Helping Others

Brian continues to show such strength & heart as he endures this transformational journey!

The big medical news this weekend is they anticipate being able to replace his current trach with an even smaller one with the possibility of getting it out entirely perhaps by the end of the week!

He had some visitors this weekend too. In addition to his faithful Charlotte regulars, including his good friends, my aunt & uncle, & of course Eli, he also had a couple more Raleigh friends come down for the weekend. Leah also spent a good deal of time with him, just hanging out with her brother & getting my parents to take a much needed break.

Leah was so impressed with his recovery, mostly with his attitude. When they ask him to do an exercise, he nods his head, & asks how many reps. He fights through the pain written silently across his face. All the while, he continues to express concern for friends & family, saying that he just wants to help other people. To hear his selfless perspective while he endures learning how to do things we all take for granted & that he could do even a month ago in addition to all that pain, is such a blessing from God. More often than not, when I hear beautiful outcomes, such as the one I believe we are witnessing in Brian, & from tragedies like his, I find the Lord to be the cornerstone of almost every single one of them.

Leah also said that he loves having each & everyone of you visit. In fact, at one point, he even told Leah since no one else was visiting him, he was just going to go to sleep! Almost immediately following, his good friend & his friend's girlfriend, who have be such constants at his side since this whole ordeal started 12.14 walked into the room & Brian changed his mind. Now how's that for timing?

God continues to show that He is such a powerful God that He is able to work Goodness even through circumstances like these. Our wonderful, wonderful church—Calvary Chapel Cary—one of the Calvary Chapels nationwide who base Sunday meetings on worship & study of the Bible precept upon precept, line upon line (Isaiah 28:10), is wrapping up a detailed study of Galatians. Galatians was written by Paul in response to false teachers trying to pull churches in the region away from the message of God's gift of Grace into a message based more on following rules. One of the points Pastor Rodney explained from Galatians 6:1-10 is how Christians, knowing His Grace, are called to bare the burdens of fellow believers & to do good to ALL, especially other Christians in need.

I have noticed a growing & quite diverse following of this blog. There are some of you concerned for Brian & wanting to know how he's doing that stop here frequently (some who appreciate my Christ-driven perspective & some who just tolerate it, I'm sure ;) & then there are some that have been brought here not so much for a relationship with Brian but as source of encouragement in dealing with their own life sufferings. It is so wonderful to see that God already is using Brian's situation to minister to others in need.

One of the families falling into the category of both those concerned for our family & experiencing serious trials of their own, is the family of a former colleague of my father's & his daughter, who I hung out with many years ago. Jennifer's nine year old daughter & this well-respected coworker of my father's granddaughter, Savannah, has been in the hospital since around Christmas I think, with rare, serious, and life threatening complications of celiac disease. Her family has been close to losing her at least twice now & the doctors still can't pinpoint what exactly it is that is causing Savannah to stay so sick, speculating possible mitochondrial disease. Jennifer has been keeping a blog on her daily status, http://jenn-savannah.blogspot.com/.

Jennifer sent me a picture of Savannah today & I can't tell you what a beautiful little girl she is. I can't even comprehend what Jennifer & her family must be going through, especially because I know that Jennifer's constant vigil at Savannah's bedside takes her away from her other two children. To see suffering in children so young especially, I imagine there aren't words to adequately describe how much more it hurts.

In the spirit of bearing each other's burdens & in respect of Brian's expression of a desire to help others already, I want to ask you to consider this family in your daily prayers. We will just continue to be faithful & hold fast that God will provide & take care of Savannah & her family in the way He knows is best, even when we simply cannot understand.