Path Forward - 16. Before My Hosanna Moment

Before my Hosanna moment unfolded, a storm rose against me…
not one that came to test a man… but one that came to destroy him…

The storm struck at the places that it thought it was the weakest... the places where love runs the deepest…

Losing my brother was a blow,
losing my mom was another, each one aimed at the core of who I am… because family is woven into my very ability to stand.

The enemy thought if it hit me there, I would never rise again. But even there… especially there… God refused to let destruction have the final word.

The Night When My Rescue Story Started

By Brandon J. Haines

I didn’t walk into that night…
I was shoved into it by life.
Heart trembling, Breath broken,
mind spinning like a loose wheel on the
black ice of life.

I wasn’t brave…
I wasn’t strong…
I wasn’t holding it together…

I broke free from the lie I’d been living…
and let the truth free fall out of me like
Shattered Glass: …

“I’m not okay… I’m barely here…”

No mask…
No pride…
Just a man on the floor…
with nothing left to hide behind…

So I whispered in the dark…
voice cracked…
soul scraped raw:…

” If You’re out there still…

I need a favor…”

Not a blessing…

Not a miracle…

Nort a second chance…

I just need held…
and a hand to pull me out of this place…
where my heart is slowly shattering…

I wasn’t bargaining…

I wasn’t promising…

I was begging… because
begging was all I had left…

And that’s when You came…
not with lightning…
not with thunder…
or a burning bush…
but with arms strong yet gentle… enough
to lift a man who couldn’t lift himself…

You found me folded on the floor of the…
deepest… darkest… pit of a valley…
no words left…
just a shattered heart…
and weary cries of Hosanna…

You didn’t ask me to climb…
You didn’t ask me to try…

You just held me…
and carried me like a Father…
carries His child… through
a storm… that wanted to break him…

That was the night my rescue story started…

I’m not perfect now…
I’m not polished…

I’m not the hero…
of my own story…

I’m just someone who’s been broken…
someone who’s been held…
someone who’s been lifted…
by a strength… not found on earth…

I’m someone who…
knows what it feels like to be
saved…
when you have nothing…
left to save yourself with…

And now when I speak to Him…
it’s not pretty…
not rehearsed…
not church pretty…

It’s real…

It’s raw: …

It’s the voice of a man who’s been in the
pit…
and knows exactly…

Who’s climbed in after him…

Some folks wait until the end…

Some wait until they’re desperate…

Some wait until they’re out of options…

But me? I talk to God…
because I remember the night…

He talked back…
without saying a word…
You just held… me until the storm passed…

And when I say I broke free from the lie I’d been living…

I mean the lie that my mom would
make it…

The night my rescue story started was
November 30,2024…
the night that the doctor told us…
even though we’ve tried everything…
tomorrow we will need to switch to
comfort care… for your mom…

That was the moment that the truth hit me…
the moment the floor gave out…
the moment I finally said…

“I’m not okay… I’m barely here…”

So, my Hosanna will never end…
because I will always need Saving…
And my shout of Hosanna will be a cry for Salvation.