Mark's Miracle Site

(Included are some pictures of my best friend, my confidant and my beautiful wife, Jennifer)

You are probably wondering what has happened to me that I have the audacity to proclaim that I've experienced a miracle? It's best that I start at the beginning...

As a newborn, my parents immediately realized that I was not thriving. Weight gain was a problem and I had a productive cough. At that time in 1976, genetic counseling was not prevalent, and so a lot of trial and error took place. After taking some advice, I was taken to a pulmonologist who did a sweat chloride test on me to test for a little known disease called Cystic Fibrosis.

The test results that came back would change my life forever. They came back positive. Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is the most common fatal genetic disease in the world. 1 in 2500 babies are born with it and the average life span of someone born with CF is currently 33.  It's quite interesting how CF works. Due to a genetic mutation, there is improper chloride transportation in and out of the cells in my lungs. A physiological phenomenon occurs when the chloride channel is blocked (in my case), and the sodium channel becomes overproductive. However, as this sodium channel is overproductive, it pulls water (very important) with it. Where salt (Sodium Chloride) goes, water follows. Therefore, the end result is that water is pulled from my airways, causing my lungs to be dry.

This dryness in my lungs causes the mucus that is normal to also be dry. This mucus becomes real thick and sticky due to a lack of water and it is unable to be coughed up. As it sits down there, it becomes a harboring ground for bacteria. This bacteria causes inflammation and infection, infection causes scarring, and that scarring over time causes my lung capacity to decrease. You get the picture.

My dad has said that I died as an infant, but in some miraculous way I pulled through. Some of my relatives still consider me a "miracle baby." I wasn't supposed to live past the age of 2.

After getting out of the hospital, things moved along until, at the age of 3, my mom and brother were killed in a car accident on Interstate 80 in Iowa. I happened to be riding with my dad in the truck that was in front of them. My mom got a flat tire on the Suburban that she was driving and lost control, rolling down the median. I remember it vividly. Unfortunately, I can't forget it. Within a couple of years, my dad met my stepmom and they got married. Within a few months, my life would be altered again, this time for all of eternity.

My mom thought it would be good to take her new stepson to church. At our first Thursday night youth meeting,  I heard a story I'll never forget. After a video was shown, the pastor got up and shared a message coupled with an invitation. At the altar call, I got up and walked to the front , following him into a small study. I found it interesting that the little room that we had gone into had a sign on the door that read "off ice." I thought to myself, "hmm, the ice machine must be broken."  chuckle, chuckle ha, ha. True story.

What the Pastor shared with me that night in 1983 changed my life forever. He shared with me that Jesus loved me. In fact, he loved me so much, that he was willing to die for me. That brought me to my knees. I had never equated death with love. Remember, just a few years earlier, my mom and brother had died.  I had always equated death with pain, suffering and loneliness. That night I confessed Jesus as my Savior and asked him to forgive me of my sins that I had done that separates a sinner from the Savior. When I stood up, it felt like a 100 ton pack had been taken off my back (I had already stored up that much sin in the first 6 years of my young life). I felt like I floated across the sanctuary afterwards, I was so overcome with joy and thankfulness. The first person I saw was my step-mom who gave me a huge old hug (in front of all my friends, but I didn't even care!).

At that age, I really didn't know my calling yet. When I grew up, I was absolutely torn between two professions: being a dinosaur or a stock car driver. (My wife thinks I run like a dork and I drive too fast, so maybe my wish was  granted). Little did I know that God would call me into the mission field.

At age 15, I heard the Lord's call in my life to save the lost. The first verse I ever memorized was found in Mark chapter 16 and verse 15, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person." So I did. The church that we were attending at the time encouraged young men to share in the ministry, so I started sharing God's Word and witnesing weekly. By the time I was in college, I was in the preaching rotation. At age 20, I believe I met my guardian angel...

Myself and four other friends were coming home from a Christian conference in Los Angeles, and we had a layover in Denver. I was sitting in the terminal waiting for our flight, and I felt this very disturing rumble in my chest. At that point, I started coughing up copious amounts of blood  (gross hemoptysis.) They called a "code blue" over the Denver International Airport P.A. system. You want to get some attention? Call one of those dudes and hang on to your seats, all kinds of things happen! When the ambulance arrived, they opened up doors that I didn't even knew existed and wheeled me out on a gurney. They took me to Denver General hospital where I stayed for 4 days before being flown home on oxygen to spend the next week at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis. However, while I was at the hospital in Denver, God revealed himself to me. I'm not being dogmatic about the whole guardian angel part, but one single encounter changed my life. I was in bed reading through God's Word, and a janitor quietly walked in. He looked directly at me, and said with a beautiful smile, "Can you imagine being Peter in the presence of Jesus Christ?" With that, he took out my trash and never returned. Sounds simple, but the eruption of worship and the response of my heart and the vision it communicated caused such a change in me, I can only account it to one factor: I had just spoken with someone who had been directly in the presence of God Almighty.

After college, I married  my beautiful bride, Jennifer, and we are now expecting our first child! Madalyn was born 11/22/2006. She is truly a bundle of joy!

What a joy it is to be lead by God and to know His will. God's desire for me is to be His ambassador, to represent Him in all that I say, do and think. Won't you let my Jesus become your Jesus? Romans 10:13 says "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved." It's a simple prayer of believing in Him. The Word of God says that our sins have separated us from God, and that the penalty for our sins is death, not only physical but in the life to come too. If we die separated from Him now, we will be separated from him for all of eternity. The Bible calls that hell, a place of eternal punishment. But there's good news! Jesus died on the cross 2000 years ago for our sins. We no longer have to live in fear, but we can be set free. The gospel of John says that "When the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed." It's never too late to come to Him and no sin is too great that He can't forgive. He loves you and desires all to come to the foot of the cross. Confess your sins and profess Jesus as Lord and come, share in the joy and peace that a relationship with Him affords.

If you have prayed that simple prayer of coming to Jesus like I did almost 25 years ago, won't you please let me know. Email me at mebettinger@netzero.com or call me anytime at (217) 621-7170, I would love to be able to thank God that through my simple testimony, another soul was ushered into the kingdom.

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