My daughter, Pam, was born in 1970. My wife’s pregnancy was excellent, nothing but good on every doctor visit. I had just gotten an honorable discharge from the military. About a week before Pam was born we were notified by the insurance company that due to an error the military made in paperwork, we had no insurance.
It was a sunny March day, only a little chill in the air, 1 PM. I was rinsing off my car in the driveway when my wife hollered at me to come in and eat. Just as I was finishing my meal, my wife told me, ‘I think it’s time!’ She was having some labor pains. I drove us to the hospital, half an hour away. When we arrived, my wife told the nurse she was in labor. The nurse rushed my wife off while another nurse gave me paperwork to fill out. With all the forms signed, I waited for the nurse to come back. She never did, not for about 40 minutes. Another nurse came up to me and asked me who I was. I gave her my name. ‘Mr. Bero,’ she looked at me, ‘we had to do an emergency C-section on your wife. You have a baby girl.’ What? She took me to my wife who was pretty much knocked out! A distance away, I saw a tiny baby in an incubator. It was my daughter. She had wires stuck to her chest. I was not allowed to stay but a few moments. They explained that just as my daughter was to be born her heart rate was lost, so they immediately brought her out of my wife by surgery. I was asked to leave so my wife could recover. I could come back the next day. That night at 1 AM the hospital phoned me. They told me my daughter was not doing good. They wanted my permission to take her by ambulance to another hospital three hours away, in Detroit. Due to our finances, my job, etc, we could not see Pam too often. And when we did, it was through windows about 20 feet from her. Pam was kept at this hospital for six months and not once did I ever get to hold or even touch her. My wife got to hold her when she woke up that first night. The economy was bad, I had a low-paying job, we had no insurance. But finally we got to bring Pam home. Things went really good as far as Pam’s health went until she was four years old. She went into heart failure. We were told Pam needed open-heart surgery. We were sent to an Ann Arbor Hospital to see a really nice doctor. He really cared about Pam. With no insurance, we signed papers.
That day came, it was about 4 AM. Pam was scheduled for a 10-hour open-heart surgery. Her heart would be removed to work on. It was the longest day of my life! Surgery turned into a 16+ hour ordeal. Due to a shortage of nurses no one came to report to us how the surgery was going, although we were supposed to get word each hour. We sat 16+ hours wondering and worrying. Finally, our surgeon came out. He apologized they had no one to give us updates. He told us they could not find a problem with Pam’s heart. They made a decision to implant a pacemaker in her. Within a year Pam needed three more surgeries, all due to defective pacemakers! Yes, Pam was hospitalized all this time. We had no insurance but Pam was doing great now! It was all we hoped for.
I do not recall the cost of the six-month ICU in the Detroit hospital. I do recall the day my wife gave me one of several itemized bills from Ann Arbor. The amount we owed on this statement was $775,000! My, oh my! But I love my million dollar baby very much. For a few years we’d send in small payments. It was the best we could do. The stress got to me a few times but when that little girl would see me come home from work she’d have this huge smile and run and jump on me and holler ‘Daddy!’ That alone was worth more than 100 times $1 million!
Years down the road, someone who heard about our medical bills sent my wife to talk to a representative of a crippled children’s organization. They felt this was caused at birth and we were eligible for help. Help did come, our bills were finally paid. We owed nothing!
Later in life, I ended up in prison. I had nowhere to turn to, except One! I picked up a Bible. I read and studied the New Testament. I love the book of Romans! If you just read chapters 3 to 8 you will be amazed at how simple God made things for us to be saved! Let me share a few verses from the book of Romans to prove to you how simple God made it for us…
Romans 3:10, 11 tells us that there is no human that is good, not one!
3:23 tells us we have all sinned. God condemns sinners. That means all humans are under condemnation!
3:24 but now, by God’s grace, we are forgiven, our debt is paid if we place 100% faith in the fact that Jesus gave up His life for us.
5:1 tells us by our faith in Jesus Christ (nothing else, only this) we are declared righteous.
5:10 tells us all humans are God’s enemies due to sin, but, we are saved when we place our faith in Christ Jesus.
8:1 says those in Christ are no longer condemned!
I hope you’ll read all of Romans!
The medical bills I owed to save my daughter’s life were eventually paid by an organization that helps people born with birth defects. Once they paid our bills, we were free of that debt! They never came to us asking for a few dollars or a favor. They took our debt and paid it in full.
Jesus Christ came to this Earth. He was God Who took on a body. That is why He had no sin. Jesus Christ was the only pure and acceptable Payment God would accept. No one killed Jesus! We can find in the Bible (for example in Luke 23:46) where Jesus gave up His Spirit. In other words, Jesus gave up His life. No one killed Him. He sacrificed Himself as 100% payment for our sine. A 100% faith in Jesus Christ results in a 100% paid debt. God’s 100% guarantee!
Thank you, God, for saving me from my sin debt through Christ Jesus. And thank You, too, for my million dollar baby!