It's A New Day

One of the draw backs of being a step-dad is that you have no stake in the claim of your child's beauty.  Nancy is striking.  I remember when I was a single Christian I use to marvel at some of the 'geek' looking guys that had these gorgeous wives and thinking either God has great grace on the man or the women was the object of God's wrath.  After reading Romans 7 for the first time, I realized it was grace for both.  Regardless, I never thought I would be so blessed.   Well, now I am the geek looking guy and I have an extraordinary wife.  Beautiful inside and out with a humble transparency for a base that Mark Kay could never conjure in her labs.
Filtered by pollution from man, smoke from Florida or ash from New Zealand, the sun rose as a distant orange sphere.  This morning, Rachael's beauty was kissed by this softer version of the greater light.  I wake up looking like three day old raccoon carrion in the turning lane of an exit ramp, she wakes up like someone in the movies, full make-up and Photoshop touch-ups.  She is so beautiful.  Her grand smile returned today along with her laugh and her awareness.  The shroud of fear and the chemically induced blank stare of yesterday were shed for the bright focused twinkle, the scintilla of the rising sun in her bold brown eyes in this quiet of the morn.  It seems a prophesy of better things to come.  This is a beautiful morning, a new day.

It will take a few weeks for the Baclofen levels to be adjusted.  As this happens she will be weaned from the 4 muscle relaxers that she is on.  This will increase her alertness and ability to react during therapy and help with other functions.  Soon, very soon she will be home.  The burden of the travels to and from Hospitals and Rehab centers will end.  A new season in this journey will begin and we will cling to that higher rock as we get to get through this together.  It is not that we have to get through it.  We get to get through it!  We get to honor God in all of this, we get to serve Rachael.  We get to share Christ with so many.  We get to watch Hanna minister to elderly folks and see Christ revealed in her. We get to watch Daniel as he attends SCF full time, prepares for Bible college, ministers to the youth and yet takes time to come up along side us during the hard times.  We get to have joyous meals prepared from the hands of those who love Jesus Christ and show it in their works.  We get to watch many of Rachael's caregivers fall in love with her.  We get to watch God answer prayer after prayer.  We get to share with you on this blog.  We get to hear from so many of you in reply.  Many more are blessed from your words.

Pastor Bob Wulfing, our pastor at Calvary Chapel of Venice is out in California at the Calvary Chapel Senior Pastors Conference.  Last night a bunch of the guys prayed for Rachael and for her to get through this surgery without pain.  She was quiet with her eyes open for most of the this morning until we began our banter and the construction of the east wing of SMH started which wrought laughter from Rachael, she did not have any pain killers.  Not too much evidence of pain there!  Thanks guys.  Thanks to all of you for your prayers over the past few days.  Please continue to pray for no infections as the wounds heal over the the next 7 days.

Pastor Bob suggested I read Psalm 61 yesterday and I had forgotten that it was one of the Psalms we turned to in the early days of Rachael's accident.  It gave us some guidance on where we needed to be:

1 Hear my cry, O God;

Give heed to my prayer.

2 From the end of the earth I call to You when my heart is faint;

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

3 For You have been a refuge for me,

A tower of strength [fn1] against the enemy.

4 Let me [fn2] dwell in Your tent forever;

Let me take refuge in the shelter of Your wings. [fn3] Selah.

It was good then and it we hold to it now.

Thank you Jesus for getting Rachael through this 1st 24 hours and answering the prayers.  Thank you for being so close to us and thank you for letting us be saved by you!