Limitless

Recently, many members in my home congregation in Richardson, TX, have been diagnosed with cancer.  One of these is a dear friend of my parents, a woman with adenocarcinoma, which for the uninformed means bad news.  

In order to give her, and the rest of the church, a little hope in the face of daunting odds, my dad felt compelled (I believe by the Spirit) to share a story with everyone.

The story of Tate Martin, a 15-year old with cancer one minute and a benign mass the next.  As my dad, a doctor, so bluntly put it, "15 year olds don't grow masses in their backs without reason.  And those masses don't end up benign without a bigger reason.  God heard their prayers and turned that cancer to dust."

I'm not sure which aspect of Tate's story continues to amaze me the most; is it the undeniably God-influenced medical report, or the fact that a congregation in Richardson that sorely needed some hope got it from a teenager they've never met?  There was hardly a dry eye in the room afterwards as we were all reminded of a God beyond human understanding, human reason, and most importantly, human limits.  

We serve a God that uses one body's suffering to give another body hope, just as he used Jesus to give us hope for eternity.  We might not have done it that way, but when it all comes together and we can see the big picture, its beautiful.  Who is to say that God didn't lead my sister, Jenna, here to GC4 last summer so that I would be here now so that my parents could hear about Tate's remarkable story so that Richardson East could be blessed by it.

God works outside our "boxes."  So sit back and enjoy the love.

 "Praise the LORD. 
       How good it is to sing praises to our God, 
       how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; 
       he gathers the exiles of Israel.

 He heals the brokenhearted 
       and binds up their wounds.

 He determines the number of the stars 
       and calls them each by name.

 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; 
       his understanding has no limit."  Psalm 147:1-5