no secret. But those who allow themselves to bask in the presence of the Holy Spirit seem better equipped to navigate this world’s choppy waters, and do so joyfully and selflessly.
Unfortunately, I never knew Mr. Alexander until I read a news story about his passing this week. But, I was fortunate to live nearly five decades in the presence of our mother, and she taught me a thing or two about Holy Spirit-infused living.
And for that, I will be forever grateful. Thank you for the example, Mom!
Devlyn Brooks is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and serves Faith Lutheran Church in Wolverton, Minn. He blogs about faith at findingfaithin.com, and can be reached at devlynbrooks@gmail.com.
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