Some thoughts on a non-holiday

From Joel (my son-in-law), on death and Halloween:

I was really bothered today by the way Halloween makes light of death. I couldn't help thinking of the last moments of Emily's life as she lay on the hospital bed covered in blood because they'd been doing chest compressions on her 5 lb body a day after heart surgery. I remembered how it felt to hold her head as the fluid began to pool behind her skull. I remembered wrapping her body in a white fuzzy blanket a few days later in the funeral home, her bruises barely disguised by make-up.

And now, when a kid comes to the door dressed as the living dead with fake blood all over his face I'm expected to smile and give him candy?

How can we make light of death?

I think of the thousand upon thousands upon thousands of children who've been mutilated by war. Those today who walk streets of terror and are no stranger to death and gore. Would they celebrate a holiday of fear? We are so ignorant in our safe little suburbs of the realities of the world.

I hate Halloween.

<idle musing>
We are ignorant of the reality of what Halloween is, aren't we? It, by design, is a celebration of death. As Christians, we are to celebrate life...
</idle musing>

Look to Job

“Job is a book not so much about God’s justice as about the transformation of a man whose piety and view of the world were formed in a setting of wealth and happiness and into whose life burst calamities that put an end to both. How can piety nurtured in prosperity prove to be truly deep-rooted and disinterested and not merely a spiritual adjunct of good fortune (“God has been good to me so I am faithful to Him”)? Can a man pious in prosperity remain pious when he is cut down by anarchical events that belie his orderly view of the world? The book of Job tells how one man suddenly awakened to the anarchy rampant in the world, yet his attachment to God outlived the ruin of his tidy system.”—Jewish Bible Theology, page 223

<idle musing>
I'm in the midst of reading Job right now. A relevant post to these thoughts was posted by Renee very early this AM...
</idle musing>

A song is given birth in the spring

Joel posted this song to their blog yesterday. It is a reflection on how Emily's passing last June helps him understand the crucifixion a bit better. Click on the widget to hear it. The words are below.

Resurrection Morn
by Joel Pike
Now that I've held death in my arms.
Now that my own flesh and blood has grown cold.
Now that I've seen a soul move on,
leaving behind a little body and a little less of me.

Now that I've seen the heavenly slip away....
Nothings left when the heavenly slips away.
Now that I've seen...
What would've it been like to be there on a hill outside of Jerusalem?
When the earth shuddered and the sky rolled and on the cross hung the one who made it all?
He made the hands that beat him.
He made the tongues that cursed him over and over.
He made the nails that pierced his wrists.
He made the thorns that crowned His bloody head.

The Author of Life wrote His death. He wrote in His own blood.
And the Light of the world was extinguished.
And what is a world without the One by whom it is made?
No there's nothing left when the heavenly slips away.

Oh for the resurrection morn!
Oh for the first light of dawn!

All would be lost it that'd been all;
if death could keep a hold on God
Enter the tomb. Pass the stone rolled away.
He is not here. He is risen from the dead!

Oh for the resurrection morn! (Where would we be?)
Oh for the first light of dawn! (Come Lord Jesus come)

Sometimes you have to say good-bye

But it is not always easy. Monday they did surgery on Emily Grace. Tuesday, she went to be with Jesus. I only got to see her two days, but she had a sweet spirit about her. Even the nurses noticed it and commented on it. Joel has written a nice little good-bye here.

Update on Emily

I just received an e-mail from Joel:

They decided not to do another ECHO. They were putting an IV in Emily's neck when we arrived, but we couldn't watch. She's still scheduled for noon but may not actually have surgery until 1 or 2.

The times are Central Daylight. Please pray! I think they should do another ECHO before surgery, but...

Emily Grace (June bug) Monday results

Joel and Renee couldn't post last night, but I talked to Joel on the phone (Debbie too!). Here's what happened:

The doctors stopped the prostoglandin yesterday morning, as planned. Emily's oxygen saturation levels dropped, as expected; the concern is if they drop below 70. They did drop below 70 last evening, but then recovered into the 80's, but were not stable, although they did not drop below 70 again. The doctors had a nurse technician do an ultrasound/echo monitor on Emily's heart. She was at it for about 45 minutes.

