Bold Prayer!

I spent yesterday afternoon with Matt and Lorraine.  For those of you that do not know, Matt and Lorraine they have accepted a call on their lives that many look on with a raised eyebrow.  Matt and Lorraine have three wonderful kids.  In addition to their birth children, they have adopted three kids.  While adoption is not confusing, the adoption of Chrissy caused some, even their own family to question their direction.  Matt and Lorraine felt that God was instructing them to adopt a young child that would medically not survive without some special intervention.  They adopted Chrissy from Serbia.  Chrissy is a beautiful little princess that after only 6 months has already developed a Texan drawl.

Chrissy’s medical condition:  “Chrissie is a miracle child, as she should have died within the first 2 days of life since she was born without a pulmonary artery or valves in her heart, amongst other defects, such as a large hole between the lower right and left ventricles of her heart. As we reported before, Chrissie is being kept alive by 3 God-made vessels (which none of the rest of the world has) which are working independently of her heart. Our hearts pump blood to our lungs to be oxygenated through the pulmonary artery and valves; since Chrissie lacks these, there is NO blood flow to her lungs from her heart. However, God created those 3 God-made vessels to work independently of the heart to pump blood to Chrissie’s lungs to be oxygenated. There’s also a large hole between the lower right and left chambers of Chrissie’s heart, which must be closed. I know there were some other issues with Chrissie’s pulmonary system, but I can’t recall all of the details. I just know that it’s a HUGE miracle to be able to repair all that is wrong, and I thank God for His healing hands in Chrissie’s life and for sending Dr. Mary Porisch (pediatric cardiologist) into our lives.”  (From Lorraine’s Blog)

They researched surgeons who would be willing to perform the surgery and met a lot of resistance.  When all hope was just about gone, they got a phone call from a doctor in San Antonio.  Dr. Mary Porisch and her team travel the world performing surgeries that most people would never attempt in the hope of giving children a chance at life.  Dr. Porisch considers her work as her contributions to missions on behalf of the Father.

Yesterday was  a tough day for Chrissy.  Her heart stopped for 45 minutes.  She is connected to an ECMO machine that is doing the job of her lungs and heart while her heart heals from the surgery and compressions.  Chrissy is fighting for her life.  But not just her life, she is fighting for the life of other orphans around the world who have been abandoned by their parents in countries where the medical field has not advanced to the point to keep them alive.  There are people in the United States who would love to adopt these babies, but the countries in which they live will not allow them to be adopted because they fell they are not worth the effort and will die anyway.  The world is watching as Chrissy fights on a bed in San Antonio, Texas.  Many are praying, many are weeping.  Me, I have been inspired by a 4 year-old Serbian born Texan.  I want to share the rest of her story with you.  If you want to read about it, go to Lorraine’s blog at http://www.allarepreciousinhissight.blogspot.com/ and join us in prayer for Chrissy.

Are you bold enough to pray for Perfect Healing?

Dead or Alive

Yesterday morning before church, I was studying and looking through the different stories of the resurrection as they were recorded in the Gospels.  I came across this in Luke 24:5, “Then, as they were afraid and bowed their faces to the earth, they said to them, ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead?‘”

Now I know most of you would contend that I should keep going and read the next verse.  The next verse is the fulfillment of the prophesy of Jesus resurrection.  That next verse is filled with the promise of hope and joy and greatness.  The next verse is loaded with doctrine and theology and a student of the Bible could spend a lot of time in the next verse.  However, the Spirit of God caused me to stop on verse 5.  “Why do you seek the living among the dead?”

I have been reading on twitter and other blog sites from around the country and from friends in ministry how excellent their Easter Services were.  Some talk about record numbers of noses that showed up.  Some talk about the strategies that were successful in getting people there.  Some are talking about the conversions that took place once people were there.  But yesterday morning before most services had met, God’s Spirit caused me to stop.  To reflect and to ask some tough questions of myself and the church.

You see for many people yesterday they were making their yearly ritual to attend a worship service.  Some were going to be with their family, some were going because it was Sunday, some were going because they had a “part” to play, and some were going because someone invited them to attend this “special” service.  There was probably even some that went because they were expected to be there or some that went because they wanted to worship the Father in Spirit and Truth.  Wherever, you may fall in these categories, you can’t deny that most were looking for life!  They may not have said that, they may not have even known that.  I mean most youth want boundaries in their life but I have yet to meet that one will walk up and ask for it.  We need life.  Now you can look at this from a physical or a spiritual view, but we all need life.

Physically, we need life to continue to… uhm, well…live!  It is a basic need.  Life sustains life.  If we don’t have life, we die.  Since the dead don’t tweet, who wants to be a part of that?  Spiritually, we need life to produce more life.  We don’t just need life to sustain our own spiritual growth, we need it to implant in the hearts of those who are dead to their own sins and shortcomings.  We need life in us to show it is possible to overcome the sins of this world.  We need life in us to be the witness for the One who came to give us LIFE!

“Why do you seek the living among the dead?”  Yesterday many people showed up at my church and your church and all God’s churches to find life.  They were looking for the living.  Did they find it?  Did they see life in your church?  Not just with you… but all over your church?  Did they find life?  Or did they walk away thinking, “I still haven’t found it.  Those people are as dead as I am; they just don’t know it.”  As I was saying, I have read all the glorious reports from friends and twitter friends in regards to how amazing their services were, but did the dead find life?  I am all for amazing worship.  I want it every Sunday.  I pray and cry for it Saturday night and even more so in my life on a daily basis.  (I must admit that some days are better for it than others.)  But what did they find?  Don’t just settle for, “Well, the Word of God was preached!  We made a big deal about Jesus.  If they missed that, we can’t help them!”  Why can’t you help them?  They were looking for life!  They aren’t always looking for it in a big show or production or cantata or performance or eloquent speech.  They were looking for life, what did they find?

be blessed,

craig