We've had a very peaceful night #MountainsforMaggie

Thanks for all who have prayed along with us.  Tonight has been extremely peaceful and restful for our girl.  She has slept pretty soundly throughout the time I've been here and it's a wonderful dad-kind-of-experience to watch her sleep.

Here are a couple of brief prayer requests...

1.  That we get to move to the floor today.

2.  That we can move toward getting the chest tubes out.

3.  That her pain will continue to be manageable or even less than that.

4.  That her life will make a difference.

Thank you one and all.  You are gifts to us.

NT75 Day 5: Matthew 18-22 Forgiveness

Jesus tells a parable at the end of Matthew 18 about a guy who is forgiven a fortune and then exacts the debt of someone who owes him comparably little.  It's not a fun story.

They were both in debt.  The debts were significant (though the one significantly more).

Jesus told stories to provoke people.  Here's how I'm provoked...

The part that gets me is how easily I can hold a grudge, remember a person's flaws, be frustrated beyond what is appropriate, and on and on.  I can make people wear their sin even though Jesus has taken it off and wore it for them.

Actually, I can't.  I can't undo what Jesus has done.

That's the issue of unforgiveness.  It's not a matter of the other person having to wear the clothes I put on them.  It's a matter of me only being able to see them with that kind of lens.  I may think I'm punishing them by not forgiving them, but the only person being spiritually affected by that is ME.  Jesus has already taken their sin from them.

Is the debt that needs forgiveness real?  Yes.  Sometimes even significant.

I can just get a little prideful, trying to put back on them what Jesus has carried away.  It's not just affront to them.  It's an affront to Him.

Friday morning update #MountainsforMaggie

There were some great moments yesterday and some not so great ones.  I guess that's the rhythm of heart surgery.  Tonight has been the same.  She has had almost 90 minutes of uninterrupted sleep, which is by far the most she's strung together that I know about.  Color us grateful.

There are some super-sweet moments of lucidity and responsiveness.  And there are some drug-induced moments of near comatose.  It's frustrating...but I suspect par for the course.

Here's how you can pray:

1.  No neurological complications with the cardiac procedure.  One more way for God to protect her little body.

2.  Eventually, Minion is going to need to catch up on rest.  We all will.  When we get that time, we will be ready to meet it and grateful for it.

3.  Her chest tubes have slowed significantly on their drainage.  It'd be awesome if those could move toward being a non-necessity.  Same with some of the extra IV lines she has in.

Thanks for standing with us.  God's got this.

NT75 Day 4: Matthew 13-16 - Joy and Sacrifice

Today's reading may contain my favorite saying of Jesus about the Kingdom (13.44).

The Kingdom is like a guy who is walking in a field and stubs his toe on something, digs it up, and finds it to be a treasure chest of unspeakable worth.  He goes and sells everything that he has and buys the field that contains the treasure.

And he does so in joy.

He gave up everything.  In Joy.

Can you imagine the conversation with his wife?  "Hey babe.  I'm liquidating all of our investments, cashing in every retirement account, and we're selling the house right now.  I have a piece of property that we just have to have."

And he did it all with a smile on his face.  In Joy.

The sacrifice (and tumult that no doubt came along with it) was joyful.  The only reason we can say that:  he knew he was gaining far more than he was giving up.

May it be so for me today as I follow Jesus.

A brief overnight update #MountainsforMaggie

Thanks for and to all who have prayed for our little Minion.  She is currently fitfully resting, begging for water and all manner of fluids...which we can't give to her.

"Daddy, can I have some coffee?"

Yes.  That's how desperate she is.

Outside of that, her personality seems to be very much intact and vibrant.  "Don't tell me, 'Not Yet!'" might have drawn a few laughs from the nursing corps.

Apparently tomorrow they get her up and moving.  You can pray for the Physical Therapist who gets that assignment.  By all accounts, though, she's progressing just like they want her to progress.

Our lives were filled up and minds distracted by the folks who showed up at the hospital yesterday.  Family and Framily.  Parents.  Sister.  Brother-in-Law.  Best friends.  We are apart of the greatest church - people who take days off to spend it with us in a waiting room, a birthday celebrated at the hospital, and others.  Two pastor friends ponied up for Torchy's Tacos for lunch.  On and on.  Gratitude.

It's interesting being here and seeing some of the same people again.  So many we remember and several remember her from last summer.  It make me grateful all over again for what God saw us through and gives me a jolt of faith for getting through the next several days.  It's also pretty awesome that she has touched so many up here.  Four different docs stopped by to say hi, only one of which was actually assigned to this floor.  Her life has touched many.  May it be for decades to come.

Prayer requests for the morning:

1.  The fluid on her lungs and in her thoracic cavity drains efficiently.  This is a big key in getting us out of CVICU and down to the regular cardiac floor.  That would be a big win and would put us closer to home.

2.  Some semblance of normal rest for our princess.  Right now, it's so-so.  More starts and fits rather than deep breaths and relaxed muscles.

3.  Stability and rhythm for the Big Three.  School is a gift in that way.  And Nana does math homework for a living, so that's a help.

4.  Her story and life to make a difference.

Thanks for waking this road (again) with us.

NT75 Day 3: Matthew 8-12 - Warnings for Comfortable People

I love that Jesus said this verse.  I don't like the content of it.

"A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.  It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.  If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul [the prince of demons], how much more will they malign those of his household." ~ Matthew 10.24-25

I love that He said it because He's brutally honest.  To do otherwise would actually be unkind and unloving.  He's telling us the truth.  And that's good.

