Participants: Arthur Nowlin (Host), Dr Kim Logan-Nowlin (Host), Jazlin Ebenezer PhD, D.L. Ebenezer PhD
Series Code: MIW
Program Code: MIW000039
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00:01 Hi, I'm Dr Kim Logan-Nowlin.
00:02 I'm Arthur Nowlin. 00:04 And welcome to "Making It Work." 00:37 Arthur, you know, I was thinking about 00:40 how important commitment is. 00:43 When you think about commitment 00:44 and during the test no matter what struggles 00:49 you may have in a marriage, 00:50 what comes to mind thinking about that? 00:53 Dealing with a lot of obstacles and still overcoming 00:58 and not letting those obstacles prevent us 01:02 from attaining our goal and objective. 01:05 And most importantly not letting 01:07 those obstacles interfere with us 01:11 as individuals and as family people. 01:14 I see, well, you see many couples 01:16 who have tumultuous relationships, 01:18 adversity, anxiety but you're dealing with an illness 01:24 and you don't know if your mate is going to make it or not 01:28 and you say to yourself, "Lord, do I stay, do I go?" 01:32 Well, our topic today "I'm Still Here." 01:36 And we want to welcome two wonderful guests. 01:39 Excellent. 01:40 Doctor and Dr. Jazlin and Ebenezer. 01:45 Welcome to "Making It Work." 01:46 God bless you. Thank you. 01:48 Yes. Yes. 01:49 It's so God to meet you. 01:50 You know, I've had the pleasure 01:52 of seeing you many times Dr. Eb, 01:54 at our church the City Temple 01:55 Seventh-day Adventist Church in Detroit 01:58 and not being able to have a conversation with you 02:01 but now I get a chance. 02:03 Well, we have an opportunity now 02:05 to talk to you and your beautiful wife. 02:07 Yes. 02:08 And for you to share your testimony with us. 02:11 So we are gonna just allow you 02:13 to tell us what has happened to you 02:16 over these last few years 02:19 and what has brought you to this point today, all right? 02:22 Sure. All right, we're ready. 02:24 Okay. 02:27 For the last 15 odd years 02:31 I've been serving overseas 02:34 mostly as a self appointed missionary, 02:38 a volunteer missionary 02:40 but I did go to Jamaica on a paid basis. 02:45 They invited me to be part of the business department there. 02:50 So I was at Northern Caribbean College 02:53 from September 2004 to June of 2009. 03:00 So that was a five year period. 03:03 And even the last time that I was there 03:05 during the last stretch I came up 03:10 with a sickness called meningitis 03:14 and all of a sudden I felt dizzy. 03:18 I just lost momentum, I couldn't balance myself 03:23 and then I phoned my wife in Detroit and said, 03:28 "You know, tomorrow I'm not going to church." 03:32 And she took it very lightly. 03:34 She didn't think it was serious 03:36 and she was going to have company that weekend. 03:39 So she just put the phone aside 03:41 and didn't bother to chat with me actually. 03:45 And then I phoned my niece that was in Canada 03:51 and she happened to be a nurse 03:52 and I told her that I wasn't going to church on Sabbath 03:56 so she got alarmed. 03:58 She wondered why in the world I wouldn't go to church, 04:00 because I always go to church. 04:03 Always made it a point to go to church even if I was sick. 04:06 So she immediately phoned my son and said, 04:10 "You know, your dad is not going to church tomorrow, 04:13 there must be something wrong with him." 04:16 And she told him what the problem was 04:18 and both of them decided 04:20 that it must be something like meningitis 04:23 or some sickness of that sort. 04:25 And my son was in Toronto at that time 04:29 he had come there for a meeting. 04:31 Then he went back to Vancouver in British Columbia 04:36 and my niece and my son decided 04:39 to immediately fly to Jamaica to see what the problem was. 04:45 And it's good that they came 04:46 and when they came there I didn't even know 04:49 they had come there to see me. 04:51 I was totally unconscious. 04:53 I was in the hospital, they had admitted me 04:57 to the hospital on the third of June 05:00 and when my son and my niece came there 05:03 it was around sixth or the seventh of June 05:07 that they came there. 