She was fairly sure that she saw forward movement of blood through the pulmonary artery, which is good. Because it was evening, the doctors were consulting with her over the phone. Given that it was evening, and that her levels were somewhat unstable, they decided to begin giving Emily the prostoglandin again. But, there will be a consultation between the doctors and a new ultrasound/echo monitor this morning.

Please pray! This is truly good news! If when the doctors review the ultrasound/echo monitor from last night and this morning they see forward movement of blood, they probably will not need to operate!

Joel told me they would call me at work today with any further updates. I will post them as soon as I hear.

Emily Grace (June bug)

I haven't posted anything on baby Emily since she was born. But, here is the latest, well the latest as of Saturday anyway. You can get all the details, as well as pictures on Joel and Renee's blog

On Thursday they stopped giving her prostoglandin to see if her heart would be able to function normally (see here for details). It didn't. So they resumed the medication. At the time, the doctors said that this automatically means open-heart surgery. But, on Saturday when I talked to Renee she told me that they were going to try one more time—today. Apparently they think there is still a chance to avoid surgery. When I think of that tiny little chest getting cut open... Anyway, with God there is more than a chance to avoid surgery. Please pray that God would intervene and enable her heart to sustain the necessary blood flow.

She is a beautiful little baby and she is one week old today.

Junebug

Hey everybody! I'm a grandpa again! Emily Grace was born at 1:30 PM Central time today. They were concerned that she wouldn't have enough lung capacity to support life. Guess what? God is fantastic! Not only did she cry, but she wouldn't stop crying! Talk about lung capacity :)

More details soon, but my battery is about dead now...

It's Monday

Haven't had access to the Internet since Thursday, so perhaps a bit of an update would be nice...

Ryan and Emily's wedding was Saturday, and it was wonderful. Their prayer was that God would be glorified and people would see Jesus in everything that happened. Their prayers were answered. We saw people we hadn't seen since the last wedding (Renee's four years ago); others we hadn't seen since we left Minneapolis over 4.5 years ago. After the reception we helped Ryan and Emily take their gifts to their new apartment and left them in peace :) They flew out Monday AM at 6:00 for Florida. Ryan's work has paid for their airfare and lodging for 8 days at Fort Lauderdale! Emily had never flown before, or seen the ocean, so this is quite the treat for her. I just hope they don't get sunburn.

Saturday evening we went to "The House" which is an emerging-type church in Burnsville on the charismatic side of things. This is Ryan and Emily's home church, so we saw quite a few people that we had met at the wedding that morning. Afterwards, several of us joined together in prayer for baby Emily Grace (Junebug).

Sunday we went to see some friends in Chaska (where we used to live in the Minneapolis area). We had a good time catching up and praying with people from our bible study there. After that, we headed over to another set of friends and prayed with them for healing of their marriage. God broke through, and there was a great time of forgiveness and healing. They had been separated, but after last night, they are back together. We praise God for the restoration and pray that they would continue to walk in forgiveness with one another. By the time that was over, it was a bit late to take the kids back to Clyde and Pat's—we had laid them down to sleep at the last place—so we stayed the rest of the night.

Today, we returned to Clyde and Pat's to the news that Renee had gone into labor on her own late Sunday night. They admitted her Monday morning and broke her water around 10:30 Central time. And that brings us up to date. We don't know anything more yet, but they are expecting a baby girl before evening...

More when I have it.

So, what is happening?

Basically, nothing. We arrived in Minneapolis Monday morning after driving through the night. That same afternoon, Joel and I went up to Grand Marais (about a 5 hour drive) to get the kids and their clothes. Debbie stayed with Renee. Tuesday morning Joel and I did some things that they hadn't been able to do before leaving Friday night—they weren't expecting to leave for another 6 days—and packed up the kids' clothes and grabbed the kids. Then, off we went for another 5 hour drive back to Minneapolis. Along the way, we stopped outside of Duluth for a nice cold picnic. The wind was off the lake, which always makes it cold, but it had been 35 F the night before, and was only about 50 degrees at noon. But the lake is still beautiful and we threw our share of rocks into it :) We arrived back in Minneapolis around 5 that night. So, in about 36 hours, I had spent around 20 of them in a car :(

We have the kids and are staying with Ryan's future in-laws, Clyde and Pat. They have a large enough house and a 3 acre yard, so we aren't cramped. They have been great, and the kids are doing well. Joel and Renee come every day to see them after their morning doctor's appointment. Renee has been having contractions off and on, but nothing to really get things moving. Right now, as I write this, they are having an ultrasound, which may tell more, but I doubt it.