But man...the content.  If they hated Me, they'll hate you too.  I referenced a similar verse in John 15 on Sunday.  It's a rub for us with Suburbia ZIP codes and a commitment to our comfort.  But we need to hear it.  As the world gets crazier and more out of its own control, it won't get easier.

So I'm glad He warned us.  And it's terrifying in ways too.

Now to go live it.

Go Time #MountainsforMaggie

I'm in the hotel lobby waiting on a cup of coffee and have a minute to fire this little missive off.  We have a report time of 7:00am and Go Time is 8:00am.  We will be updating throughout the day.

You can pray these ways...

1.  God will protect and preserve her.

2.  The surgeons will use every bit of their God-given skill to put her vessels and other parts of her anatomy into the places they need to go.

3.  Recovery will be quicker than anyone can anticipate.  The first 72 hours are crucial.

4.  We can all be on top of the pain management.

I anticipate we will be updating throughout the day.  Thanks for joining with us in prayer.  God is a good, good Father.

NT75 Day 2: Matthew 5-7 and the Power of When

There's a little word in the Sermon on the Mount that is what stuck out to me in today's reading.  It's the word repeated in chapter 6.

When.

When you give.  When you pray.  When you fast.  When.

Jesus works on the assumption that in order to live the kind of life He is teaching about in Matthew 5-7, you and I will participate in what are classically called the spiritual disciplines.  Those are things we discipline ourselves to do in order to grow spiritually (prayer, Bible reading, worship, service, fasting, praying, solitude, etc.).

He's clear on how to do some of those things.  But He's abundantly clear on His assumption that we actually will.  They are the power cord of the spiritual life - the thing that keeps us connected to the source of transformation in life.

When.

The critique for me today is His assumption and my sometimes-I-will-and-sometimes-I'm-too-busy life.  If I want to be transformed, the spiritual disciplines are a necessity.

They are a "When."

Re-booting the blog and #MountainsforMaggie

I have intentionally taken some respite from writing here regularly and now am re-opening for business in a way.  Not only is our church family going through the New Testament in 75 Days (a super little exercise that you can still join in on - info here), but we are headed back in for the heart procedure for our little Minion.

I'm writing this the morning of pre-op.  I'll be waking her up and heading in close to an hour from now where there will be tests galore and information abundant and paperwork in reams.

And then tomorrow she will have the heart procedure we have known was coming but wish we could postpone (forever, preferably).  For those wondering, it's a procedure where they unhook the inferior and superior vena cava and attach those directly to the lungs, which allows her heart to only pump red blood and not the red-blue mixture which it has been doing.

The surgery will be tomorrow (Wednesday) first thing.  It's expected to be an all-day affair and be followed by several days in the CVICU and then 2-3 weeks on the regular cardiac floor.

The two questions people have asked are the two I will answer below:

1.  She looks so good, so why are you doing this?  Minion does look good.  And she's so funny and talkative these days.  It seems almost silly to move forward now.  But like with a lot of life, what appears great on the outside is trouble on the inside.  She is a ticking time bomb for her heart to throw off another clot (because of her anatomy) and remains a significant stroke-risk.

2.  How are y'all doing?  Great question.  The other kids seem to be taking it mostly in stride and have a great distraction in the regular rhythm of school.  I live somewhere between freaked out, scared out of my mind, and Here I Raise My Ebenezer (a line in a song that prompts me to remember that God brought her this far and is with us now, with faith that He will take care of her tomorrow too).  The Queen is...she's awesome.  She's not only prepared our house for all of this but did so in a way that kept most of us busy and our minds off of the day.  She's amazing.  I think she's scared too, but she has the kind of faith that stated yesterday, "I believe God's got this."  Amen.

We will be updating regularly on the blogs and via social media.  Thanks for all who will stop and pray as things unfold.  We are so grateful.

#MountainsforMaggie

NT75 Day 1: Matthew 1-4

Our church is embarking on a journey through the New Testament in 75 days.  If you would like to join along or jump in, you can download the information here:  NT75 Reading Plan.  More info is available on our church's website (www.heritagepark.org).

I'll be blogging some thoughts that come to my mind as I read along.

Today's thought:  the Trinity is one crazy deal.

I'm reading along just fine until I run into the baptism narrative (Matthew 3).  This is the first explicit expression of the doctrine of the Trinity in the NT.  The Father speaks from heaven.  The Spirit descends like a dove.  The Son fulfills righteousness and sets an example for us to follow.

There they are.  Father.  Son.  Spirit.

For those unfamiliar with the doctrine of the Trinity, the biblical and historical statement goes something like this:  God is one God in three persons.  They are co-equal and co-eternal and one God, but three.

Sound confusing?  It is.  No.  Seriously.  It is.  So if you're scratching your head as I do mine sometimes when this stuff makes me...well...scratch my head,  you're not alone.

All sorts of analogies have been tried and found lacking significantly.  Plenty of people have found themselves in the zip codes of good old-fashioned heresy by trying to say what they think rather than what the Bible says.  I can explain the Trinity but I don't necessarily understand it.  I can affirm it without wrapping my brain fully around it.  And I actually think that's a good thing.

Why in the world is something so mysterious a good thing?  How can it be good if I can't understand it?

If I fully understood it all, if the God of the Bible had no mystery about Him, I promise you this:  I would work to manipulate Him rather than magnify Him.  I would work an angle rather than worship a Savior.

That kind of mystery is good.  He has told me all I need to know about Him in order to know Him, love Him, and follow Him.  He's revealed Himself clearly enough for me to worship Him.  But He remains beyond me, so I cannot manipulate Him.

Father.  Son.  Spirit.  Three in one.  One in three.  It's a mystery.