05:09 And they thought that it was very serious 05:12 that I actually brought back 05:14 to the United States for treatment. 05:18 And so they made arrangements to do that. 05:21 They took me over to the bank 05:24 to see that my papers were signed 05:27 and that they got some money and things like that. 05:31 And that's the last thing I know about Jamaica, 05:33 when they took me to the bank. 05:35 I was in a wheel chair at that time, 05:38 because I couldn't even walk. 05:39 I couldn't balance myself. 05:42 And I went there to the bank and after that, 05:46 the next thing I knew they took me to the car 05:49 and they brought me over to the airport in Mandeville. 05:54 From Mandeville all the way to Kingston 05:58 and at that point I did not know anything. 06:00 Really? I lost consciousness. 06:02 I didn't know what had happened to me 06:05 and from there the next thing I knew 06:07 I was being sent over to Detroit. 06:12 And from the airport in Detroit, 06:14 they rush me to the intensive care unit 06:17 and I didn't know any of that. 06:19 And I was there in the intensive care unit 06:21 for a whole week before I recovered. 06:23 My, my, my. 06:25 And finally I recovered and then they sent me 06:28 to the Henry Ford Cottage for therapy. 06:32 And that part I remember 06:34 they just push me right into the ambulance 06:37 and they took me to get therapy at the Henry Ford Cottage. 06:44 And while I was there 06:48 I sort of started getting consciousness 06:53 and they gave me therapy 06:55 and they taught me how to speak again 06:58 because I had lost all speech. 07:00 I couldn't speak prior to that. 07:02 They asked me to read little, little sentences 07:04 and things like that 07:06 and then I started reading a little bit at a time, 07:09 but always coughing and stammering 07:12 and all that sort of thing. 07:13 It was very difficult for me to talk. 07:16 I couldn't feed myself so my wife had to feed me. 07:21 And I couldn't balance at all, 07:23 couldn't walk so I was in a wheelchair. 07:28 And then they got me started walking, 07:30 you know with the walker 07:33 and slowly, slowly I recovered 07:37 and they were wondering how in the world 07:41 I would start walking or talking at all. 07:44 They thought that I will be confined 07:46 to the wheelchair for the rest of my life. 07:48 I wouldn't be able to speak, 07:50 I wouldn't be able to do anything. 07:52 I will be just become a vegetable. 07:55 I'd be confined to the hospital setting 08:01 and slowly when I regain consciousness 08:04 I would say to my wife, 08:06 you know, these people think 08:08 that I'm going to be confined to the wheelchair 08:11 but I don't think I will, 08:13 because I believe in what the Bible says. 08:16 And I often remember a little text from Psalm 08:22 and I'll read that to you. 08:24 It says here in Psalm 118:17. 08:31 Psalm 118:17 "I shall not die, 08:38 but live, and declare the works of the Lord." 08:43 Amen. 08:45 I had remembered this verse for many, many years. 08:50 I first heard this verse back in 1966 08:54 at Sligo Church in Washington DC. 08:57 Sligo Church. 08:58 That's where I heard this verse 09:00 and a preacher quoted that verse 09:02 and he said, he had come to the point of dying 09:07 but he treasured this verse 09:08 because he felt that he had a certain purpose to live for. 09:12 Yeah. 09:14 Until he has accomplished that he won't die. 09:16 All right, amen. 09:18 And I remember the verse that he quoted and I said to myself, 09:22 "I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord." 09:28 And a Bible character that I always liked was Moses. 09:32 He had come to the end of his life 09:36 and in Psalm 90 he says, 09:39 "The lifespan of a person is threescore and ten, 09:42 and if by reason of strength another ten," 09:45 and he's the one who wrote that Psalm. 09:47 And he was 80 years when he wrote that. 09:50 In that Psalm, he's asking God 09:53 to give him an extension of his life, 09:56 by repeating the former days. 10:00 The former days for him were very good, 10:02 the first 40 years but he made a mistake. 