It's been a while

Hello again.  As the title obviously states, it's been a while.  I guess I am a bad blogger.  But here I am, nonetheless.

There's a lot on my mind here lately.  Some good, some bad.  And I will get to that in the future.  But today, I am here for a different reason.  I come to you today to talk about my nephew Levi.  Because of a giant hole in his diaphragm which allowed his organs to creep up onto his heart and lungs,  Levi was born with undeveloped lungs and heart problems.  In essence, he can't breathe and his heart doesn't work right.  So he's been on a machine that has basically put oxygen in his blood and pumped it through his body.  Because of that, he doesn't have baby/mommy time, baby/daddy time, baby/ big brother time.  He is stuck on a table with a machine keeping him alive.  And his time is running out.

When I started this blog back in December, the point was to lead people toward hope.  Hope in each other, hope in our lives, hope in Christ.  Hope.  But how do you describe it?  What is hope?  It's not something definite.  Not something tangible.  You can't quantify hope.  So what is it? 

According to merriam-webster.com, hope can be defined as a noun and a verb.  As a noun, one definition is "desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment".  So in a sense, it is something we want with an expectation to get it.  The verb definition is similar in that it says "to desire with expectation of obtainment." So in our journey toward hope, we are not only looking for something, but are looking with an expectation of obtaining it. 

So what does this have to do with Levi?  There is not a lot of hope with Levi's family right now.  To be honest, he is on death's doorstep.  If his condition does not improve, when the machines are turned off, he will die. And the Valley of the shadow of death is not a place any parent wants to go.  Brandy and I have lived there for 18 months.  It is a living nightmare everyday.

I tell you all this, because I think you are important to him.  I think you are just as important to him as the doctors are.  Because you have the power to pray.  God loves Levi, just as He loves you.  Undescribeable love.  And He definitely is in control of this.  But there are times I think when He wants us to show Him we belive in His power.  Not because we can make God do anything.  That's ridiculous.  But showing the faith of a mustard seed can move a mountain.  Showing God we believe in Him.  Showing God we have Hope in him.  Looking toward Him to heal Levi and expecting it, because He can fix this, there is no doubt. 

So I am here to implore you to pray.  Fall to your knees now and cry out to God.  Pray for Levi's healing.  Pray that God fills his lungs with air.  That his numbers get better so he can have the surgery he needs.  Pray for forgiveness of a lack of belief, a lack of Hope.  Pray for faith in God.  We are weak only because we don't believe, because we don't hope in Him.  Not because we are weak. 

God is in control of this.  So don't think I am telling you we can control what He does.  And if He doesn't heal Levi, He is still in control.  But we are so afraid of the result sometimes, we lose our ability to not only want something, but have expectation that it will happen.  That's Hope.  Don't lose it.

Like Andy Dufrense said in a letter to his friend Red in "The Shawshank Redemption," "Remember Red, Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things..."  In Lamentations 3:25 (NIV), it says, "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him."

Hope in the Lord, for He is good.