Pray For This Guy
Ever since Aiden was born he has had, what sounded like, a rattle in his chest when he takes short breaths or plays too hard. The doctors said it was something called ‘Tracheomalacia‘ and that it would go away the older he got. Now that he’s four his doctors aren’t so sure that it will go away on it’s own and he may need surgery. Basically what it means is that part of his throat isn’t as strong as it should be… I think. The surgery would do something to remedy that, but I don’t know many of the details. On top of that, he has also had a ‘sunken chest’ or Pectus Excavatum, which has the potential to affect his heart and lungs the older he gets. Again, something the doctors hoped would go away but hasn’t. And again, on top of that (as if that wasn’t enough) the doctors noticed a heart murmur that they are concerned about and we need to get looked at pretty quickly. This could all be because of his chest or could possibly be something else.
Last week Aiden had some x-rays done to make sure his chest wasn’t pushing too much on his lungs and tomorrow we have an appointment at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital for an echocardiogram to make sure that his heart murmur isn’t being created by his chest or if it is something completely different. I’m not sure the next steps that would need to be taken if there is an issue with his heart, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. We’re pretty convinced everything will be okay but would envy your prayers for this little guy.
Thanks so much and we will keep you all posted.
Matthew 5:44
“But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”
I’m not a big fan of confrontation. I don’t like fights. I don’t even like it when people don’t like me. Last night was the third night in a row that I’ve had a hard time sleeping. Not for any reason really. Just a lot spinning in my brain and keeping my mind going. All good things, just a lot. Well I realized last night laying awake again, people aren’t going to like me. The Bible doesn’t say “If an enemy shows up love them, and if someone ever doesn’t like you make sure to pray for them.” The Bible says “Love Your Enemies”. Meaning, you are going to have enemies. ”Pray for those who persecute you”. Meaning, people will persecute you.
After a realization like that in the middle of the night, it’s not like your brain is going to allow you to ‘shut off’ and go to sleep, and I started asking questions. Now, I Twittered this question this morning and got some pretty amazing responses, but I wanted to further the discussion here. Are you ready? The main question that popped in my head last night was this.
What words am I supposed to pray when I am ‘praying for those that persecute me’?
Tough one huh? I mean, those words sound simple. But when it’s crunch time and you have made the decision to pray for those that are persecuting you, what words come out? You’d better have something prepared because if you don’t resentment can creep in, or you’ll end up laying there in silence, slowly falling fast asleep.
When It Rains…
You know the rest.
I just wanted to throw a quick post on here to ask for some prayer for a friend of mine who is currently sitting in a doctors office waiting room, twenty-minutes after his appointment was scheduled, waiting to speak to a neurologist to find out if he has something wrong with his brain.
For several weeks now he has had severe headaches, and after a bunch of visits to “regular” doctors was referred to see a specialist. This on top of several other things that have added stress and tragedy in the lives of our friends. So if you are a praying person, now would be a great time. Thanks.
Powerful Community
Blogs are a powerful community. I think most people that are in to blogs get that, but sometimes there are stories where a blog quite literally is more of a community than a regular one. Just this week I heard of a musician diagnosed with Leukemia and with no medical insurance raise nearly double the amount of the medical costs from his online community. Another funny story but one that spoke loudly to me was when I joked about needing money to keep me out of jail. I received several phone calls throughout the day from people telling me that they were organizing fund raiser things to find me the cash. And these don’t all have to be associated with money.
Just today I got an email from a frequent commenter, Melody here on my blog. I have never met Melody but because of the community here she felt comfortable enough to share. She writes:
I posted a brief special “prayer request post” on my blog for my precious aunt, Stacey Adams (in Texas) who is undergoing a massive brain surgery today to remove a tumor. I know that the surgery and recovery are going to be very difficult and intense and I was hoping to have lots of people out there praying for her. I’d also like to have some of those same folks go to this special prayer request link and post an encouraging comment for her to read as she is trying to heal and recover throughout this trial. It’d be great for her to know people from all over are praying for her.
With all that said – you and your family came to my mind as someone special I could ask to help. So, thank you for taking the time to read over this and God bless.
I think it would be great for all of us to head over there and offer some encouraging words and obviously keep Melody and her aunt in prayer. This is really what it’s all about.
This is the same mentality that I try to explain to these bands when I am taking to them about blogging and it’s especially true within the Christian music industry. These are the communities that are so amazing to be a part of and I believe have the ability to bring people closer together. They are also the communities that have the ability to do great things for the industry, great things for people personally, and great things for the Kingdom.