10:05 And I said to myself, many, many times 10:08 and I've also made a mistake in my life. 10:12 I haven't lived to be what I should be, 10:15 so God, if you give me a repeat of my former days, 10:20 I would commit myself to do Your work. 10:24 Amen. Amen. 10:26 I kept repeating that all the time. 10:29 And He stayed with you. 10:31 Dr. Jazlin, let me ask you when-- 10:35 when your husband first took ill 10:38 and your niece and your son, 10:40 they notified you or you met them at the hospital 10:43 when they came into Detroit checking, 10:45 you tell us what was going on at that time with you 10:48 when you realized your husband was really that sick? 10:52 Well, when he first phoned me from Jamaica, 10:55 I thought he was teasing 10:56 because he used to have this kind of giddiness so-- 11:02 because of what's the others meniere's disease you know. 11:06 When he was 40-years-old he is used to get this 11:09 and he used to throw up and all that. 11:10 So I thought, you know, 11:11 he has one of those disease spells, you know. 11:15 So I didn't take it seriously. 11:18 Then he said, okay I'll talk to you later 11:22 and he hung the phone. 11:24 And then it started to work in my mind. 11:28 I thought my, he never used to be that kind, 11:31 he is bit soft today. 11:33 There's something serious then. 11:35 But anyway my cousins had come from India 11:38 and that day they were going 11:42 and so I was really busy you know getting them ready 11:45 and helping them to go Cleveland and I have to-- 11:48 I drove them all of that. 11:50 So that was in my mind as well. 11:53 So I didn't take it seriously at that time. 11:58 I never panic anytime, I don't know why. 12:01 It doesn't matter who dies, who-- 12:03 whatever happens, it just doesn't penetrate me. 12:08 So I was very peaceful and I was the one who told my-- 12:15 no, yes, I had written an email to my son, 12:19 wrote a paragraph saying dad is sick. 12:22 And I wrote everything that his pastor 12:26 had told me over the phone. 12:29 So I wrote everything to him 12:31 and then when he went to Vancouver, 12:34 when he's niece asked him he said, 12:37 my mom didn't tell me anything, let me to the internet, 12:39 let me see whether she has sent me an email. 12:41 Wow. 12:42 So he read that email, 12:45 so immediately he knew that was this meningitis 12:49 because of the description I had given him. 12:52 So they immediately you know flew, 12:55 this was on a Friday that he came to know. 12:58 So on Saturday morning they both flew to Jamaica. 13:03 Then when they came back to Detroit I looked at him 13:08 and his face was sort of reddish, 13:11 you know it was normal like this 13:15 and I thought and also, you know, my son had to take him, 13:19 lift him up and put him in the front seat of the car, 13:22 never like that. 13:24 So, but I told myself so many people die in the world. 13:32 They're so many catastrophes 13:33 and so many other things going on in life 13:36 and I'm going to take it, whatever it might be. 13:39 Whatever it might be. Yeah. 13:40 That's what I had in mind all the time. 13:42 I never cried at all. You never cried? 13:45 Never cried, not even a tear. 13:47 How many years have you been married? 13:49 Forty years, now its 40 years. 13:50 It's 40 years. 13:52 Now when you spoke to your son 13:54 or when you went to the hospital 13:56 to first see your husband 13:57 what was his state when you first saw him at the hospital? 14:01 He was dazed his eyes were rolling 14:03 and they had tubes all over. 14:06 And my son woke him up, shook him, 14:10 you know, and he didn't respond too well. 14:13 And he really shook it, really, really, hard you know 14:17 and he didn't respond at all. 14:19 And then-- then he asked a question, who is this? 14:23 I was standing next to my son and say, 14:26 do you know who this lady is? 14:28 He said, gave some other name, 14:31 something like, you know, he didn't recognize. 14:33 He didn't recognize you. No, no, he didn't. 14:35 And then he asked, who is your best friend? 14:37 He said, my best friend is Steven 14:40 and that's actually his best friend. 14:42 Oh. 14:43 But all you know, to even think about 14:46 that you know how he got that kind of memory. 14:49 Then he asked him, where are you staying? 14:52 Where are you now? 14:53 I'm in seminar to-- 14:56 so he's thinking about all this previous things 14:58 that have happened. 14:59 Oh. 15:01 And so my son shook his head 15:04 and said, you know, it may not work. 15:06 So I-- 15:08 That you-- you still remaining calm. 15:10 I was very calm. I was nothing shook me. 15:13 I told myself I said, 15:17 if at all something happens he will be in heaven. 15:20 I had that assurance. 15:22 You knew that it'd be all right. 15:24 I was assured of that, 15:26 he is a man of God and he will make it to heaven. 15:29 So I'm not worried about anything. 15:32 Did you ever say any-- 15:33 The statements I was making apparently didn't make sense. 15:39 When they would ask me some question 15:40 I would give an answer. 15:42 The answer wasn't necessarily the answer that they expected 15:46 but I always gave a sensible answer. 15:49 Gave a sensible answer. 15:50 That's what they were telling me. 15:51 Give an example, it was so funny. 15:53 Somebody-- the doctor had asked me what is troubling you now? 15:58 And I had said to them, 16:01 you are the one that's troubling me. 16:03 Nothing else is troubling me, 16:05 if you just leave me alone I'll be all right. 16:07 Oh. 16:08 But that was not what they wanted. 16:10 That's not what they, no-- 16:11 But other would tell me that now they're telling me 16:14 that these are the kinds of replies I gave me-- 16:17 gave them all the time. 16:19 So I didn't-- I made sense with what I said, 16:23 but it wasn't the answer that I was suppose to give. 16:26 Give. 16:27 So I was just talking but not talking sense. 16:31 And I recall from a conversation in Canada, 16:37 the CBC, the radio conversation. 16:39 They were interviewing a person 16:41 that was dying of cancer, terminal cancer. 16:45 And they asked what is it that makes you tick? 16:48 So she said, a lot of people are dying 16:52 while they are living, 16:53 but I'm going to be living while dying. 16:56 And I thought of that statement many, many times. 17:00 Why should I be dying while living? 17:03 I'm still living although I'm not making sense 17:08 but let me still live and I was determine to live 17:13 all through the time that I was in that hospital. 17:16 I was there only for three weeks actually. 17:18 One week in the intensive care unit 17:20 and two weeks for therapy. 17:23 And after that I started walking. 17:25 You started walking? You started walking. 17:27 Yes, and when I came home on July first, 17:29 I was admitted to the hospital 17:31 on the eighth of June late night. 17:34 So it was more like, the ninth of June. 17:38 And from that day right through till the 30th of June 17:42 and then on the first I was released 17:44 and I slowly started walking. 17:48 I did not use the walker at all when I left the hospital. 17:51 You get in, you went in a wheelchair. 17:55 And then they appointed people 17:57 from the hospital to come and see me. 18:00 And the very first day when the lady came she said, 18:04 well, now start walking and I started walking. 18:07 I was sort of falling here and there but I started walking. 18:12 And then she told me, 18:14 now I don't think we need to come and see you anymore. 18:17 It seem likes you-- Amazing. 18:19 Oh. Amazing. 18:20 Honored with the Lord. 18:21 Then after the second week, they didn't come at all. 18:23 They didn't come at all. 18:25 But I would I walk only for a short distant 18:27 then I'll hang on to her. 18:30 Because I had to have to some support 18:32 but I did not use any other support. 18:35 I just was determined to keep walking 18:38 because I believe what God says, 18:40 I will not die, I will keep living. 18:45 And I always believe that God does not bring you 18:49 to the earth to become a piece of junk at the end. 18:54 He creates you so that you will become useful. 18:57 Every human being has a purpose in the world 19:01 and I felt that God must have a reason 19:05 for giving me this meningitis. 19:08 All things do work together for good 19:11 and there's no mistake on that. 19:14 If God has a purpose for my life and now I'm 73. 19:18 Seventy three. 