Praying for 5%

For the past however long, I have felt like something is missing from my life. Matt and I go to church every Sunday, and I pray throughout my day, but I continue to feel like there's something not quite there in the mix of everything. While we were living in Hawaii, I decided that once we got home, I wanted to get involved with my old church group. I am way passed the age of going to youth group, so now I wanted to help lead it. I figured it would be a great way to deepen my faith and to hopefully fill the little part of my life that has been missing. They say that when you teach something to someone else, that means you are really starting to understand it yourself.

Tonight, I trekked the 20 minute drive up to my old church. [My family moved in 2003 and because we were then closer to a different church, we went there instead of driving 20 minutes each way every Sunday to our old church.] There's something that I really love about St. Christopher's; it holds a fond place in my heart. Probably because I attended church group there from 6th-11th grade, and it was where I spent nearly every Wednesday throughout those years. It felt great and yet weird to be back.

I have a very energetic group of 6th graders that I am going to be helping teach. I've forgotten how fun [and tiring] it is to be around that age, and I think that my patience will deepen throughout this year. I'm excited for it!

They are learning about the Beatitudes right now; today we talked about the 2nd Beatitude. "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." This falls at a time when our world is experiencing a lot of suffering. The disaster in Haiti has an expected death toll that far surpasses 9/11, the Iraq war, the Afghanistan war, and about every major disaster we've had in America for the last century. Or something like that. All I know is the damage and the devastation is huge. They need help and prayers and aid. And faith. I really hope they find faith amidst all of the wreckage.

In addition to those suffering and mourning in Haiti, there's another person who is experiencing suffering in a way that, despite being only one person, I can relate to closer. I am going to be teaching the 6th grade class myself for the next 1-4 weeks because the regular teacher is going to be out of town.

She found out very recently that her brother [51 years old] has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He is having surgery tomorrow; 10 hours long. Audrey is going to help out and take care of him once he's out of the hospital, while his wife continues to work. They need her to work so they can keep their health insurance.

The prognosis for pancreatic cancer is that 95% of those diagnosed die within the 1st year.

The hope is that they caught it early enough in Matt Miller, so that he can be 1 of the 5% who make it past that 1 year mark.

I ask for your prayers. I ask that you use the means of technology today to pass the need for prayers for Matt Miller on. He is 51 years old and his family needs him. I pray that God comforts Matt and his family during his surgery, recovery, and his fight toward survival and hopefully remission. I pray that they can know His healing powers and know that He is holding them in the palm of His hand throughout all of this.

If you could pass the prayer request on, I know that Audrey, Matt, his wife and family, and I would be very, very grateful.

In addition to the disaster in Haiti, another family is trying to keep strong tonight. To keep the faith alive in the face of fear and worry. May God be the wind beneath their wings.

Here's to praying for the 5% for Matt Miller and his family.

Miracles can happen.