Walking with Jesus

Today we're at the hospital and my sweet bride isn't feeling well. It's inconvenient, but at least we're here together. Olivia's been really brave these past 5 hours, but she's ready to go home. The hardest part, she says, is that Gracey isn't here with us. She's at home on the bed feeling sad and alone. This is part of life fighting a chronic illness, and it isn't the funnest part. We woke up this morning and were just getting ready for church. Olivia started taking a shower and suddenly felt like she was going to pass out. She was really hurting all over so, after we got her to bed and talked it over, we decided we needed to get to the ER. Olivia had a busy day yesterday and the doctor says she is suffering from heat exhaustion. Now, she's on IV's and her pain has gone down, but her blood pressure has gone up. Now, I don't want anybody to panic. This isn't an abnormally critical situation. The fact is this is just part of what l...

Like any man, I've always wanted to find a battle worth fighting, good versus evil, right versus wrong, light versus darkness. Of course, also like any man, I automatically assume I'm on the right side of the battle. But, battles are tricky. It's easy to lose your focus and get spun around in the midst of the clashes and attacks. Blows seem to be coming at you from every direction. You feint to the right, engage a second opponent to the left, dodge backwards, dive forwards, turn, strike, block, plunge, turn, block,swing,rollturnswingdiveswingturnblock... and, if you're like me, you sometimes find yourself facing the wrong way, swinging at someone on your own side, attacking your comrade, fighting the right fight against the wrong people. Olivia's lupus is a battle. It isn't just 'like' a battle, it really is a day-in-day-out fight for survival against the worst enemy immaginable. It's not exactly my own battle (though it feels like it sometimes), so...