19:19 And I'm determined to go and work for Him 19:23 and I plan to go overseas again to Bangladesh, 19:27 back to Jamaica and then to Uganda and Kenya. 19:31 Yeah. 19:32 Those are the plans you have? 19:34 And that's the plan that I have 19:37 because God has given me another chance with my life, 19:42 just like He gave Moses another chance. 19:46 At the end of 120 years Moses said, I have now-- 19:52 it's written there that his eyes were not dim 19:55 and his feet were not tired. 19:57 And right now when you see me walking, 20:00 I walk like a teenager. 20:02 Yes. 20:03 Except for my hearing, I don't hear too well. 20:06 But other than that no other part of my body is bad. 20:11 God has totally healed your body. 20:14 I just keep moving along. 20:17 I can walk like anybody else. 20:20 Talk like anybody else, I don't stutter or anything like that. 20:23 No, you're not. Just keep moving along. 20:27 God must have a reason 20:28 for having given me a second chance. 20:31 A testimony. Well, that's powerful. 20:33 And I'm going to continue doing things all the way from-- 20:36 and I think it's an advantage for me right now, 20:39 because at 73 years even if somebody hijacks a plane 20:44 they will usually let the senior citizens. 20:49 That' great. 20:53 They usually do. 20:55 That's right the seniors can get off. 20:57 You can go. 20:58 And I don't hear and because I don't hear 21:01 I just go over to the receptionist 21:04 and say look, I don't hear. 21:06 And I can't wear hearing aids because that won't help me. 21:10 My sickness is such that I have to just sit closer 21:15 then I listen to people, 21:16 then I can hear what they say. 21:18 So they'll let me get on the plane earlier. 21:21 And let you get you on the plane. 21:22 So I take advantage of the disadvantage. 21:25 We see. You know that's right. 21:26 That's right. I'm not griping about it. 21:28 You're something else. 21:29 I feel that is a reason for everything 21:33 that you are going through. 21:34 Now, doctor, explain the viral the--- 21:39 virus that attacked your body and how it attacked? 21:43 You know, did they ever find out how 21:47 and where you contracted meningitis? 21:49 I don't think they quite did that 21:52 because in Jamaica they thought I was just sick. 21:56 They were giving me Tylenol and things like that. 22:00 They weren't treating me for meningitis. 22:02 Its only when my son came there that he felt 22:06 that he has to bring me over to Detroit for treatment. 22:10 And you're son is a neurosurgeon. 22:11 Yes. Yeah. 22:12 But if I had stayed there 22:14 I would have either become a permanent vegetable 22:17 or die, died in Jamaica. 22:19 Oh, my, my, my. You're son acted quickly. 22:21 Yes, and action was very fast, yes. 22:25 Because I-- when at that-- 22:27 from the time I left I didn't know what was happening to me. 22:32 Right from the airport here in Detroit 22:35 they rushed me to the intensive care unit 22:38 and I was there for a whole week before I recovered. 22:40 That's amazing, amazing. 22:42 So time really was important and your son recognized that. 22:47 And he recognized. And knew what he had to do. 22:48 Yes. That was amazing. 22:49 Because he dropped everything he was doing 22:51 and flew over with your niece and said, 22:54 we've actually go to there 22:55 and he read your email that was the Holy Spirit. 22:57 Yes, my niece is a nurse too see-- 22:59 Oh. 23:01 So together they were able to convince the authorities. 23:03 So released you out of that. 23:04 In Jamaica that I should be taken out. 23:07 I want to ask a question to Dr. Eb, 23:10 what is meningitis and how did it attack your body? 23:15 Well, it affects the brain and the spinal cord. 23:19 I see. Okay. 23:21 Because I have some children who are hearing impaired 23:23 and lost the hearings through meningitis. 23:25 Right. 23:26 And it wasn't attended too quickly 23:29 and therefore now they have totally lost their hearing. 23:32 Yeah. 23:34 The question that I have, I want to go back to something. 23:38 You indicated that you have a desire to go to Sri Lanka 23:43 and Uganda and back to Jamaica and Kenya. 