A Necessity

So I got to go worship for the first time in about a month last week.   During worship I started thinking about necessity.  Specifically my thought was this:  "is Jacob's illness a necessity?"  the more I thought about it I remembered what I believe and that is this:  My Jesus loves Jacob - more than I could ever love him. He has plans for Jacob - to do him good - not harm.  So if I believe that (and I do with all of my heart) then Jacob's illness must be a necessity -a holy necessity.  As I thought more about this I wondered ...but for what?  Here is what I concluded:  Jacob's illness serves the purpose to demonstrate hope. It demonstrates an assurance that Jacob and his family has - Jesus will never leave us or forsake us and Jesus has plans for our good - for the good of others.

After worship I got to speak with a dear friends who are going through some serious hardship with their child.  You know what they told me?  "I get the feeling this struggle is a necessity" - exactly what I was wondering as I worshiped.  That my friend is confirmation that I am onto something important here.

Hope and assurance like fear and despair is contagious.  You know what I can tell you - Jacob's hope is exactly that - contagious.  I have seen it brighten the day of the staff here at Children's.  I'll bet that some just don't understand how this young man has "such a great attitude".  I would wager they wonder why he's always "all good". I believe that the effect Jacob is having  on the wonderful people we have the privilege of being with here on the 7th floor is part of the "necessity" of his Leukemia - and I believe there is more that we may or may not understand until later.

It is so tempting to get in a fetal position and despair when unthinkable things happen to those you love.  But that is not a necessity - especially when you trust that someone bigger than you, who loves more than you and "knows the plans he has for you" is holding your hand.

Jacob Update:  So we are waiting for a certain type of white blood cell to reappear in Jacob's labs.  They

The Obi Wan Knobi of Legos

are called monocytes.  Now when I first heard that term it reminded me of some old testament biblical people - as in "the Israelites subdued the king of the Monocytes and there was great rejoicing in the land". Nope - its a type of white blood cell.  He's at 0.  That means the chemo nuked everything and we're waiting for it to come back.  The Monocytes are an indicator that that is happening.  Today - no Monocytes.  We want Monocytes bad.  Four days we've been at 0.  Jacob feels fine other than being quarantined to his room.  He keeps busy.  He's still building stuff:  legos (thanks to folks that are sending him kits ;), model airplanes and other things.  He's still happy.  He says "I just want to get better".  It's as if he just knows this is where he needs to be.  Its a necessity.

Continue to pray for the families on the 7th floor.  There are many here - many worse off than us.  Try commuting from Montana or the 4 corners area for example.  Pray for the staff here from the housekeeping folks, the nurses, docs, techs - they all have a demanding job.  - Pray for Monocytes ( we wonder if there is a lego kit for those).  Love your kids, Love each other, Give Glory to the High King today.