Day 53 - August 7 - Three blessings

Today has been a day when God blessed the boy so much he just had to be lifted up from his depression.

Blessing number one - A very good friend of mine, who served two tours in-country in Viet Nam with the 101st Airborne, came to visit today. This fellow (who will not tell you about this personally, but who has given permission for me to tell it) was injured in action while rescuing one of his buddies. He was injured by a satchel charge while carrying a wounded squad mate up the hill to the LZ for evac. For his actions, he received the Purple Heart and the Silver Star (I think - since he won't tell the story, he'll have to make do with my faulty memory!). Today, this friend came up to Connor's room, and told Connor he had something to give him. With Connor listening intently, my friend described how he sees Connor as a wounded warrior, down but not out, and getting ready to return to the fight. If you don't know Connor, this is language he understands, and he listened and watched intently as my friend, visibly pulling himself together, pulled something out of his pocket. He then presented Connor with the small bar representing his own Purple Heart medal, pinning it onto Connor's hospital gown before praying a blessing over my son. Overwhelmed with my own tears, I could still see the powerful impact such a gift had on the boy. He was visibly awed and impressed by such an act. Thanks, Mark. I love you.

Blessing number two - Takes a bit of background. Every Thursday night, a group of men from the Fresno Rescue Mission storm into the waiting rooms here, asking - no, shouting - if anyone there needs prayer. Of course, in the trauma unit there's always many takers, including us, and so we've struck up an acquaintance with these rough prayer warriors. Tonight, six of them came in and saw us, and came over to ask about Connor. After we had updated them and prayed with them, they offered to go into Connor's room to pray with him as well. I liked the idea, but I knew that the nurse could squash the idea since only two visitors are allowed at a time. But, God has broken down bigger walls than that, so we went up and asked, and what do you know? "Sure, come on in!" was the response. So, these six bold, tattooed men and I took the trauma unit by storm, sweeping into the boy's room to pray. It was interesting that although they acted appropriately at all times, speaking softly and respectfully to the nurses and staff, my impression of them was that they stormed into the room with power. Now, these guys learned their faith in a different place than I did - in prison, and on the streets, and in battles with drugs or alcohol, and it shows - they came to prayer with power - you could feel it in the room. We gathered around Connor, made the introductions, and prayed. All I can say is that when we were done, all of us just looked at each other with that "Wow!" look on our faces. God was awesome in the prayers of his saints this night.

Blessing number three - As Cherié and I were with the boy, talking about events of the day, a staff member popped in. He was on his way home but is a believer who has worked with Connor before. He came into the room, and in a few moments had lifted Connor, reminded him of the opportunity God has given him by blessing him with so much prayer time, encouraged all of us with scripture, confirmed a scripture I had been pondering all day (the persistent widow again), and then prayed with us with power before he took off.

All of this has left us all a bit speechless tonight. Connor, Joélle and Cherié are upstairs saying their goodnights, while Granny has slipped off to the RV. When I came downstairs, 30 minutes ago, the boy was in good spirits and looking forward to getting some rest. Please pray that he receives what he needs tonight, and that he is blessed by it.

Good night.

Oh, yeah - one last thing. My mom read all the posts about Macaroni and Cheese, and she emailed me this response...

About the recipe. Don't know that I ever had one in the first place, just threw things together. You are making it out like I'm a good cook. ... and I'll get even with you for reminding people about it again.

So I don't know if any of us will ever experience such a thing again until Glory!