Walking with Jesus

Whether patients, doctors, nurses, staff, or visitors, most of the people we've met during this time at the hospital have had three things in common: 1) They are very real. 2) They easily talk about spiritual realities. 3) They are nice people. 1) Here people are real. Being in the hospital has the tendency to push aside the facade of Western culture that delegates the fragility of life to the periphery. Some of these people are here because they or someone they know is getting well, while for others someone is finishing their days with as much grace and dignity as possible. Some are helpers. Some are hurting. Some are coherent. Others are not. Most are kind. Many are easy to talk to. Some are lonely. And, a few are cranky. With the notable exception of the influence of medications, who you are in the hospital is who you really are. 2) Here people talk about faith and God. Every person you meet understands that God is a perfectly acceptable topic for conversation. There are n...

Now the LORD had said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, since Abraham is to become a great and populous nation and all the nations of the earth are to bless themselves by him.”…Then the LORD said, “The outrage of Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave! I will go down to see whether they have acted altogether according to the outcry that has reached Me; if not, I will take note.”… The two angels arrived in Sodom in the evening, as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to greet them and, bowing low with his face to the ground, he said, “Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant’s house to spend the night.”…They had not yet lain down, when the townspeople, the men of Sodom, young and old-all the people to the last man-gathered about the house. And they shouted to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may be intimate with them.”… And the people who were at the entrance ...

This is from an email to our friends: Hello, friends. I hope this email finds you all blessed and walking under the fullness of the grace we have been given. Allow me to update you briefly and then share our prayer request. I'd also like to apologize to our new friends whom we haven't written. Even with everything that has been going on, I have no good excuse. We'd love to hear from you! Our trip was amazing! We still think about it every day. We prayed for a couple of weeks after we returned, and felt we couldn't make a move to the land right now. We also found out we were pregnant again, which was an amazing blessing to us. We found a doctor, applied for Medicaid, settled on a name, pulled out the pregnancy clothes, and prayed constantly. Because of our difficult history with pregnancies, we told only a very few people as we felt the Lord was leading. On Wednesday, June 25th, we went in for a special appointment to see the baby because Olivia's numbers were ...

Sometimes love is the surrender of the candle; Sometimes love is the passion of the flame. Sometimes love, it confounds me completely. Sometimes love has a peaceful, gentle name. Sometimes love can turn my weeping into laughter; Sometimes love turns all my joys into tears. Sometimes love flashes hotly like light'ning. Sometimes love grows more slowly, like the years. Sometimes love means hurting and crying together; Sometimes love means rejoicing in our pain. Sometimes love means clinging to the promise, And finding the rainbow despite the rain.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who go through life and never know anything, and then there are those who suffer. Right now it sucks to be those who suffer, but it's the only way we really know . Once again, we are suffering. Once again a child has been lost to us. Once again, Olivia and I hurt, question, and hope. But, this time is different. We saw Rachel's heartbeat on two occasions, a rare treat this early in pregnancy made possible because of the risks involved in our situation. I can still see it: 140 beats per minutes of life, the raw power of existence declaring, " I am here!" They were glimpses of innocence and power and I will always be thankful for them. This time we know each other better, love each other more deeply, and are able to understand each other's pain more fully. This time we know what comes next for us. This time everything was going well, but turned in an instant. This time we prayed, believed, and called for pra...