Please Pray for Ben and Logan

Dear Friends and Family,

Ben had a Right Heart Cath yesterday and the doctors decided to leave it in and move him to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at OHSU in Portland, Oregon so they could monitor his heart pressures as they continue to attempt to draw down the fluid levels in his lungs and liver. He is feeling slightly better due to good meds but his heart function is poor and they are going to list him for a heart transplant soon. Pray that he will get a good donor heart without a long wait.

Logan Ben's 28 month old son is going to OHSU tomorrow for another MRI on his brain stem tumor to see whether it has grown or not. Ethel and I have been watching both Logan and Emma this week while Meaghan has been staying at the hospital with Ben. Ethel will be driving Logan up to Portland for the MRI. They will be probably starting chemotherapy on him within the next couple weeks. Pray that the tumor will stop growing and begin shrinking. He is still unable to walk more than a few steps at a time but he is smart at a whip. Today he was sitting in our living room with some of his toys and singing "Jesus Loves Me" at the top of his lungs.

Of course we want the Lord's will and are trusting His Word that "He causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him and are called according to HIS purpose" Romans 8:28. We know that God's intent for any event in a Believer's life is to make us like Christ. In His Word He didn't promise us prosperity or a problem free life but said, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me you might have peace. In the world you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33
I was reminded by Ethel's brother the other day of a passage that God has drawn us back to a number of times in our lives when we were facing one crisis or another, "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. (2 Corinthians 4:8-12, NIV) God's Word and God's People will carry anyone through hard times. We can ALWAYS rest in that truth. "And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for you: for My strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:9.