God’s Strange “Life Recipe” For Dave Roever

Last time we considered God’s unique recipe for the life of Fanny Crosby and how the ingredients God poured into her life and mixed together perfectly, turned into such a creative, productive, happy Christ-like person….that she became a blessing to Christians around the world. This time we will look into the life of Dave Roever, born on October 27, 1946. This time, just for fun, I put a little test for you at the very end. You cannot fail it, so just enjoy playing theologian for a few minutes.

Gene

 

 

FAMILY MEMBERS

Husband: Dave Roever
Wife: Brenda Roever
Children: Matthew Roever & Kimberly Chapin
Grandchildren: 2 grandsons and 2 grand daughters

 

Once again, we begin with the question of how anything good could come from God allowing a young, healthy, strong, and already dedicated Christian man (striving to serve his country) to have 40-50% of his skin burned off of his body, along with being blinded in his right eye and losing his nose, right ear, and left thumb. He eventually got a prosthetic ear, which he can take off anytime he needs to. When he plays the piano and sings at his events, he tells the audiences that he plays by ear. Then he takes his ear off and uses it with his right hand to play the piano keys.

I had the privilege of visiting with Dave Roever and his wife in person for a few minutes after a church service in Colorado Springs, CO about 21 years ago. He is a walking, talking miracle. My family and I had watched a video recording of his story in 1995, but then to see him in the flesh, was surreal.

Remember we are using the experiences in Dave’s life as another analogy of God’s divine mixing bowl, where He pours in, stirs together, and bakes all the ingredients into a spiritual culinary delight. This analogy is based on Romans 8:28: “And we know that (or we know how) God causes all things to work together for good (into good) to those who love God”. Also…Dave said his story is a step-by-step fulfillment of Romans 8:28.

Remember, the phrase “We Know” is translated from Οἴδαμεν in the perfect tense, where one knows something in the sense of completion and acts as a bridge between the past and the present….to have seen or perceived.

And remember that “We Know” is referring to “πάντα συνεργεῖ” – “all things work together”, which means every single circumstance happening to “the future you” before your conception (during the times of your forefathers), during the time in your mother’s womb, your birth experience, and the “all things” occurring during the rest of your life’s span.

And remember the “All things” in Dave Roever’s life was (is) “All-inclusive” defined as “including everything or comprehensive”, so that God’s eternal, providential, and sovereign plan (purpose) would be accomplished.

Once again, we need to see the larger context of Dave’s life, to appreciate the work God has done in implementing the “ALL THINGS” one step at a time.

….Dave grew up in a pastor’s family in South Texas and planned to eventually follow his father’s example and go into the ministry. That vision was fulfilled, but just in a completely different way than Dave could have ever imagined growing up.
….At the height of the Vietnam War, Dave received his draft notice, but rather than serve in the army infantry, he joined the U.S. Navy and served as a riverboat gunner in the elite Brown Water Black Beret in Vietnam.
….Dave looked into his young wife’s tear-streaked face as he headed off to war in Vietnam and promised her, “I’ll be back without a scar”.
…..One day, eight months into his tour in Vietnam, he was about to throw a phosphorous grenade over to burn down some high brush, when a sniper's bullet set it off in his hand just inches from his face. The burning phosphorus tends to stick to the skin and burn through until the phosphorus is depleted. He thought he had been hit by a rocket. Here is how he describes that moment during his presentations or during interviews.

I have never been more convinced that in the fracas, in the fray, in the … in the middle of the battle, you don’t see it, but one day when you look back, the fingerprints of God are all over your life and you realize, He took what terminology we would call “bad,” and used it for so much good. My face was blown off my head. I’m sittin’ here with half of a face. Actually, three quarters of my face was blown off. At the moment that happened, no one could’ve convinced me this is good, but today, because of these scars, I have entrée to our military worldwide in every battlefield of our nation’s experience.

And so, all of a sudden, my world is in a world of horror. I looked down and my face is on my boots. I looked a little closer and I can see my heart beating. I’m standing there and skin’s dripping off of me. There’s a loud ring in my right ear, and it was blown off, as you can see sitting here together. It’s artificial. My face was blown off. My hair was blown off. But that day on the river bank, I lost more than my hair or my ear, or my nose, or my face, or my chest, or my back, or my fingers. That day, I lost my identity. On the bank of that river, I would never be looked at as Dave Roever ever again, ever. No one would ever look at me and say, “Oh, that’s Dave Roever,” on the basis of my previous identity. Now I’m known by the scars of my body.

I never passed out. I was never unconscious. In fact, I think I was probably more alert than I’ve ever been in my life. And the grenade that was in my hand, again, not realizing that it was my own grenade, thinking that I am hit by a rocket, it didn’t matter. The thing that mattered was, I’m being consumed in heat. I am being literally burned to death, right now, standing there in that moment. And I put my hands down on top of the guns that were white hot with the heat from that phosphorus. And when I put my hands down on that gun, I sizzled, and I lifted myself up, rolled across the deck and splashed into the water.

The water cannot extinguish white phosphorus. So, I burned in the water, absolutely unrestrained, as though I was out of the water. And I swam with strength that could not have come from adrenaline. It could only come from anointing. God Himself spared my life. There is no reason or rhyme. There is no comprehension of how a man can survive a white phosphorus grenade explosion six inches from his right ear. And the phosphorus that was consuming my body cauterized the artery, sealed it off and saved my life from burning [bleeding] to death. The thing that almost killed me kept me alive and I can only say that is a “God thing”.

When they rolled me onto a stretcher, the stretcher caught fire. I fell through on my head. It was just one of those days. Two weeks after I was injured, they opened me up to do surgery and the phosphorus exploded inside of me and I caught the room on fire. Phosphorus only needs oxygen or air to spontaneously combust. It was blasted in so deep, so fast, that it did not all burn at the moment of my injury. But two weeks later, when they opened me up, air made access to the phosphorus and it lit up, and they were literally fighting fire while they were cutting into me to try and save what limbs they could of my body.

Off the river bank, they carried me into Saigon. From there, prepared me to go to Japan. In Japan, I asked for a mirror. When I saw what was left, I couldn’t believe a teenage girl (my wife) could still love me, so I tried to take my life. I had no gun or knife, so I pulled the tube out that was supposed to be keeping me alive. Then I laid my head back and I waited to die, but I just got hungry, because the tube I pulled out was my feeding tube. God let me experience hunger pains, so I could not take my life that day.

They got me back to the Brook Army Medical Center in the states. I was there for a year and two months. The first day they let visitors come in, there was 13 of us there. I never found one that survived except me. And a woman walked up to the bed of the guy next to me. His burns were 100 percent third-degree. I was almost 50 percent third-degree. No one in history has ever survived a 100 percent third degree. There’s no donor site. You have no place to take skin to put skin. There’s no you… it’s impossible. So, she walked in, took off her wedding ring and threw it on his bed and she said, “You’re embarrassing. I couldn’t walk down the street with you.” And she walked out. I then collapsed.

The next person to come in was my little teenage wife. She stood at the end of my bed (Weeping), took off her wedding ring and instead of throwing it on my bed, reminded me we were together forever. She looked at me and she said, “I just want you to know I love you. Welcome home, Davie.” She bent down and kissed what was left of my face. She looked me in my good eye and I knew I could make it. I said to her, “I’m sorry.” And she said, “For what?” I said, “I’m sorry I can never look good for you again.” She said, “You never were good lookin’.” [She had a sense of humor]

“It was my faith in God and my wife's unconditional love that got me through dark days when I contemplated suicide”.

….Dave said every time he went out in public, walking or driving, people would just stare in disbelief and children would get scared and run away.
….One time he pulled up to an intersection, where he had to stop for a red light, and a lady diving another car was turning on to the street he was coming from and she saw him. Then Dave said, “She kept on sawing me, as she drove right through the wall of the local dairy queen”.

His beloved wife Brenda Roever died from Covid complications in 2021.

From: https://news.ag.org/en/News/Brenda-Roever-Evangelist-Dave-Roever-s-Wife-Dies?D=%7B2E2B8F9F-882A-474A-ACE6-260145ECF58B%7D

 

 

On Friday morning, after two weeks in the hospital, Brenda Roever, the wife of evangelist Dave Roever, died from complications linked to COVID-19 and entered into the presence of Christ. She was 71. Brenda was perhaps best known for her faithfulness in her marriage to Dave, her husband of 53 years, and being a key part of Dave’s testimony messages. Even though she wasn’t a public speaker, her actions said far more than words ever could.

Great sources on Dave and Brenda’s experiences….where you can listen, watch, or read.

Dave has a great Facebook page. Just type in his name in your FB search box and it will pop up. He also has a great website where you can learn so much more about him at https://www.daveroever.org. Here is a summation of his ministries from EFCA.org:

The work of this organization supports the ministry of Evangelist Dave Roever. Dave travels across America and internationally challenging people in crusades, churches, youth rallies, and men's conventions with the Gospel of Christ. He speaks in high schools and universities. He brings to the military a message of hope and resiliency. He also reaches out to Vietnam veterans and through benevolence touches the country of Vietnam. His books and audio/video presentations affect millions of people with the love of Christ.

• https://www.focusonthefamily.com/episodes/broadcast/healing-the-wounds-of-war/
• https://youtu.be/HZecTwIIh0w
• https://www.marathi.tv/personalities/dave-roever/
• https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/37606497/a-grenades-blast-left-him-disfigured-today-his-scars-are-a-message-of-hope-to-others/
• https://wealthypeeps.com/dave-roever-wikipedia-bio-who-is-he-wife-age/
• https://web.citadel.edu/root/images/dave_roever_pdf.pdf

 

Dave’s appeal at the end of presentations:

It doesn’t matter where you’ve come from. It’s where you are right now and where you go from here. You can’t “unring” the bell. You can’t dislodge that anchor that weighs you down from the past unless you’re willing to sever that past. You have to intentionally cut the strings of the past and say, “From this point forward, I move”, because there’s nothin’ out of the past that we can drag along that’s gonna help us.
He concludes by saying, “The things you go through shape you, mold you, and make you stronger. That’s why you cannot quit, you must not quit. You must forever stand for what you know is right.”

The prayer Dave prays with hurting people:

Jesus, Great Physician, Healer, Healer of the broken heart, Healer of the broken marriage, God, there are people listening right now who clearly stated only a moment ago, didn’t have to go to Vietnam or Iraq or Afghanistan to get hurt. They went to divorce court. I get a Purple Heart; they get a broken heart.

But Healer of the broken, Healer of the broken life, I ask You, touch with Your hand the very sore. Touch the wound. Bring about a healing. Leave a scar where there was once a hemorrhaging and let that scar testify of healing. Let that scar testify of overcoming.

Yeah, we got hurt, but we got over it. And I pray right now, Jesus, Great Physician, reach out across this network and focus on the people whose lives are broken. There are people weeping right now, broken to the core of their soul. For the first time, tears have filled their eyes. Bitterness is being pushed out. Their own horrible stress that has been the product of terrible events in their lives, take that stress, God and heal it, in the name of Jesus, heal the brokenhearted You were sent here to heal. And I know You’re doing it, and it’s the name of Jesus that is the salve in the wound. Jesus, Healer, thank You. We pray and we ask, but we know it’s done by faith. So be it.

 

Here is your test!
(For today or another day)

 

Why did God allow an already dedicated young Christian, with desires to serve Christ in the ministry after serving his country, allow Dave (or Fanny Crosby or the Elephant Man) to go through such a horrendous experience? How did God get glory from allowing Dave to face such hardship and suffering? His body is still marred today, even after all of those surgeries – that did help in various ways. In the only pictures I could find of Dave online to share with you today, he looks 100% better than he did when I met him in person 21 years ago, but as you can see even today, the cosmetic effects of that accident are still with him. He is very transparent about the intense struggles within himself and with God over time.

One of the most profound moments he had, came one night when he had reached the height of his frustration and inner-struggle. He said as he laid down to try and sleep for the night, he told God, “God - if I am not healed by the time I wake up in the morning, then I will _________”. The Holy Spirit did not let him finish that sentence, but literally stopped him and said back to Dave (in that sovereign voice), “Or you will what?” He said he had to think about that very quickly, but then responded to the Lord and said, “I guess I will go on praising you and serving you”. The surrender to God’s will was completed.

So in this pilgrimage, where is the “good” that Romans 8:28 promised?

Romans 8:28: “And we know that (or we know how) God causes all things to work together for good (into good) to those who love God”.

As I said, there are no wrong answers. Each of you willing to consider these questions in your own mind and heart will have your own unique perspectives, but it would still be so valuable for you to think through it. If you feel like sharing your perspectives with me, I would love to read them or even share them if you wanted me to. I did write down a few conclusions I came to and shared them below, but please don’t read them until you have come up with your own conclusions. I intentionally added a lot of extra blank space here, so you could take the time to stop right now and think….before you scroll down to the bottom.

 

 

ONE THOUGHT

One possible perspective is based on the first ten verses of 2 Corinthians 12, where Paul explained why God allowed him to have some kind of physical ailment he called a thorn in his flesh, to keep him humble after he had been lifted up to the 3rd heaven and saw things no man had even seen or heard before. Paul sums it up in verse 9, where God refused to remove the physical ailment (irritation/limitation) and told him…

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

[My paraphrase: “Paul I want people to see the power of Jesus Christ working through your weakness, so they know beyond a shadow of a doubt they are not just seeing Paul’s intellect, strengths, skills, abilities or will power operating in you”.]

God also wanted to show people how a person in our time like Dave Roever could experience the reality of Jesus Christ so powerfully in his damaged body, with so much pain and suffering, and yet testify to Christ’s love and faithfulness. Christ was and is real to Dave and he did not make it through all of his challenges with a victorious attitude by faking it or the power of positive thinking.

 

ANOTHER THOUGHT

God wanted to show people (like us) how someone like Dave could keep loving God and trusting God, when life was so hard and there were no outward blessings or prosperity or feel-good times, but just the hardness of living life one day at a time in the trench of suffering. God allowed him (like Job) to be taken down to nothing.

When God bragged on Job to Satan, the Devil’s come back was to accuse Job of worshipping and serving God, in return for all the fringe benefits (all those things God had done for him in his life and family). God said it was not so and that Job’s love and worship for God came sincerely from his heart and God told Satan to prove the point, that Satan had permission to go and destroy all of those earthly blessings in Job’s life (that Satan was claiming were the reasons for Job’s devotion and worship).

The Devil did so and eliminated all of Job’s 10 children and all of Job’s worldly possessions (assets/riches) in one day. Job and his wife were the only thing left. And what was Job’s response? The Lord gave and now the Lord has taken away….blessed be the name of the Lord! Job proved that he loved God for who God was, not for anything else. Satan failed!

When God bragged on Job again to Satan (in their next encounter), Satan just could not take it and had to find some other way to keep accusing Job of having false motives. So he admitted to God, that Job had accepted the loss of everything without complaint, but if God would take away Job’s health, Job would finally curse God, and his true motives would come out.

So again, God gave the Devil permission to attack Job’s health in any way he wanted, except He told Satan he could not kill Job (My note: if Job died, then he would not have the chance to praise God or to curse God). You know the rest of the story. Satan did everything in his power to make Job hurt and suffer so much, hoping and believing Job would give up his faith and his trust in God, and turn away in anger and hurt from God and blame Him and curse Him.

Well praise God, that did not work either. Job’s integrity came through and his final conclusion was….”Even if God kills me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15). God was able to brag again on His servant Job and report to Satan how Job loved God for who He was and not for anything else.

Maybe we can see Dave Roever as a modern day example of Job. No matter how much pain he suffered or how many doubts he experienced or how lonely he got, his love for Christ was real, even though it was tested to the max. His faith and his integrity were/are one in the same. During all of these years, he has had the chance to testify to multitudes of people around the world that Christ would never leave him or forsake him. Christ in Dave Roever was/is his hope of glory. Christ in you is your hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).

 

Thanks for your time….May you be conscious of His blessings, as He continues to pour and stir into your life’s pot, that which will ensure your destiny (Psalm 16:5).

Gene