Well. Our community pastor announced that last night, our pastor's youngest son, 18 month old Thaddeus, was given a preliminary diagnosis of leukemia. I wish I knew how to capture what happened in the room when we heard, together. I know that my friend and I had tears in our eyes as we processed, and that when we all prayed, we held hands. I know that Pastor Joe answered the question he read in our minds "what can we do?" because we were so ready to do whatever he would tell us. We are richly provided for in that we have a Seattle children's cancer wing nurse in our body and that we have learned a theology of service by experience. Everyone in our church has served and been served in times of deep need.
It's a really hard thing, and there are a lot more questions than answers right now. But I am so sure that we're going to approach this as a family, because that's who we are in Jesus.
Here's a message I sent my friend Tina about it -
This is the quote I wrote down from our elder who preached today "When life sucks, as it often does, we're here for each other". He was amazing because he literally had no notice and his family had also been through a lot lately...he stood up there and talked about Romans 12 and said "I know for a fact that I don't need to tell this church to serve more - please don't hear that - this is an encouragement for what you are already doing. I've heard the stories and have been loved by this church more than you even know or understand. Someone coming over and saying hey can I help you organize your kitchen or just watching people's kids for a few hours or a few days" and then he started crying and he goes "wow this is the most embarrassing thing I've done in the occasional times I've preached but I'm so glad I get to be embarrassing with all of you"
As family we go
:( :( :(
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