On May 17, 2004, my wife had gone into labor 3 months early. She was expecting my second daughter. I was terrified of what might happen to the baby and my wife. She delievered our beautiful 2lb. 7 oz daughter around 4:15 p.m.The baby was rushed away by air to Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock. I followed by car from Hot Springs National Park Hospital. My wife was unable to come because of minor complications. We both agreed that one of us should be with the baby at all times.I stayed the entire first week, day and night at the hospital.I didn't go to work, home or anywhere.I had used up all my sick leave & vacation by staying at the hospital. This is important to mention because if it had not been for the premature birth of my daughter I might not have lived to tell the story. On May 26, 2004, I was at work and my appendix ruptured. I had no choice but to go to the doctor (something you must know is I've never been sick in my life and I never, never would leave work to go to the doctor).I had no leave left at all. If I had not used up all my leave for my new daughter, I would have just gone home and suffered with the pain. The nurses I worked with had called and made an appointment for me with the doctor. I layed in pain for 10 hours before they took me to surgery. I stayed in the hospital for 4 days because of complications. During those 4 days I was experiencing hiccups. On the 3rd night of my stay my dad who is also my pastor came to pray for me.When he prayed for me my hiccups left me and have never returned. I left the hospital the next day and I still was unable to eat, so my energy level was very low. Everytime I would try to eat it would hurt so bad. I thought that was just normal. After being home 5 days I began to cough up blood and bile. I had not had a bowel movement since surgery. I returned to the E.R. & they tubed me and began to empty my stomach. The doctors discovered tht my insides had never revived from the anesthesia, basically all my bowels (stomach, intestines, etc...)were asleep. The doctors tried different medications but nothing seemed to work. The doctor had decided that I would need another surgery. This time it would be an exploratory surgery which meant I would have a 16 in. cut from chest to hip. The doctor stated that if my insides slept too long they could start to die. During this time my Pastor(also my dad) came to see me and told me that sometimes the Lord will get us still so that he can speak to us. That wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear for I was angry because I wanted to see my new baby over at Children's hospital and be able to give my wife a break. For the first time in my life I was completely helpless. After my Pastor left, I began to pray. In my church, I was a Sunday school teacher, but in realty, I was still running from what God had truely called me to do and that twas to preach the Word of God. As I prayed I wept bitterly for a while and I just started asking God from my heart what did he want from me. God's reply was, "Simply put ME first!, All of ME." At that moment I began to surrended my all to God and accepted the plan for my life that he had for me.The next day I asked for a second opinion before surgery. When the new doctor looked at me, she told me simply she could fix me right up. Two days later I walked from the hospital. I had been in the hospital for a total of 17 days. I have begun to understand that if God truely wants something from your life,if you won't get in the place you need to be, God has a way of doing it himself. You see I believe that if I hadn't made up my mind that night in the hospital to start living for the Lord all the way, I wouldn't be going to Heaven today. When all the events started the day my daughter was born 3 months early, I can honestly say I don't believe that I would be here to day to write my testimony. Isn't it amazing that thru my daughter's premature birth today I stand before you a healthly born again Youth Pastor, Sunday school teacher, ordained minister, &  loving father to three beautiful girls and one boy and a loving husband to a wonderful wife. Ephesians 2:8-10