Day 66 - August 20 - The son teaches the father
Boy, you could sure tell everyone was praying today!
Connor's fever came down quickly enough this morning, and he and Cherié had a great time ordering me around town via telephone to pick up all the different things he wanted for lunch. I ended up at two or three different places before I had obtained all the particular items he was wanting! Fortunately, they weren't far apart.
Cherié and I had a few minutes together when we got booted out of the boy's room this afternoon, and I am astounded at the different level of faith, hope and confidence in God we have today as compared to yesterday. We prayed, yes, but the nature and tone of our prayers were so different - the difference between a beggar supplicating for alms, and an heir approaching his royal father in boldness, I guess.
An interesting thing happened today - next to Connor's bed stands one of those rolling tables where we place his food and drinks. Today Cherié picked up a water glass that was about a third full to give to Connor, but when he took a sip, it was not water, but something incredibly bitter. Cherié reacted pretty strongly, fearing that she had placed something poisonous in Connor's mouth by accident, and she queried the nurse fairly harshly. When the nurse left the room afterward, Connor told his mom that she needed to make sure she apologized to the nurse before her shift ended. Of course Cherié did so, but I bring it up to show the character this young man continues to demonstrate in this situation. Of course he makes me proud, but it also humbles me that his character surpasses my own by so much. (BTW, it turned out to have been antibiotics that had been drained from an IV line to get the air bubble out).
Cherié left the room a bit early this evening so she could lie down and try to get rid of a severe headache, which gave me and the boy an hour or so together before bedtime. We had some guy time watching TV while we waited for his medications. After that, we talked and prayed for a while before I left, and I told Connor that I have never been as proud of him as I have been in the last two months. I told him that the last two months proved his character, his faith, and his love for God. I told him that he is teaching me how to endure suffering. And I told him that he has surpassed his old man - he used to be "Eric's son", but for the rest of my life I'll now be "Connor's dad". And nothing could make me prouder. I told him I believe God is going to do a mighty, mighty thing with Connor, and I told him I hope and pray that our lives lie closely together. He looked at me askew at that, so I told him I can't predict the directions God will direct our lives, but I want his and mine to be together. I asked him if he would walk arm in arm with me, glorifying God together. He got this great big, cheese-eating grin on his face and mouthed "The sooner the better"!
What a great kid. I am honored to be his dad. God has truly blessed us with our two wonderful children. It is so apparent to me that God has given Joélle the gift of wisdom, and Connor the gift of faith.
Speaking of Joélle, she just called from Morgan Hill to tell us about a message on our answering machine. I had changed our greeting many weeks ago to one explaining our current situation, that we would probably not be returning calls promptly, and pointing callers to the website for more information. Tonight there was a message from a telemarketer, who said that she had listened to Connor's situation and wanted us to know that she was going to be praying for us, and encouraged us with confident encouragement about the great God we serve. Wow! I can't wait to get home to hear it myself - that's one telemarketing phone call I'll be glad to listen to!
Our God is mighty and delights to do good things for His children.
Eric
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posted by Eric Williamson @ 10:46 PM
14 Comments
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14 Comments:
Awesome kid...awesome post. God is good. All the time.
Hope that Cherié was (or will be very soon) relieved of her headache and praying that she will be spared those for right now.
Thank you for sharing this one...it was a real blessing to me.
Sherri
Dear Eric, Cherie, Joelle and Connor,
We are praising our Faithful God for once again providing perfectly for your needs.He is our perfect portion. Rest well tonight. We love you all. Paul and Pam
Once again...doing the happy dance in Florida.
God You are Awesome, Powerful, Mighty, Faithful, True, and Just! I praise Your Magnificent name! Hallelujah to the King of kings and Lord of lords!
We are so glad to hear Connor's fever went down yesterday. Does that mean he's out of the woods for pneumonia?
What an awesome gift for Connor to give you, Connor's dad! Relish the gift and thank God for allowing you to see His work in Connor's life.
We're praying for you and your family many times throughout each and every day. Today will be no different for us.
Love,
The Wrenns
Gilroy
What an amazing boy. So thankful that the fever is gone.
I love thee O Lord my Strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress,
and my deliverer. My God is my
rock in whom I take refuge.
He is my shield and the horn
of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:1-2
You all are so blessed to have each other to walk through your journey of faith. This is Air1's verse of the day... it spoke to me so I thought I would share it with you.
"If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble."
Ecclesiastes 4:10, NLT
Thank you Lord, for hearing our prayers and coming to the rescue, You are good and worthy of our praise, all the time! Hey, Connor family, we always knew that through suffering we grow in faith and trust and as we perservere we grow in Godly character, but who knew we would be doing this through someone elses sufferings, so sorry that the Lord is using you to get to all of us but at the same time just think if we didn't have that hope and if we didn't know these things about our God it would all be for nothing, God Bless you family you are all an awesome witness and a testimony to the hope we have in our Jesus,
Growing and praying in Downey
Thank you for sharing. You must have been up very late last night as we went down around 12 or so and I was anxious to get an update on Conner before bed and I want to sleep praying for him.
I peaked a look before running out the door to work. Thank you for giving me tears of joy. Specifically, thank you Conner for being who God made you to be. I share your story with my 2 young sons in part, due to the fact that you are such a wonderful role model as to what a good Christian young man can be even under the most amazingly difficult times. Really, really, really.....I thank you!
The Derendinger Family
San Jose, ca
Praise to you Lord God for Connor and his wonderful family. Lord, you are a faithful God of love and hope. We thank you for the grace that you provide to Connor and his beautiful family to help them through each day and for the priviledge that we all have as your sons and daughters, coming together as their brothers and sisters in your name, as we journey with them. Father we pray that this day will be filled with more miracles and continued healing for dear Connor. In your precious name, we pray AMEN.
Hi Williamson's
We love that boy of yours......We know that he has been raised well.."For such a time as this"..Please give him a big huge hug from us and we are believin!!!
Love you..
MacPhail Clan
Your blogs are a blessing for all of us--filled with the kind of faith that is living, growing and authentic. I believe that someday you will look back on this time as the richest period of your life for mining the heart of God. It is a time of being truly "poor in spirit"--utterly emptied out before God and dependent upon Him for absolutely everything. Even now, God is extending His grace and mercy in ways that are difficult to piece together, but they will be clear at some point. To rest in the confidence of His provision, His unfailing love and His sovereignty is a hard discipline to master, but your tenacity is inspiring to all of us. Something of great consequence is happening here and certain things must take place for His glory to be broadcast. Though it is so hard to fathom it, it really is am incredible blessing that God is using your family, in particular your amazing son, to do something of great worth for His kingdom. I and countless other am watching and praying as it unfolds. Stand strong, dear Williamsons.
After reading this blog, I thought I would post this verse I received in a devotional for today:
"Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ" Galatians 6:2
AMEN!
Carolyn Brogan
What a warrior! Connor would have been the kind of platoon leader I would have been proud to have served with 40 yrs. ago.
Drive On! (101st. motto)
MT
Modesto
Wow...tears in my eyes kind of warm feeling on this post. I am amazed how God uses the very children he is kind enough to let us borrow (because they do not belong to us)...uses them to humble us. What a beautiful thing to see God's greatness and strong presence in the lives of Connor and Joelle. What a gracious Father we truly serve.
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