Papa’s well!

Let me explain: We went to Huntsville for the weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day with my fam–which was awesome. Mama: we love you very much. But Sunday afternoon we got a call that Grant’s grandfather was rushed to the hospital having blacked out on the way to church (he usually doesn’t go to church; in fact, if he’d have stayed at home like he typically does he would’ve surely died). An ambulance carried him to St. Joseph’s were tests were run and it was determined that a blood clot had formed and was pressing on his brain. He was quickly transferred to University Hospital, were he underwent brain surgery this morning at 7:00am. We drove straight through from Huntsville to Augusta (a solid 6.5 hours) to see him and pray for him before his surgery.

Two things worthy of God’s praise:
1. An 83 year old man successfully pulled through a 2.5 hour brain surgery without any difficulties or problems coming out of anesthesia. (when does that happen? Glory be to the Father!).

2. Papa has had some difficulty over the years with his faith, and resisting church, we all kind of wondered where he stood with the Lord. Before his surgery after we prayed for him, he said, “If I don’t make it through this, I know the KING is coming for me” and a man I have never seen shed a tear wept silently. It was a beautiful thing. I’m so glad we were there, and as Lynn said, “We were right where we needed to be.”

The up-hill battle now is recovery. Please keep him and Grant’s family in your prayers. It has been crazy–this being the third major surgery in 6 years after open-heart surgery and the removal of a tumor on his esophagus. In the words of the surgeon, “You’re a lucky cat with 9 lives to have lived through all of this!”

We are thankful for the successful surgery and for his profession of faith!! Praise the Father! Papa is well–in more ways than one.

ps. grant and i are a little exhausted to say the least–having had about 4 hours of sleep in the past 40. keep us in mind too, as we seek peace and rest. thanks!

quick update: remember this post? i’m not the only one experiencing and marveling at the inseparable connection between God’s overwhelming love and grace, our call to be a light in the darkness, and the need of salvation from opression for the poor. God has such a heart for them, tapping into His love for them is like opening a waterfall from a mere faucette.

Here’s an excerpt from what Beth Moore’s daughter recently wrote about the subject on the LPM blog:
“Can I just tell you that the more I fall in love with the people in Calcutta the more grateful I am that we serve a God who cares deeply about the poor? I could list verse after verse as far back as Genesis all the way through Revelation that reflect God’s concern for the poor and oppressed… but right now I am far too consumed with Isaiah 58, especially the first eleven verses.

I am especially stricken by Isaiah’s definition of true religion. I hope you’ll take some time to study this passage on your own but in brief, the people of Israel cry out with frustration because they do not feel that God is responding to their pious fasting. The text goes on to convey that, in fact, God really isn’t all that impressed by their outlandish religious demonstrations like bowing their heads in “humility” or laying in sackcloth and ashes.

No.

His definition of fasting is cast in remarkably different terms. If the people of God want to fast in such a way that they just might get God’s attention then they need to start being agents of justice in a broken world. They need to stop believing that humility before God and apathy toward their fellow human beings, especially the poor and oppressed, could ever co-exist. They need to loosen the chains of injustice. Set the oppressed free. Share food with the hungry. Clothe the naked. The incredible part about this passage is the promise that if the covenant people of God would really truly fast in such a mind-boggling and earth-shaking way, then light will break forth like the dawn. The Lord will turn his ear toward them and His very glory will be their protection. I take so much heart in the fact that our God is a God who loves the people in Calcutta who are bound by the tight grip of poverty. That He thinks that caring for them is essential, that it is at the very core of our personal and corporate spirituality. What a vivid picture of the bountiful and impartial love of God.”

then a quote from Richard Bauckham:
“Poverty, in a sense, exposes the truth of the human situation in its need of God. It dispels the illusion of being self-sufficient and secure, with no need of God. The poor are those whose material condition enables them to see more clearly than most the human need to be wholly reliant on God. It is in this sense that the biblical poor are understood as paradigmatic in their faith.” (Richard Bauckham, Wisdom of James, disciple of Jesus the Sage, 190).

and finally says:
“Perhaps Jesus speaks of the poor as the paradigmatic people of God because the poor, kind of like the chronically ill, are most likely to recognize their utter need for God’s saving power. Perhaps the Lord commands the rich (which in context of our global economy is you and me, even the poorest among us) to empathize and identify with the plight of the poor and care for the needy so that they too can glean this truth. Humankind in its totality is completely dependent on God’s power and provision. There are no exceptions. All material wealth is fleeting and fading quickly.”

i love it. and i love learning more about experiencing and understanding and taking-in this kind of love, this level of devotion, this extremity of adoration.

quick reminder

here are some of mine and grant’s really good friends. please pray for them as they raise support and figure out life in ministry with a heart that is kid-centered, a ministry that is grounded in Atlanta, and with hearts that yearn for global impact. they are amazing. and we are lucky just to know them 😉

oh, and please check out their awesome pics. wow.

couldn’t have said it better myself

good friday
xoxo