For our good friend Melissa

On Monday night before I left CA, I was blessed to be able to see our friend Melissa Logan for a few hours.  Mel is friend of Kari and mine from Brookside FMC in Redlands. (I know you already know that Brookside peeps, but that was for everybody else.)  In January, a car accident left her with some nerve damage in her right arm and over the next 5 ½ months, the damage spread throughout both her arms and legs, leaving them paralyzed and putting her in the hospital.  Worse still, is the constant pain that she has had.  On many occasions when Kari had visited her, a careless touch from a nurse or even a drop of water or piece of fuzz that would land on Melissa’s arms or legs would be so painful that she would pass out or stop breathing.  She has since had a number of surgeries with mixed results.  She has regained the use of her arms, and at one point, she was even walking again, but much of the success was short-lived and she is now not able to walk.  And even though they never worked with a lot of success, no amount of pain medication seems to have any effect now.  

Seeing Melissa and her family was a humbling experience.  Even with all that Kari has been through, I cannot imagine what it has been like for her with all the pain, being healed only go back, and the doctors not knowing even what caused her condition.  So, with all sincerity, I ask that you remember to pray for them.  I honestly do not know what to tell you to pray for, but simply remember them and let the Holy Spirit intercede on their behalf.

Through all this, I was reminded of the lyrics from a few different songs by Jars of Clay.  

I don’t know where
I don’t know how
I don’t know why
But your love can make these things better.
//
Exposed beyond the shadows
You take the cup from me
Your dirt removes my blindness
Your pain becomes my peace
//
O Come and mourn with me awhile
A broken heart a fount of tears
Ask and they will not be denied
A broken heart love’s cradle is
Jesus our Lord is crucified
O love of God, o sin of man
In this dread act your strength is tried
And victory remains with love
Jesus our lord is crucified
//
He has hushed the law’s loud thunder.
He has quenched Mt. Sinai’s flame.
He has washed us with his blood.
He presents our souls to God.
//

In the last set, I get the image of Jesus presenting us to the Father as blameless and pure.  Even with broken bodies, with lives that don’t make sense, and with uncertainty about his plan, God, through Jesus, sees us as pure, beautiful examples of his handiwork.  One more song for you—an old hymn.

On Jordan's stormy banks I stand
And cast a wishful eye
To Canaan's fair and happy land
Where my possessions lie

All o'er those wide extended plains
Shines one eternal day
There God, the Son forever reigns
And scatters night away.

No chilling wind nor poisonous breath
Can reach that healthful shore
Where sickness, sorrow, pain and death
Are felt and feared no more

When shall I see that happy place
And be forever blessed
When shall I see my Father's face
And in His bosom restI am bound, I am bound, I am bound for the Promise Land
//


I guess, pray for hope.

Aaron.