I won’t say that I have never written a newsletter article from a bathroom in Atlanta, but it’s definitely not a regular occurrence for me.
For those of you who have not heard, my 6 year old daughter has been diagnosed with cancer behind her eye. We’re currently at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta trying to get more clarity on what that means. Tomorrow is a biopsy. Depending on the results, other things will happen.
In all likelihood, I’m going to have to choose to be a bad pastor in order to be a good father a few times this year because of this. Tonight our student leaders ran things which I basically just dumped in their laps. It’s entirely possible that I will miss an extra Sunday service or two because of this diagnosis. This will be a difficult thing to balance vocationally as well as personally. I ask for your honesty as I try to strike that balance this year, and for your grace, but mostly that you would see God’s grace shown to you.
Barring a miracle I will never say that this thing happening to my daughter is a good thing. Sickness and cancer are not good. They are not God’s original plan (creation) nor are they His ultimate plan (Resurrection). But in the midst of things that are not His plan, God actively shows His grace, His unmerited favor shown to sinners and a sinful world.
About a year ago, Cricket, my daughter, got a piece of wood that flew into her eye. Because of this, we ended up meeting a local eye doctor who quickly got the item out and who took a shine to Cricket. This ended up being the doctor who we went to with Cricket’s eye swelling – a doctor who took it seriously, broke several rules to make things happen, and made sure that we quickly got the best care in the region. I honestly think that had it not been for that speck of wood and that doctor, we wouldn’t be in the same position that we are today. Now could those be random events? Sure. I don’t deny that. But they could also be God working early to give us the best position that we could have as we work on this tough diagnosis. I know God shows us His grace, His unmerited favor given freely to a sinful world, and why couldn’t that be the explanation for this?
I have it on my heart to write to you about the repenting that I am noticing that I should be doing as a result of this journey so far. You’ll likely get that some other time. Tonight I ask that you look for God’s grace, His unmerited favor shown to a sinful world. Tonight I see it clearly from a bathroom in Atlanta. I hope you can see it from yours.