It's been a hard day today for us. I have good news to share about baby C- although he's still in critical condition he's growing a bit stronger, and he's getting good treatment for this lung infection. He's been put onto sedatives, and they are giving him oxygen and a blood transfusion because of this infection. Both parents are now there, along with their 22month old daughter, and although the situation is still quite serious things are looking up. Thanks for your prs.
We had some quite bad news today at the carol srvc at our ch. Our vicar Mark announced that he had gone in for a gall bladder surgery and the doctors found out that he has liver cancer. He didn't say anything about the prognosis, but liver cancer generally has about a 1 year life expectancy if it's in a late stage, 3-5 years if they can remove or replace the liver. We don't know much except that he's quite healthy right now. All of us in leadership positions were a bit stunned by this news, and we'd appreciate prs for us and the ch family as we just deal with the shock of it all. Hearing something like this causes a bit of grieving among someone's friends, which is normal. But Mark can say with Paul that "for me, to live is Chrst and to die is gain," as can all of us who are followers of JC. Our beliefs aren't just something theoretical that make us feel better when someone gets ill or dies- they affect our everyday lives, and the hope that we have in JC and knowing that we are made right with Gd motivates us in every aspect of our lives. We have a living hope. So although Mark doesn't know how much longer he may have left, and neither do we, in a way we're happy for him to be leaving this messed up painful world, as hard as it is to watch someone leave it. That is in fact the hardest part I think.
Anyway today is one of those days where I'm feeling fed up with living in a messed up world- do you ever feel that way? Young people tend to be thoughtless actually, rarely thinking of death until tragedy strikes someone that we know. But I know from my older friends that the longer I live the more friends and loved ones I will watch go through things like cancer, car accidents, trauma, and all the variety of bad things that can happen to any one of us. I ought to consider life more seriously more often, and to remember the wise words of Solomon that "there is nothing new under the sun", and his conclusion of the purpose of life that he came to when he was quite an old man and looked back over his life and the search for meaning: "Obey Gd and keep his commandments, for this is the whole purpose of man."
Sorry that this has turned out to be a rather heavy post. But I hope that like Solomon you'll consider what is the purpose of life? And that you'll think about what will happen when you die, as none of us knows how much longer we have. We can know what will happen after death- JC says that "to all who believe in him, to those who call on his name, he gave the right to become children of Gd." If we believe in JC and the perfect life he lived, and the death he died on our behalf because of our wrong choices (including not letting him be the king of our lives which is his rightful place) then we know that not only will we be Gd's children now, but that we will be with Gd when we die, where there will be no more tears, sorrow, or sadness. I for one am looking forward to that day. But until then we'll keep slogging along here in our messed up world, doing what we can to help others to live in this fallen world, tell our friends about JC, and keep reading the bbl and pring for encouragement from the Father.
We'll be seeing many of you soon- we're heading Stateside Dec 27th, which is Saturday! We can't wait to see you in person and enjoy your company!
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