Yesterday afternoon, Joel, Clyde, and I went for a nice hike in the nature preserve near their house. They have about 7-8 miles of trails and we did about 5 miles of them. Saw 3-4 deer, 1 wild turkey, and numerous birds.

Last night I helped Ryan pick up their new bed and put it together. They got a nice one bedroom apartment in Bloomington (a near 'burb of Minneapolis) with a nice big yard. Very quiet and peaceful. Ryan has been living there for about a week; Emily is still living at Bethany. They believe in sexual abstinence until marriage—would that others would also!

The only drawback about staying where we are is that they have no high speed Internet and no network for me to attach my computer to even for dial-up. Right now I am sitting in a Panera Bread and typing this, trying to get caught up on e-mails, and do some other stuff.

We left in such a hurry, that I copied the wrong files to my computer, so I am going to try and get those so I can get the Biblical Studies catalog done while I am here.

And they're off!

Wow, what a weekend, and its only Sunday afternoon. We were at some friends Friday night and returned to no less than 5 messages on the answering machine. Emily Grace (June bug) decided to upset everybody's schedule and sent Renee into labor. You can read all the details on Joel and Renee's blog.

They stopped the labor in Duluth while they airlifted her to Minneapolis and decided not to restart it. But, they won't let them leave Minneapolis. So, Joel and Renee are in a hotel about 2 blocks from the hospital, and Joshua and Rachel are still in Grand Marais. So, we are off to Minneapolis to take care of Joshua and Rachel.

I will post as I can, but please pray!

Thanks to all who have been praying; God is in control and will get glory for himself.

The latest on June bug

Joel and Renee have posted the latest update.

Good news: Joel and I did not go to Minneapolis to have a baby today! No signs of heart failure within our baby, so, thank you, Jesus!

Good news: June Bug has a new name! May we introduce Emily Grace Pike to you. Emily means 'to strive, to rival, to excel'. Emily (June Bug) has been striving to survive, striving for life but only with the empowering grace of our God. Joel and I have been striving to trust, to believe, but only by the empowering grace of God. We felt that this name fit perfectly.

<idle musing>
I like that; a good choice for a name.
</idle musing>
Now, the hard news:

The heart takes up 70-80% of the chest cavity. A normal heart of equal age would only take up 50%. Big difference! The concern is now of the lungs. The concern is NOT of the maturity of the lungs but if there is enough lung mass to support Emily. In other words, the lungs at 38 weeks will be mature, able to handle oxygen and be perfectly normal except for the amount of lung tissue. Since the heart is taking up so much space within the chest cavity, the lungs are forced at a standstill in reaching the desired size. There is no way of knowing how much lung mass is needed for Emily.
The doctor said, optimistically, there is a 50-50 chance that Emily's lungs will sustain her once that umbilical cord is cut. If the lungs DO sustain her, then we 'worry' about the heart. But if the lungs do NOT sustain her, then she goes home to be with Jesus.

Please continue to pray for complete healing for Emily Grace.

Junebug update

I keep forgetting to post an update on Junebug. Joel and Renee are very good about updating their blog, so I forget...

Anyway, they went to Minneapolis last week and got some good news:

-Surgery is no longer completely necessary. There is a medication that can be given to June Bug after she is born that will help and possibly eliminate the need for surgery. She will need to be closely monitored for a few weeks and the specialist will determine when she can be removed from the medication. So this is wonderful news!!

And then they went to Duluth this Tuesday and heard some more good news:

We were encouraged talking to our maternal fetal medicine doctor in Duluth. She was not concerned with Junebug's growth. Although it is slow (about 10% behind), it is not falling sharply away from the norm. So this means that the heart defect is not causing a serious development challenge. Also, Dr. O'Day suggested we cancel our trip to Abbott hospital in Minneapolis on May 2 because they can do the same tests in Duluth.

<idle musing>
I believe this is in answer to prayer. And, I still am praying and believing that Junebug will be born with a normal heart and aorta. I encourage you to believe and pray, too.
</idle musing>

Thoughts on healing and prayer

Recently I have been thinking a good bit about healing and prayer, and how God acts. I touched on it previously here and here, and provoked a firestorm of controversy. Oh well. I guess I don't learn, because I'm about to do it again :)

Last week Guy Muse on the M Blog had a post on prayer in his area. I quote from the relevant parts (although the whole thing is excellent):

This past Saturday I was out to lunch with Geovanny (our team leader), his brother Marcos, and a visiting missionary from Mexico. We were downtown standing in line to get our rice, beans, plantains, and meat when my cell phone rang.
Hermano Guido...ORE!!! Pedro está grave. Parece que está teniendo un ataque cardíaco!!! (Brother Guy, PRAY! Peter is very ill. It looks like he is having a heart attack!)
My response?
Call an ambulance, get him to the hospital as fast as possible. It is critical that someone take him NOW!
Their response...
Pray for him, please! He is very ill and is struggling to breath...
I insisted...
Get Pedro to the doctor ASAP!
The four of us sat down at a table and began to pray for Pedro. The two missionaries prayed that the Lord would help the family get the medical attention Pedro was needing. The two nationals prayed that God would heal Pedro.
After a few minutes Pedro's wife called back.
Pedro is fine, thank you for praying. A bunch of the church and family arrived in the nick of time to pray over him. We prayed for his healing. God once again graciously intervened. He is now resting.

<idle musing>
Where to begin? I think part of our problem in the U.S. (and probably the western world) is that we have relegated God to the “gaps.” God is there where we don't understand, or where we are unable to do it ourselves. If science has explained it, we take God out of it. For example, gravity. Gravity is a “law” of science; drop something and it falls. No need for God.

We have lost touch with the reality of the intimacy of God with the world—he sustains all things by his powerful word as Hebrews 1:3 puts it. C.S. Lewis talked about this in his book Miracles; isn't everything a miracle? God is at work making the flowers grow; it is a miracle. God is at work making the planets go around the sun; it is a miracle. But we have lost the ability to be “wowed” by nature.

I submit to you that as we have lost that ability and that understanding of the intimacy of God with creation, we have also lost the ability to let God do things that medical science, or botany, or whatever, can do. We get sick; we go to the doctor. We don't even consider that James says (no, not me, the apostle!) “Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick... (James 5:14-15 NRSV).

Or how about this, Paul is on a missionary trip and he comes across a guy by the name of Aeneas who needs healing. What does he do? Luke the physician is there; does he call on Luke? Of course not, you say (because you have already read the book of Acts). Right, he calls upon the power of Jesus to heal. But what about today? Same God, same Jesus, same Holy Spirit! But, we call 911 and depend on humanity, effectively giving God's glory to man.

What about little June bug? Well, according to Psalm 139: 13, it is God who is forming her, so all I am asking is that God form her in such a way that her heart works properly. Is that too difficult for God? Well, if you see a baby as something that just happens because of nature, it might be. But, if you see God as intimately involved in the creation of that little baby, no way! If you start saying something like, “Well, that is just a poetic way of saying things. The ancient Israelites didn't have the benefit of medical science like we do. Don't be so literal!” Then you won't see many evidences of God's intervention. And I submit to you that in this case the “benefit” of modern science is anything but a benefit to faith.

I've noticed something over the years: those who expect God to intervene generally have their prayers answered quite frequently. On the other hand, those who pray general “feel good” prayers or “God help” prayers see less divine answers.

I may cause another firestorm of controversy here, but I will take my stand with those who expect God to do something. Otherwise, we have relegated him to the status of an idol, or at least that is what Isaiah says when he confronts the idols: “...that we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that we may be afraid and terrified. You, indeed are nothing and your work is nothing at all...” (Isaiah 41:23-24 NRSV). So, what will it be? A living and active God? Or, an idol that we call on from afar, but don't really expect to receive an answer from? A deistic God who might have set the world in motion once upon a time? Or, a loving, living, intimate creator who cares for the sparrow—and June bug?
</idle musing>

Update on Junebug

Joel has posted an update on Junebug; here is a portion of it:

Junebug has been diagnosed with Ebstein's Anomaly. The tricuspid valve through which blood flows from the right atrium to the right ventricle is displaced, lower than it should be. Thus the valve is not functioning as it should, and is allowing blood to flow back into the right atrium. The stress on the heart could quite likely cause failure, even in utero. But this hasn't happened yet.

Please pray for them and for Junebug.