Memorial Day Cookout; Plus.
As a Minister, you may expect me to be blogging about
something going on in our church, like weddings or funerals; which we have as
of late. Or; maybe something that I have been preaching on; I will make mention
about the Ministerial side toward the end of this post. But this posting is more
on the side of human drama, some of my family to be exact.
The long Memorial Day Weekend started out to be just
that. My wife had taken a couple of extra days off so she would end up having
from Friday, until Wednesday off, which she had been looking forward too. As
for me, I worked Friday and took Saturday off as I normally work Saturday’s and
have Monday and Tuesday’s off. So my long weekend was to run from Saturday
until Wednesday, with the exception of Sunday which is a normal day for me to
spend at the church.
We had canceled the Sunday Night Corporate Prayer time
due to the long weekend, which we do on the major holidays. One of my daughters
had invited about 40 family, friends and folks from the church to come to her
home for a Memorial Day cookout, which we knew would be fun, as it always is.
My wife and I had left the church after service and
returned home to change and gather up the food (salad) that we were bringing to
the cookout, and then headed to my daughter’s house to join in the fun.
Upon arrival, we got some of the food that was already
cooked and sat down with the group that had already arrived. About 15 minutes
after sitting down, I heard someone say that my daughter had left with her
oldest son (15 year old) to take him to the doctor, which ended up to be the
hospital.
As the story unfolded, we found out that during the
morning church service, he had been experiencing stomach pains. When he arrived
home, he settled down on the couch, but the pain kept getting more severe. A
short time later we were informed that his white blood count was very high and
the symptoms lead them to believe that he was having a problem with his appendix.
Additional information received told us that a CAT scan and possible surgery was
a good possibility.
With that news; my son-in-law, my wife and I left the
cookout and headed to the hospital about 15 minutes away. We arrived and went
to be with my daughter and grandson. The CAT scan was taken sometime after we
arrived and then the word came that he would have to have his appendix removed.
Being a holiday, the hospital had to call in a surgeon
and nurses to staff the operating room as well as recovery. I believe that we arrived at the hospital
about 4:30 PM or so, and my wife and I did not leave until 10:00 PM, which was
after our grandson was out of the OR and going into recovery.
I really felt bad for my daughter and son-in-law, because
as you know, any type of interruption in our normal lives can throw all the
family schedule’s to the wind, which this incident did. My daughter spent the
next two nights in the hospital with her son, while my son-in-law took care of
the 13 and 8 year old at home, plus traveling back and forth to the hospital.
The good news is that life is getting back to normal. The
grandson came home on Tuesday, late afternoon and he will be home for the rest
of the week, but he is doing fine.
Now; to add a touch of the Ministerial portion of this
posting; in today’s society, we have a tremendous amount of technology that we
can use to communicate. I use it every day in my ministry, as it is a great
asset. Most of the updates and postings this past Sunday were communicated by
way of texting and Face Book. Many years ago, when someone would be admitted to
the hospital, the person who was with the one being admitted would have to call
home and let the family know what was going on, and in turn they would have to
call the other family members and advise them of what was taking place. This
would mean that you may not be able to get a hold of the person you were
calling, and not be able to leave voice mail and such. The old process would
take a long time.
Today it is much different; within just a couple of
minutes of posting on a social media program, or by sending a text, everyone
can be contacted at nearly the same time.
Upon finding out that my grandson was going to need
surgery, I posted a request for prayer for him on Face Book, which I use to
keep in contact with family, friends, folks from my church, as well as other
Pastors and Missionaries. It was not until mid to late Monday morning that I
found out how far my request for prayer had reached in a very short time. I
received comments stating that folks were praying in Florida, Georgia,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nova Scotia, and even a Missionary in
Japan.
That my friend is the Power of Prayer, and yes God is
still in the business of answering the prayers of His children. Don’t Believe
It? Try it; become a Child of God and see if He won’t do the same for you and
your family.
Blessings:
