Stir My Affections

The title was meant to catch you eye and make you think, "huh, what in the world is he talking about?" On Friday Jada and I were at the hospital and discovered that her white blood count was too low and therefore we could not start this round of chemotherapy.

I liken the experience to snow days. When you are in school and you get the call early in the morning that the day is cancelled, you are ecstatic. However, when the end of the year rolls around - you are somewhat jaded and frustrated. "What, three more days of school? I thought the year was done."

This is where Jess and I are at - it was great to be back home for the weekend, but we know it only delays the treatment by 3 days. As a result, we decided to make the best of it. Knowing that the chemo will start soon and her condition (both in temperament and physical suffering) will worsen - we wanted to make it special.

With all the snow, being locked indoors is not only punishment - it is punishment of the most severe kind to a 5 year old. Jada and Goober had been begging to go outside. To be truthful, I actually was loathing going out, mainly because getting snow equipment on children just to be outside for a short amount of time did not appeal to me. Well, they pursued and I relented and after a short time we found ourselves outside.

Now, let it be understood, we LOVE all of our neighbors - we have a unique connection to all of them; from meals made for us, to birthday parties shared and errands run - our neighbors are great. The Wendlings, however, have a lovely family. A couple sets of twins that are near Jada's age and an eighth grader who is super kind to us and our children make for some great connections. Their 4 youngest children were outside when Jada, Ollie, Jess and I ventured out on Sunday. What resulted was MANY laughs, king of the mountain, a snowball fight, some pictures and overall just a 'normal' experience for a 5 year old before things get un-normal in a day or two.

There is one event, which, when recounted during our discussion as we were falling asleep (Jess and I) served to stir my affection for the goodness and grace of Jesus. We were playing on the pile of snow at the end of our street, the kids, myself and the Wendling's dog (which are children are afraid of not because of veracity but more because of unfamiliarity). Jada will begin to scream as though something much more severe were happening than just a good licking of the face when the dog approaches her.

Jada was on top of the hill with her back to the dog. As the dog approached her (she was unaware) Emily (the Wendling child Jada has most connected with) literally ran up the hill and dove in front of the dog and pushed it away - asking Jada (who was now crying) if she was ok. It may not sound like much but Jess and I thought it was so sweet how a little girl was watching out for her friend's safety, and really genuinely concerned.

Sure, its the big things that one prays for in times like these. Complete healing, no financial devastation, good family relations throughout, and no more sour news, etc. However, as I have indicated many times already, God's desire is not that our comfort be in the majors of our life. It IS to be found in the majors of His life, what he has accomplished, what he has finished, and what he deems to be imperishable (and therefore comforting). The problem is that I have a tendency to desire comfort in predictability and concrete circumstances. What God provides is grace and peace multiplied to us as needed - He's not in to wasteful excess - though His supply is abundant. It is just what we need when we need it, "...May grace and peace be multiplied to you..." I Peter 1:2.

People are one of those resources God provides for encouragement and in this case our neighbors helped stir our affection for God as He is good to us - even in the small things. Emily also illustrated to us the protection God has over our daughter.

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