“I shall not die, but live”

Hayes Wicker has served faithfully on the Cedarville board of trustees since 2005. He has served the church throughout his career, a calling he received almost immediately after he received Jesus as Savior on New Year’s Eve 1966. He has pastored churches in Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Florida.    

Now retired from pulpit ministry, Hayes is still caring for the church, currently as the Director of Spiritual Life and adjunct professor of preaching, pastoral ministry, and Christian living at Southern Evangelical Seminary in Matthews, North Carolina.

But his time of serving the Lord this side of eternity was nearly at a close after a prolonged and painful battle with COVID-19. He spent 45 days in the hospital and was seconds away from being placed on a ventilator when the Lord used a coach-like nurse to challenge him to breath on his own. Even still, he was near death.

In his darkest moments, Jesus put a flicker of hope into Hayes’ head and heart through a Scripture that he remembered but could not place: “I shall not die, but live, and tell of the works of the Lord.” Once he was on the mend, he discovered the life-giving verse: Psalm 118:17.

“God wants to use everything in our lives, particularly that last part of the verse, ‘and tell of the works of the Lord,’” Hayes shares during the podcast. “I have seen God use this, particularly when I talk about COVID. On the golf course or the doctor’s office or wherever I get to talk, it is an amazing platform because people are amazed that I’m alive, that I’m doing what I’m doing, and I get to tell the greatness of the goodness of God.”