Book Review: The Impossible

Boys pull the craziest stunts! I well remember the January day, ten years ago, when Bryce and his buddies decided to walk across the icy pond in a friend's neighborhood. Bryce was a daredevil and even his friends tried to reason with him. His friend, Cameron, sat on the bank refusing to join them on the ice, saying "Dude, I'm not stupid!" But Bryce was eager to impress a new friend. Not surprisingly, the ice collapsed under his weight and he found himself in frigid water over his head. Another friend tried to rescue him, but the ice simply broke under him, as well. I thank the Lord that both of them made it safely back to the shoreline and were unharmed by the experience (apart from the inconsequential loss of a cell phone).

In The Impossible: The Miraculous Story of a Mother's Faith and Her Child's Resurrection, Joyce Smith (with assistance of co-writer Ginger Kolbaba) tells a similar tale. Her 14-year-old son, John, together with some buddies, walked on a frozen lake one January night to take photos of themselves standing on the sheer-glass surface. With the boosted confidence of success, the next morning, with the sun shining down upon them, they decided to attempt it again. This time, the ice gave way and despite efforts to retrieve solid ground on the ice again, John's body succumbed to the icy waters and he was submerged for twenty minutes before a rescue team located his body and pulled him from the water. By the time Joyce arrived at the hospital to see her son, he had been without a pulse for an hour and the doctors were simply waiting for her viewing to declare the time of death. She stood before his body and cried out to God to save her son. Miraculously, his heart began to beat and a semblance of life returned to him. But, he wasn't out of deep water yet. He had plenty of hurdles to overcome (lungs full of dirty water, blood system compromised, unexplained fever, etc.).

The story was truly riveting as she recounted the numerous difficulties John faced throughout his ordeal. Time and time again, God's people prayed and miracles occurred. This book is an important testament to the importance of faith and the power of prayer. I fully believe her tale of God's miraculous intervention. The things that happened in John's journey could not be explained scientifically and medical intervention was clearly not cutting it. However, the first 200 pages of the book still left me with a niggle of discomfort.

The way events were communicated made it sound as if the mother boldly demanded that God return her son to her and "God answered" her prayer and the prayers of those lifting John before the throne. I guess what rankled was the idea that if things had not gone in their favor, God would have been leaving their prayers unanswered. I kept comparing my own miracle story to this one. When my father was faced with the imminent loss of my life, he recognized his position in relation to God and changed his desperate pleading tone to one of acquiescence to God's will. Even  Christ submitted himself to the Father when he prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will but yours be done." Yet, repeatedly, it is presented as if Joyce Smith's bold determination won God over to do things her way.

I agree that we must boldly approach God's throne and make our requests fully believing He is capable of making the impossible possible. I recognize this series of events as a miracle only God could have accomplished. I admire Joyce's tenacity to insist that on-lookers only speak life, when faced with numerous scientific reports declaring her son was destined for a reduced life or death. Indeed, only God was capable of taking a dead boy and allowing him to walk out of that hospital unscathed! I simply wish God's sovereignty had been mentioned more in the earlier parts of the book for readers who may have set the book aside because God's answer to their own prayers didn't look like the miracle they expected or demanded.

Finally, on page 207, the issue of God's sovereignty is addressed. The author recounts an incident where a Christian approached her son and asked what made him so special that God answered his prayers, yet left this Christian's prayers "unanswered" in regard to the life of a loved one. In addressing this fellow Christian, the author argues she had prayed personally for a miracle in the life of a boy with leukemia. Her prayers, in her words, went "unanswered." She writes, "I don't know why God decided to answer my prayers for John when He didn't answer my prayers for Mitchell. I can't explain that. I'm not God. The only thing I know is that He is sovereign." My hesitations lifted somewhat when the author proclaimed, "I praised God when He saved John because I knew God was good and faithful and loving and true. But had He not saved John, God  would still be just as good and faithful and loving and true."

God doesn't "answer" only when the result favors our requests. Christ's death was indeed an answer. The Father's will demanded that, despite Christ's wishes to be relieved of the cross, He must endure it for the good of all mankind and the salvation accomplished in that important act. Yes, we must fully believe God is capable of intervening and turning the tide, but we also must be fully willing to accept God's chosen plan, a plan that might involve suffering and pain for a will we might not understand. If only the book had communicated that more thoroughly.

Then again, in this particular story, God obviously wanted His miraculous power to be demonstrated in the life of John Smith. Many individuals were drawn closer to God because of his story. If this book influences even one person to put their trust in God and to fully commit themselves to pursuing His will, then who am I to question the way it was communicated? God has the ability to woo His children to Himself through both good outcomes and bad. I think of the lives of Coleman Larsen's family. Coleman died of brain cancer just a few days after his fifth birthday, yet the Larsen family has demonstrated unwavering faith in God despite His decision to take their child home long before they were ready. Coleman's death was as much God's "answer" as John's resuscitated life. It brings to mind that old Amy Grant chorus, "The Lord has a will, and I have a need, to follow that will, to humbly be still, to nest in it, rest in it, fully be blessed in it, following my Father's will."

Oh, that we Christians may all have the ability to boldly approach God's throne with our requests and then, having voiced them, to humbly accept His sovereignty and His will in our lives, to praise Him in the sun and in the rain. God's plan far outstrips our own. He can accomplish what He will in any outcome. If you are looking for the flip-side to this book's equation, read the riveting memoir, Colors of Goodbye, a book that proves both good and bad can bring about God's glory.