Notice on a slight format change:

Except for July 2012, these are mostly a collection of current devotional notes.

July 2012 is a re-write of old quiet times. My second child was born Nov 11, 1987 with multiple birth defects. I've been re-reading my QT notes from that time in my life, and have included them here. They cover the time before the birth and the few years immediately after the birth. They are tagged "historical." I added new insights and labeled them: ((TODAY, dd mmm yy)).

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Historical QT 14 Nov 1987, Why does suffering need to hurt so much?


John 15:2 (NIV) He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

NOTE:  Pruning is a process that hurts. It's not just the dead things which are pruned but also the living. Sometimes the pruning process makes no sense. In the case of flowers, the best buds may be pruned off so that the flower grows even better and more beautiful. In our life, Sharon and I, God seems to be doing some major pruning -- it hurts a lot. Not only does it hurt, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. I'm not sure why Luke has to suffer so much. I know that suffering on earth is insignificant compared to the suffering of those that do not know God. God sees eternity, he is not fooled by the temporal as I am. He truly does know what is best for me, Sharon, Sarah, and Luke. I hope and pray that our attitudes and actions glorify him during this time. Lord, help us to rejoice during these trials and tribulations. Help us to grow deeper in our relationship to you. We do love you; even more so we know that you love us. You know our needs, you will provide, and you will bring about the best for our lives. That is your promise. Thanks! Amen.

((Today, 5 Jul 2012: On 11 Nov 1987, Veterans day, Luke was born in Dayton Ohio at the Wright-Patterson AFB military hospital. He had a tracheal web with a 1 mm hole blocking the air flow through his trachea. His stomach and esophagus were not connected. He was missing the corpus callosum in the brain. The bones in the head had already fused and would require surgery. He had fluid pockets in the brain (I think they were anterior). He was medevac'ed, within the day, to San Antonio Texas, to the neo-natal intensive care unit at Wilford Hall. We (Sharon and I) did not travel with him. Sharon had an emergency C-section and could not be  moved. I had to take care of our two-year old daughter. We would follow on the next available flight, seven days later. We were told years later by Nurses on the flight who remembered our unusual name, that Luke had almost died on the flight. He received an emergency tracheotomy upon arrival at Wilford Hall. So begins the journey that would forever change our lives …))

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