By Rev. Mark Creech
Christian Action League
September 15, 2021
Today is the first day since being diagnosed with COVID that I felt well enough to sit up and type out an update on my condition. But before writing anything, I want to thank so many of you who have communicated your concerns and promised to pray. Your prayers for my recovery mean so much, and I appear to be improving. Many thanks to those who also offered to help in tangible ways, such as providing groceries, running errands, etc. I am so thankful to God for so many beautiful people in my circle of life.
When I first announced that I tested positive, my symptoms were relatively mild, but that changed over time, with them getting increasingly worse. Although I was never hospitalized with COVID pneumonia, I have suffered tremendously. As I have told some friends, this disease, at my age, has busted me up.
Once I described it this way: It’s like having a nasty case of the flu with relentless body aches, a stomach virus that causes you to vomit violently, a fever that spikes and falls with seemingly no pattern, and chills that make you shake like a leaf for hours on end. Like mononucleosis, you lose all energy. And that’s not all you lose, as it was at least in my case, you lose control of your bowels so that you have to wear an adult diaper. When you do go to the bathroom, you can hardly stand or even sit to relieve yourself. Every night you wake up, your bedclothes and sheets are drenched with sweat. Like pneumonia, you have a hacking cough that torments you. Do you think I exaggerate? Think again! I have had each of these ailments. This disease is, I believe, a killer. And if you don’t die from it, as it appears at this point that I won’t, you will wish you were dead when enduring its affliction.
I cannot speak for the experience of others who have had COVID. I can only say that this has been my own experience. Moreover, I haven’t even begun to tell you how my wife, Kim, has also suffered. She has had COVID, too, right alongside me. She seems a few days behind me in symptoms, and hers have been mild compared to mine. She is feeling better, but she is still struggling. I will always be grateful for how she has sought to serve me in her own time of weakness.
A colleague recently asked me if I had been vaccinated before contracting COVID. My answer: No. Some would ask me now if I would recommend the vaccine.
Before I contracted COVID, I was neither anti-vaccine nor pro-vaccine. Quite frankly, this situation has been so politicized, I think it’s extremely difficult to know the truth about it. I’m sorry if some of you are disappointed in me that I haven’t been more definitive. Nevertheless, my position remains that it should be up to the individual, and vaccines should not be mandated. I could have died from COVID, and if it weren’t for the prayers of so many friends, I probably would have died. So, I believe I have some authority in saying, freedom is more precious than life itself. I fear if we don’t demonstrate we believe this in times of trial, then liberty is apt to be lost.
I have noted on Facebook that others have announced they have COVID. Rep. Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort) has had it, and his wife has had it too. She was recently released from the hospital but has had to be readmitted. Please pray earnestly for the people that you learn have COVID. Pray for each one as earnestly as you did for me.
Finally, let me say one more thing. In a moment as I have experienced with COVID, I have seen something I already knew in my heart: When you are reduced to your essence, if Jesus is not there, you are left empty. If Jesus is there – if he is your Savior – you still have everything you need – plus the promise of eternal life. There is nothing that the believer can lose in this life, loved one, health, etc., even life itself, that Jesus will not restore at the Resurrection.
I don’t know how long it will be before I can return to work. But I will thank you for generously supporting the Christian Action League in my absence.
Thank you again.
Rev. Mark Creech
