When It Rains…
There has been a lot of bad news flowing through my phone recently. Just before Thanksgiving, Mom went into the doctor for a pain in her side and found out that she has kidney cancer. She needs to have surgery in a couple weeks to have it removed, but overall it sounds like an workable situation. It hasn’t spread and the doctors are hopeful that the surgery will be the end of the treatment, but obviously it’s still a scary situation.
Then I got a call letting me know that one of our closest family friends and part of our church family, Mr. Cowan, fell off the roof of the Dairy Queen (my first real job) that he co-owns with his wife and landed on his head causing multiple skull fractures and breaking a number of other bones. Somehow he has survived a few days, and while the prognosis does not look good, he is still alive. If he does wake up, he’s looking at 6-12 months of recovery. [news coverage of the story] (For updates about Mr. Cowan, friend Ken on Facebook.)
Now I get news that Grandpa Martens’s bladder cancer has returned and this time it doesn’t look like it will leave. He turns 92 soon so there aren’t a lot of possible treatments at his age. His course of action is still up in the air, but now I’m even more thankful that Tyla and I are heading back for Christmas so that she gets to meet him.
It’s a lot to deal with and I get a little choked up thinking about just one of these situations, much less all three. However, the one common thread that runs through all three of these people is their strong faith. No matter how any off these situations turns out, I’m confident that I will be seeing all three of these people in heaven because we all believe that Christ died for their sins so they can stand confidently before God on judgment day.
I’m not posting this to ask for your pity. I’m posting this to ask for your prayers. When it rains… I’m thankful for my Raincoat. I don’t know how (or why) people go through life without faith.
PS. Actually I think I like Calmer of the Storm better, but Raincoat fits better. The whole album is one of my favorites.