Mike Hurley's story

One of the best things Neighborhood Ministry experiences on a daily basis is to hear people's stories. Last night we had an opportunity to hear another persons story.
This one came from Mike Hurley. I have known Mike for 8 or so years. Mike was one of my youth volunteers while I was a youth pastor at Real Life. Mike would go on retreats, mission trips, and he would love to help out when we had concerts. There was one difference between Mike and any other youth leader, Mike was in a wheelchair.
As a group of us arrived at Mike's house last night he was sitting in his wheelchair in their family room. He lives with his wife, daughter (who is in 7th grade) and his mother in law.

He greeted us with a smile and then told his story, we all listend intently for the next hour.
He was the eldest of nine children born into a family in Chicago. His father was involved with alcohol and drugs. His father spent time in prison and was generally abusive to Mike's mom. Mike loved playing sports growing up and his father came to Christ when Mike was in his mid childhood. With this change His parents moved the family to Northwest Indiana and started going to church and all the kids went to a Christians school.
In Mike's words he was rebellious and didn't like moving away from his friends in Chicago and was not happy with the decision to move. He would get demerits at school for long hair and other infractions and get kicked out of school for a day here and there. He learned about God during his time at the Christian school but did not embrace it.
Mike's brother died from a hole in his heart and tests revealed that Mike's heart had the same issue. Mike was a healthy 13 year old boy at this point in time and loved playing every sport possible. He went in for surgery to repair this heart valve. He woke up from the surgery what he thought was the next day. The reality was it was a year later. The surgery had gone wrong and they ended up not fixing his heart and had to sew him back up to save him. There had been some brain damage. He was in the hospital for some time after this and had to relearn how to feed and dress himself, walk, and every other normal day occurance.
It finally came the day when the doctor released Mike. He wasn't 100% back to normal but he could function again. He had blindness in his left eye and walked with a limp.
School would be an issue though, he had been out of school for parts of two years. The Christian school decided that they could not take him back. His mother wrote a letter to the pastor pleading for his reinstatement and then for some reason unbeknownst to Mike the pastor read the letter in front of the congregation on a Sunday morning.
This action hurt Mike and made him increasingly angry. His father although professing a faith still beat his mom and Mike would defend her. There would be people thrown into walls and fist fights.
Mike eventually moved out of his house and moved to Southern Illinois with his grandparents who were farmers. His grandfather taught him how to treat a women and about hard work.
After this period of his life he moved in with his other grandmother back in Chicago. This grandmother was the one person who would visit him consistantly while he was in the hospital as an adolescent.
While in Chicago Mike got involved with the same vices his dad had- alcohol and drugs. This fueled his anger and his rebellion.
After a few years of this lifestyle he moved back to northwest Indiana. He continued to party but his brother was constantly asking him to go to church with him. Mike would say no most of the time but would say yes sometimes and then cancel in the morning.
One Saturday night he had said yes he would go to church the next day but that night he had a dream. In the dream he was walking down a corridor, it was dark and there were hands reaching out to grab him. He couldn't tell exactly what was going on but he could hear two voices. A loud one saying you are no good, if you follow me I can give you the world. Then there was a soft voice saying I love you over and over again. In the dream Mike was getting confused and didn't know where to turn or who to believe so he asked one of the voices for a coin. He said if I get heads I will follow the voice that says I love you, if it is tails I will follow the other voice. When he flipped the coin it can straight down and didn't land on heads or tails. It stood straight up on end.
This dream awoken Mike and didn't let him sleep well the rest of the night. In the morning Mike's brother picked him up for church, this time Mike did get in the car and went to church. On the ride there the brother asked innocently enough "if he had a good night sleep?" Mike looked at him incredulously and proceeded to punch him in the shoulder. No I did not. He then told him abut the dream. The brother offered to give wisdom if Mike would want to listen. Mike did want to hear.
The brother then explained the choice Mike was going to need to make. Who was he going to follow? Who was he going to listen to? The choices wasn't just about flipping a coin but making a choice.
Mike did choose to follow Christ soon after that.
Like all of us Mike's spiritual journey did not go straight up from there, there were many bouncy moments. He realized when he started getting involved with church that many of the people there also did drugs.
One night Mike went to a party. He knew in his gut (holy spirit) that he should not go but did anyways. At this party a friend and some other guys decided to jump Mike. They caught him off guard and hit him in the back of the head with a crowbar. Mike fell to the ground and tried to get up but couldn't. He then tried to crawl away but couldn't do that either. All he could do was roll up in the fetal position and protect himself. The guys over powered him again and threw a chain around the bumper of their car and tied the other end to his ankles and proceeded to drag him down route 6 in Hobart. He lost consciousness and when he came to the police were there trying to help him up. He couldn't walk.
It was this incident that has made him wheelchair bound. He could walk some a few years aago but it was labored. One of the effects of the incident being pulled behind the car was it pulled his hips out of socket and twisted them.
From that point on his life has been difficult but he has continued to follow Jesus. He has shared his story with others with the hopes that they too will follow God even in the midst of struggles.
Mike then shared with us about how he met his wife. He had been praying and reading through the Bible on marriage intensly for some time. He prayed that God would bring him a wife. He thought who would want to marry someone like me?
One day he was going to church and was walking with a walker that day. He looked much like a person with cerebal palsy. He could go up the stairs but it was just a laborous process. A young women about his age asked if she could help him up the stairs. Mike was overjoyed at this kind women. She helped him to the young adults sunday school he was going to. Mike was even happier to see her in the class. He looked for a seat next to her only to see a little girl. He was very disappointed, he had been asking God to give him a wife without any children. But he did proceed to befriend the young lady and he found out that this wasn't her little girl but someone she was babysitting. Mike knew that this was the one. They have been married for 15 years.
it has been difficult and tough but they continue to live one day at a time and be an example for everyone else that marriage can last even in less than ideal circumstances.
This thought recently came to mind (I am sure someone else has said/thought it) We all know amazing people, alot of time we just don't spend the time to find out why they are amazing. Mike is one of the amazing people I know.