23:49 Are you going with him? No. 23:54 I'm on my sabbatical experience, 23:56 so I might start the journey. 23:58 You're gonna start the journey with him? 24:00 Yeah, for about five months. 24:01 Five months you'll be with him. 24:02 Yeah. 24:03 And then you'll come back? Yeah. 24:05 So those four years he was in Jamaica, 24:07 you were here in the United States 24:08 and you will go back and forth. 24:09 Yes, I was in the United States. 24:10 I went to Jamaica eight times. 24:12 Wow. Eight times. 24:13 Saw the whole country. 24:16 She spent six months there in Jamaica, 24:18 including the four years I was there. 24:20 During our sabbatical she came and spent six months there. 24:25 One another question, you guys been married for 40 years now, 24:32 you know, I guess it takes a lot of trust and love 24:38 to allow your husband to be somewhere 24:42 and you be somewhere else? 24:43 Yeah, this was the problem with GC, 24:46 because he wanted to go through the GC and they didn't allow. 24:50 So I was wondering why wouldn't they allow, 24:53 you know, what was-- what's the problem? 24:56 So I was talking to one of the pastors-- 25:00 someone in Oakwood Church many years ago 25:02 and he said, you know you are unique. 25:06 You people, you both are very unique. 25:09 You trust each other. 25:10 You're not running around with other people, okay. 25:13 And GC will not know that-- 25:15 that you are in a unique situation. 25:18 To me I fully trust him and he trusts me too. 25:23 I've been given the freedom to go wherever I want to do, 25:30 whatever I want, whenever I want, however I want. 25:33 And like wise, I also allow him to do whatever he wants. 25:38 I mean, those are our goals, right. 25:39 We want to accomplish certain things in our life. 25:42 So because of that, you know, I don't-- 25:47 it doesn't matter to me where he goes, when he comes. 25:50 Amazing. 25:51 Did you hear that, Kim? 25:53 I don't have a problem. Okay. 25:54 When is your next golf tour? Soon. 25:55 You know, praise the God. He's gonna go golfing. 25:58 He have golf courses in Kenya. 26:01 He'll travel with you there. 26:03 Yeah, just let me know if it's a golf course 26:05 in Uganda or Kenya I will like to be there. 26:10 You know, I-- I think it's amazing 26:12 and this why we said, 26:13 you know, the topic of that program "I'm Still Here" 26:17 because at anytime Dr. Jazlin could have left. 26:21 She could have just said no more. 26:23 But no matter what he had to go through, 26:26 she's stayed with him and likewise 26:29 I'm still here fighting for my life I will not die. 26:33 I'm going to live while I'm dying. 26:36 And God has given me the promise of salvation. 26:39 So they had that conviction together to work together 26:44 but I'm gonna tell you something, 26:45 faith is there without works. 26:48 If your son and your niece had not acted 26:51 you had not send that email 26:53 and it nearly got you back to the United States, 26:56 they may have lost you. 26:57 And I think it was a combination of all of that 27:01 because it started with the doctor recognizing 27:06 that his body was reacting, you know, not a normal way. 27:10 Yes. 27:12 And he made a decision to go and find out what's going on 27:17 and but he had to contact. 27:19 He contacted his wife, his niece 27:21 and if the mail it just was a domino thing. 27:24 That family started to react, you know and most importantly 27:29 they reacted in a timely manner. 27:32 A timely manner. 27:33 Well, listen we want to thank you both. 27:35 I've seen you at the different churches 27:38 and now I've gotten to know you personally with Arthur. 27:40 Yes. That's good. That's great. 27:41 And we thank God. 27:43 We're gonna be keeping up with you, all right. 27:45 We're gonna be checking in on you and keep us in prayer. 27:48 Well, listen, I'm Dr. Kim Logan-Nowlin. 27:51 I'm Arthur Nowlin. 27:52 And we want to thank doctor and Dr. Ebenezer for being with us. 27:55 Yes. 27:56 Continue to know 27:58 that God will never leave you or forsake you. 28:01 He is still with you. 28:02 And He's in a blessing business. 28:04 And He's in the blessing business 28:06 and He's here to save lives. 28:08 God bless. |
Revised 2015-05-14