Yesterday it was confirmed that our youngest son, Jaxon (5), has Luekemia. I've shared Rachel's posts as she is more articulate than I. Thank you for the overwhelming support!
Also, when it comes to calling things blessing or curses, I want to be careful. Sometimes the things we think are blessings turn out to bite us in the back. And other things that we think are a curse turn out to be something beautiful.
What we KNOW is that our lives have now changed forever. We are no longer the same. Something is different now. But God has not changed. He is always the same. And His love for us, for Jax, for our family, indeed for all the world is unchanging!
Yesterday I wondered if as a father I could love my son more; that maybe if God loved my son even half as much as I do then He would feel the pain I'm feeling. What I realized is that not only does God love Jaxon as I do, He loves him even more...more than I ever could! So much, in fact, that He sent his Son to die for me, for Jax, for all of us. Jesus conquered sin and death, and in His great love for us all He made a way to peace, to shalom, to rest.
And so we wait in that rest. We wait to see how God will use the life of our little Jax to show others His love for them. Already yesterday we could sense that the staff could tell our lives were rooted in something that many people in similar circumstances don't have.
Faith by nature is about mystery and trust. Faith doesn't have all the facts and if it did then it wouldn't be faith, it would be fact. Faith isn't a math sequence or science formula. You can't understand the mystery until you embrace it. To this degree, it is unreasonable; it doesn't make sense by looking at it. For those who do not have it, they wonder how in the midst of turmoil and suffering someone can be at peace!
Remember the two builders who built houses in the Bible...I think Luke 6ish. One built his house on a rock and the other on sand. I always thought that one builder was smart and built on a rock and the other was not so smart and built on the sand. But in Luke it says that the one builder "dug down deep" and built his house on the rock. They were neighbours!!! One built his house in sand and the other dug deep and built it on the rock. And when (not if) the storm hits the houses, the results are very different.
This parable is about what's on the inside. On the outside the two houses may have looked the same; no one could tell the difference; just a couple spec houses beside each other with the same trim package. The foundations, however, couldn't be more different! What happens when the storms of life hit us...that's when we find out if our faith is solid. For me, even though the pain is real, our faith has been deeply rooted and we are in a hospital with others whose houses are collapsing all around us. We are their neighbours today. During this time others may look at us and wonder why our house isn't crashing down like theirs. Faith. Faith. Faith.
So continue to pray for us as we embrace this new journey. But pray for those who might be our neighbours too; that we might share our hope in Christ and see others find peace.
Shalom.
No comments:
Post a Comment