The Power of Prayer...

Hello, friends! 

Last week, I wrote about processing loss and how Jonah was doing with the loss of his friend. It was such a blessing to see the outpouring of love and support from everyone. Since I started blogging in 2011, last week's post was the most viewed post ever. Apparently, something about processing lost resonated with people. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you. 

If the past few days have shown me anything, it's that there is power in prayer. I'm not sure that I could have said that with all integrity a week and a half ago but I have more evidence of it now. 

One of the things that I didn't mention when I first told the story was the prayer part. After Jonah's friend drowned, he was on life support, functionally brain dead but being kept alive so that organ recipients could be found. While we were on the way home from daycare, Jonah and I prayed that his friend would miraculously be healed. It was a short prayer but it brought up a lot in me. 

Jesus said that if you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can tell a mountain to be thrown into the sea and it will be done. I've read all the Bible stories about people being brought back from the dead. In that moment of praying with Jonah for his friend, I wanted to have the faith of a mustard seed; I knew that I didn't. It wasn't quite a crisis of faith but it was a humbling experience for sure. 

Fast forward to last Wednesday. I posted about Jonah and was immediately flooded with comments and messages from people offering their condolences and saying that they were praying for our family and for Jonah. It was comforting and heartwarming to say the least. 

The next day, Thursday morning, was another daycare day. After the rough Tuesday we had, I wasn't sure what to expect. Friends, I have no problem telling you that Thursday morning felt like a miracle. Jonah had no problem getting into the car and there was no crying on his way to daycare. When I walked him into daycare, in the lobby was a collage of photos of his friend. Jonah looked at the collage, found a few photos where he was in there too, smiled, and walked right into the cafeteria. I honestly felt like crying for the 3rd time in 2 weeks, except tears of joy (I didn't). 

At drop off today, Jonah had a bit of a rough time but it was better than last Tuesday. It's possible that last Thursday was a fluke and he was just excited about the donut that we got on our way to daycare. Still, I'm choosing to believe that he was helped by all the prayers of friends, family, and loved ones. 

What's wild is that I still need these reminders of the power of prayer. I've experienced the power of prayer in my own life in different ways. I've experienced physical healing, both on the giving and receiving end. I've seen demons cast out and words of prophecy given that were spot on and only could be from the LORD. I know that prayer works. I'm so glad that I get reminders like this every now and then. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam

Processing loss...

Hello, friend!

Last week, when I went to go pick up Jonah from daycare, the woman who owns the daycare informed me that one of the students from Jonah's class died over the weekend in a pool accident. The student's older brother came to tell Jonah's class about it so everyone knew. Obviously, any death is a tragedy but this one hit especially close to home because it was a friend of Jonah's. I don't think that I had met the kid but I knew the name because Jonah always identified him as one of his friends. 

Taking Jonah home from school that day was pretty tough. I wasn't sure of how Jonah would be processing everything. He was just a baby when his great grandmother died. Our pet fish, Fluffy, died last summer but Jonah didn't think too much of it. We had some friends from church who had one of their little ones die last year but Jonah didn't know him well. This was really the first time that someone close to Jonah would die. 

As we rode home, Jonah was pretty open in talking about things in a matter of fact way. He wanted to know if each ambulance had his friend in it and had some of the normal questions. I almost lost it when he asked if his friend was going to see his great grandma in heaven and again when he said that he didn't want his friend to go to heaven because he wanted to see him at school. As someone who hadn't cried since 2021, things got really close. 

We finally hit critical mass on Thursday, the next day Jonah was set to go to daycare. He had his first day of preschool the day before so he was crying the entire way to daycare, yelling, "I don't want to go to daycare! I want to go to preschool!" I know at least part of that was because of how much fun he had the day before but I also believe that he was sad about his friend. After dropping him off at daycare (while he was still crying), I couldn't get all the way back to the car before breaking down. It was too much. 

On Monday, the daycare had a ceremony to plant a tree in the student's honor. We asked Jonah if he wanted to go but he said that he didn't need to go because the tree was to remember his friend but he already remembered his friend so there was no need to see it. #KidLogicFTW. Yesterday was another tough day a drop off. The whole way there, Jonah cried about not wanting to see the tree. I offered to go in to see the tree with him but he was a no go on that. I dropped him off crying again, then cried myself, the second time in less than a week. 

Looking at it now, the thing that evokes so much emotion in me is that Jonah is hurting but he isn't sure how to process it. On top of the crying on the way to daycare, he's also ad trouble falling asleep. He's also perfectly fine for a whole bunch of the time. When I pick him up from daycare, he's been in a good mood. It sucks that my boy is hurt and there's nothing I can do to help make it better. I can't bring back his friend... 

Friends, if you are the praying sort, please be praying. Pray for the family of the child who died, that God will bring them the comfort they need. Please pray for Megan and me as we try to help Jonah process. Pray for Jonah that he will be able to process his emotions in a healthy way and know that he is loved. 

Have an excellent day!

~Adam

PS: I thought about posting some photos of Jonah and his friend here but decided against it as a way of respecting the child and his family. I don't know them and don't know if they want a photo of their kiddo out in the world. Just know that he and Jonah looked like they were having fun. =0)

Bellevue Kickoff!!!

Hello, friends!

Last night Bellevue had its kickoff event. We decided to go with the classics: Chick-Fil-A nuggets and Uno. =0). 

Our start was a little bit hectic. I picked up the food at 5, thinking we were starting at 5:30. Our student intern Jill called me at 5:05, asking where I was. It was then that I realized that we'd changed the time to 5 last week. When I got to Bellevue and started setting up, I was worried because no one was there. It turns out that Jill had changed the time back to 5:30 and hadn't told me. Whoops! 

When 5:30 rolled around we had a few students show up. Jill was excited because none of them were athletes. Increasing non-athlete participation was a goal of hers for this year, so this felt like a win. We'd ordered for 25 and only had about half a dozen there, so we opted for a divide and conquer. Jill stayed with the students who showed up and learned more about them, connecting and such. Kaylee, one of Jill's teammates, and I took the big dish of Chick-Fil-A cookies and some InterVarsity flyers around the student center, offering cookies to folk eating dinner and inviting them to next week's Bible Study. Most of the people just took a cookie, thanked us, and went back to their conversation. However, we did me Princess and Kimberly, two students from the DRC and Kenya. They were looking for community on campus and came by later to hang out with us for a bit. 

All in all, it was a great event. Jill was encouraged, Kaylee was a huge help, and we got to meet some new students. Woot! 

These NSO events are a good reminder for me that we all have different expectations and that ultimately, God is the one with the plan. My biggest fear for these events is that no one will show up and the student leaders will be disappointed. Attendance was considerably lower than what we were hoping for but it ended up working out for the best. Because there were fewer students, Jill was able to connect more with them on an individual level. Because there were leftover cookies, we were able to go into the caf and meet Princess and Kimberly. Because the volleyball team had a match (they won, btw), Kaylee had space to step up. God does his thing, and that's OK.

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam