6 Months...

Many of you are well aware of the story of our Niece Katy. Katy is the 14 yr old daughter of some very good friends of ours. This past Sept 30th, she was admitted to Vanderbilt Hospital with stomach pains, and then diagnosed with salmonella, which almost took her life more than once, while destroying a good part of her colon. Over the next 8 weeks we watched Katy fight for her life, and in the Lord's graciousness he restored her.

Well after 4 months of recovery, Katy returned for surgery this past tuesday to see if the doctors could repair what was damaged in her colon. I am happy to say that not only was it repairable but Ms. Katy is healing incredibly quickly.

My beautiful wife Jessi got to spend a moment with Katy last night at the hospital, and as i waited for her, i was struck by the resounding beauty of the celebration of the resurrection of our savior. While the world pauses for 3 days, or even 40 if we are gracious, to remember what Jesus has done through the cross.

As a follower of Christ, and a lover of Him, it is our great joy to live a life knowing that He is alive and still up to raising the dead, healing the sick, standing up for the poor, and holding little children. I am truly astounded by the number of ways that he shows His love for us. And that He has left us to also show His love to the world.

All of us know someone who has faced a illness or accident, and has not made it. We live in a broken world. However, without minimizing that pain, i do want to encourage Christians, aka people who live life as if Christ is still alive and busy loving the world. That we must be a voice of hope, and not of brokeness. It seems far too often we accept that brokeness, pain, illness, and such is "just part of it." And again in this world it is, but it was never His plan and still is not.

Today and tomorrow it is my hope that you (like our family) will celebrate the resurrection with a community of believers some where. As we do, let me encourage all of us to take a moment, recognize the awe of having a living active Christ in our world now, and decide that His life, not the worlds death is what deserves our time, talent, and calendar. For when the world stops their celebration, let us resound with ours, and as John 14 says, lets live that way til He returns or we go home to be with Him.