Have you been to a hospital in a waiting room, Emergency Room, or hospital room, and it just drains the life out of you. I don't mean just make you tired, but I mean the kind of "sucking the very life out of your bones and marrow" (if I can sound a little King James Version-esque). For whatever reason, this year and going back into last year has seemed to do this for me. I can't put my finger on it, but I think I might be at the starting point of grasping the bigger picture. But let me go back to the beginning of this diatribe to the Middle of December, 2010.
A man in our church was hit right in the sternum by a bull and broke every rib. He was in the hospital for weeks.
A girl in our church got a form of staph or strep that almost completely closed her airway. She was in the hospital for almost 2 weeks.
A close family friend's father (also in our church) went into the hospital and then got to go HOME but leaving us here.
A father of 4 of my students was in a car accident and is still in the hospital facing another surgery tomorrow as I write this. He faces a long road of rehab, longer than mine with my foot. Did I mention that they are all in our church?
Another female student, whose family is one of my most faithful student workers, has been battling some heart issues and then apparently had a focal seizure due to migraine headaches and has been in the ER and facing tests; again in our church.
A fellow staff member here in our church just had back surgery in the past week.
Another close family friend who is (you are beginning to the get the picture that they are in our church by now, right?) having their youngest son have another surgery tomorrow morning. He was in the hospital a little over a month ago battling stomach virus and the flu.
Then there is my family. My wife's sister had her first child this past Friday but he is still in the hospital due to not enough oxygen in his blood. He is only 2 weeks early. His parents have been handling this like warriors by the way, but they are related to me.
Last night my grandmother was admitted to the hospital due to a mini-stroke, which tests conclude that she is not at risk for a bigger stroke or another mini, but still in the hospital.
Here is my conclusion: God has to be up to something. I don't mean that He is causing this, but what I mean is that God must have some big plans for our church, b/c this has got to be Satan or the devil attacking us. But whatever it is, I long to see what God has planned. Jeremiah 29:11-14. You should go and read it.
But I am also realizing that I am weak and tired. And to be brutally honest, I don't want to go to any more hospitals. But I will. I don't want to see people I care about sick, injured, hurt, dying, etc. But it will happen. The reality is that I need an attitude adjustment like it talks about in Philippians 2:5-8. Again, you should go and read that and then pray that I will have this attitude. Maybe for all of us.
Bottom line, God do what you must to increase Your Kingdom. May I be found faithful to do all I can to make You stand out above all else.
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