Ulysses' Quest

By Ulysses Stephen King, Jr.

“And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. Then all the people answered, “Amen, Amen!” while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.” — Nehemiah 8:6, NKJV (italics mine)

It was the First Sunday, May 3^rd, and we had just ended the Communion Service.  It was time for me to close the worship service and send the believers (the Church) out into the world to be His witnesses. The service had been inspiring and well attended by members, guests, and friends. The Holy Spirit’s presence filled the atmosphere from the opening prayer to singing the doxology towards the end of the service. Expectation filled with hope could be felt amidst the congregation after hearing and receiving the preached Word. 

At the close of Rev. Evan’s sermon, I stood to offer prayer and call to discipleship. Inspired by the sermon I began singing the last refrain of the “Lord’s Prayer,” 

Our guest speaker, Rev. Dr. Joseph Evans, had just delivered a powerful and anointed sermon, “The Prayer on the Mount” (Matthew 6:9-13). Rev. Dr. Evans is the J. Alfred Smith, Sr. Endowed Chair and Professor of Theology in the Public Square at Berkeley School of Theology—and a masterful pulpiteer! He spoke about how prayer reveals the reality and presence of the unseen, i.e., good or evil. He also spoke about how prayer reveals the power and authority of the Kingdom of God which is eternal! “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!” It was truly a sermon that was profound, practical, inspiring, and filled with the Spirit’s power!

The congregation joined in. Over and over we sang together and repeated this refrain before singing, “Amen!” The church ignited in uninterrupted praise! The presence and Spirit of God filled the room. No one could sit down! God was preparing us for what was soon and unknowingly to all present what was about to take place.

I enjoy singing the closing hymn or song of praise each week at the end of each morning worship service. It’s never the same hymn or song of praise. Many of our members laugh and smile whenever I forget the words of a song or can’t remember the title of a hymn or song (most times unplanned and unrehearsed). Like the popular tv music game show, “Name That Tune^[i],” it has become one of the anticipated moments at the end of the service.

On this particular day I chose to sing Andre Crouch’s famous gospel song, “Let the Church Say, Amen^[ii]” (The Journey, 2011, featuring Marvin Winans). I can’t tell you the reason why chose to sing it? The congregation stood when they heard me sing the first line, “Let the church say, Amen . . .” After that . . . my life changed forever. 

While I was singing, I felt a pain in the center of my chest that I thought was gas. But as I continued singing the pain grew more intense. I was standing behind the pulpit and looked out into the audience and silently asked my wife Tiffany to come up to assist me. I did my best not to disrupt the flow of the service and cause peoples’ attention to shift and focus on me. It was too late. Everyone could sense that something was wrong. The congregation kept on singing. I didn’t know what was happening to me. The pain wouldn’t subside. Tiffany looked at me with worry and concern, asked me what was wrong? I tried to describe the pain, but I felt confused. The congregation continued singing while she assisted me to sit down on the front pew. 

My elder brother, Calvin, came over to where I was sitting to inquire what was wrong. The congregation by this time had shifted from singing to offering prayers for me. The pain stayed. I am so grateful and thankful for our guest speaker and friend, Rev. Evans, who immediately went into action and instructed anyone in the congregation that had a car nearby to get me to the hospital immediately. Tiffany had also called 911.

Confused I asked if anyone had an antacid they could give me. Maybe it would help relieve me of the pain that I thought was gas or some serious form of heartburn. No one in the congregation had anything to aid me. Several of the young men literally ran out of the church to find the nearest store to purchase a bottle of Tums. 

By that time the paramedics had arrived at the church and began their procedures of checking my pulse, blood pressure, and heart. They tried to put me on a gurney to roll me out into the ambulance. I wouldn’t get on it. I told them I would walk out to the ambulance. In my mind I was having a spiritual battle. I told Satan, “The same way you see me walking out of this church will be the same way I’ll walk back in.”

Assisted by one of our ministers, outside I sat down on the gurney, and the paramedics lifted me up into the ambulance. The nurse technician hooked me up to a machine to measure my heart rate: an EKG (or ECG)^[iii]. They read the ominous tape that would send them a message that said I was having a heart attack. 

I heard the sirens blaring on top of the medical van that would carry me to the hospital. I had heard this alert for so many others in the past but this time it was for me. I lie there in the back of this medical carriage hooked up to a machine and a breathing apparatus on my way to the hospital. I cried in defeat. I could feel the cold tears running down the sides of my face. “Why?”, I asked myself. 

There was no praise on my lips nor a song that I could sing. Was this my last fight? I could not find God. I could not feel His presence. I felt alone. There was a brief moment of darkness that fell upon me as I was being driven from the church to the hospital. Although I could not see them, I knew the church was in prayer for me. When I reached the doors of the ER at Kaiser Hospital Medical Center the word of God was quickened in my spirit through the psalm of David, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). At that moment the Holy Spirit began dismantling the darkness surrounding me. 

Everything began to speed up faster than I was able to think about what was happening to me. When the ambulance arrived at the ER, I was surrounded by a medical team that immediately went to work on me. They took off all my clothes. My suit was thrown into a plastic bag. Time was of essence. The cardiologist told me that I’d had a heart attack and that I had reached the hospital just in time. He said that surgery was needed immediately to open several blocked arteries—one at 99%! I could have died that day, if I hadn’t been brought to the hospital. What the doctor did not know was prayer saved my life!

Later after surgery while I was lying in bed in my hospital room Rev. Evans came to visit me. He told me about how the congregation prayed for me. He said he had never seen anything like it before. A cloud of God’s glory filled the sanctuary while the saints prayed as I was being taken to the hospital. He said he’d never heard a people pray for their minister like the members of Memorial Tabernacle Church prayed for me that day. “Stephen,” he said, “prayer saved your life! To God be the glory!”

Surgery was a success. Two stints were placed in the blocked arteries of my heart. I am thankful to the professional medical team and skill physicians at Kaiser Hospital Medical Center whose hands were guided by angels of God to save my life. Psalm 91:11-12 says, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.”

For the next several days prayer, rest, and the strong love of my son, Ulysses, III, and the love of my faithful wife and companion strengthened me. I was on my way home two days after surgery. Another miracle! The next Sunday morning—seven days later—I walked back into church victorious! There is no one like my God! Let the church say, “Amen!”

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