By Amy Bickel
Kansas Agland
A priest stood over Zach Short – who lay in a coma in a hospital in Wichita – ready to give him the last rites.
Zach wasn’t breathing. His heart had stopped. So had his kidneys. His lungs were filling with fluid.
Friends came in to say their goodbyes, thinking this would be the last time they’d ever see their friend alive, three days after a farm accident sent 7,200 volts through his body.
Yet, in a rural community centered on faith, along with a rich agriculture tradition, folks never stopped praying.
Every day at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., farmers parked their equipment during the busy season of fall planting and harvest to pray. A sign welcoming people to Zach’s hometown of Assaria urged people to pray. Family and friends lined the hospital halls to pray.
Thanks to social media, prayers spread across the nation. “Prayer warriors,” they called themselves – more than 2,800 of them – began to post their thoughts and prayers on a Facebook page, “Prayers for Zach Short.”
Assaria resident Lori Blake received a text from a friend the day Zach coded in the hospital, asking for prayers.
“Zach needs your prayers right now,” it read.
“I will never forget that day,” she said. “We all stopped at work and prayed.”
Read More: