Peace and love to you all.
I'll get to the update in a minute, but I did want to mention one thing. We've gotten several requests for our address so people can send well-wishes directly. In the interest of maintaining at least a small barrier to entry, I am linking to the Dakotas Conference page where you can search for and find information about clergy. Just put in a certain name and voila! Find A Person | Dakotas Conference (dakotasumc.org) We are certainly not asking for or expecting anything from any of you! That you have been and continue to pray for my dad and for us and to lift us up with love and support is more than enough. However, if you do feel the call to send anything, we ask that it be - at minimum - non-perishable. While I am sure there would be some great significance behind sending our family a flock of, say, Canadian geese, I don't think that any of us have the physical, mental, or emotional energy to fight off even a half-dozen fury machines with a golf club or whatever may be around. So, in short, cards are welcome, wildlife is not. As for the update, it's somewhat of a no news is good news situation. They have reduced his sedation significantly - if not completely - and he has shown no signs of being distressed by that, although I'd imagine that he's slightly sad at no longer chasing whatever dragons may have been present. His vitals and labs are all coming back strong, and it appears more and more that he is exiting the woods, although not arriving to the parking lot quite yet, to mangle an analogy beyond recognition. Adam and Mom are there with him right now and we've settled into a sort of routine where he goes in the morning, and I go in the afternoon. The neurologist just came in and talked to them and is ordering a CT scan. When testing Dad, he was able to get a sort of blink reflex in both of his eyes, which is good news! Yesterday, he couldn't get a reflex in one of them, but now both seem to be reactive. Slowly but surely. I'll finish here with a story and a prayer, if you'd permit me. The story comes from when I was in high school, and we took a family trip to Jamaica. It was a wonderful trip and a lot of fun, but my dad made a crucial error when we went to one of the resort restaurants one night. See, as you may expect, seafood is a big part of the cuisine there and while I had eaten a little, my dad was smart and ordered the surf and turf. This meant that he got steak (which my dad has and does say is second only to corn in terms of God's greatest food gifts to humanity) and some scallops. I had never had scallops before, so he agreed to let me try one of his. Now, I know the reasoning he was working with. He was assuming that I wouldn't like it so he would be free to eat the rest of his meal in peace. This was not the result. