" "Those were literally the most profound words I've ever heard," Coffman said. "I started to cry." "

"At the time he was in Nashville, days away from starting his new job as executive director of the Samaritan Counseling Centers in Memphis. "

"He called his wife, Mary Kathryn Hoffman, who was living on the family's farm in Ripley, Tenn. "

"There would be monitors and drugs and the realization that he had faced death. His life was changed forever. "

"Coffman's heart attack and subsequent recovery required a new melding of the mind, body and spirit to adjust to irreversible physical changes and the inner resolve to redirect his life. "

""Jim, I thought, was always a highly disciplined person, but he had become less disciplined," said Dr. Ron McDonald, a pastoral counselor with Samaratin Counseling Centers, who has been Coffman's friend for 20 years. "

""It looked to me like the heart attack was a wake-up call to transfer some of that professional discipline "

""I knew that I had some heart damage, so there was grief that my body has been changed in ways that cannot be brought back," said Coffman, 61. "

""One of the results of the heart attack is I changed my eating habits, not that I was eating badly before," Coffman said. "

"He didn't eat barbecue for two years. Steaks are a rare treat, as is the country ham he enjoys at Christmas. "

""It's almost like becoming an athlete a second time around," McDonald said. "He did what an athlete trying to achieve goals would do. He's taking care of his body and he's winning the contest." "

""Discipline is an act of the spirit," said Coffman, who has a doctorate from the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. "

"Yet, it is the merger of the mind, body and spirit that can speed up healing and bring about better health, said Dr. Scott Morris, founder and
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