Gray Matter

Picture the scene of being in your neurosurgeon’s office; you have just received the serious news that you are suffering from a brain aneurysm. A very risky surgery is the only answer. The surgeon has explained all the clinical procedures and now you are going into “overload” trying to sort out all the implications. The surgeon stands and walks over to your chair. He kneels down beside you and asks a most unexpected question. “Do you mind if I pray for you?”

Any Christian would welcome the thought of their surgeon being a man of prayer. But as David Levy, author of Gray Matter, has experienced, not all people are receptive to his offer. Reactions to his offer range from skepticism to hostility.

Dr. Levy wasn’t always so prayerfully inclined. His life began as a son of a Sephardic Jew (by birth), who had accepted Jesus as the Jewish Messiah. This decision had ostracized his father from the Jewish community. Being raised as an Orthodox Jew, Dr. Levy knew little of his heritage. His father didn’t want David to face the same persecution that he had experienced. David didn’t always want to be a neurosurgeon. When working as an auto mechanic he had dreams of an acting career. His interest in the medical field was aroused by a friend who was taking the MACT (Medical College Admissions Test). David was captivated with the thought of repairing a “machine” as complex as the human body. “If I can fix cars, I can fix people.” Two years later he was admitted to medical school as the youngest in his class. (20 years old)

Medical school changed David’s perspective concerning his spiritual life. He was suddenly in the company of many young people (1/3 of the class) with Jewish heritages. All he had believed about Jesus was no longer relevant. Years of this thought line took its toll. He was learning that the power to save lives was in his own hands. Sadly, David became caught up in the glamour of his profession. His life as a neurosurgeon was, in
his words, “fast and entertaining, heroic and challenging.” It was at the height of David’s success that God began to speak to him. He began to channel his energy in a different direction: getting to know God.

God worked in David’s heart to see people in a new way, more selflessly than before. He began to be impressed to pray for patients, not just in a personal, secret way; but openly with them before him. He had no idea the effectiveness this would have.

Gray Matter continues with chapter after chapter of specific cases in Dr. Levy’s practice and how he instituted God, faith and the power of prayer in each.

This book is not meant to promote any particular belief system. It opens one’s eyes to the gap between science and spirituality. One will realize that there is so much power in prayer and forgiveness. Much of today’s illnesses could be eradicated if we would embrace that fact.

Do not get bogged down in the clinical details contained in each case. The overall experience in reading this book is worth the read.

You can purchase Gray Matter here.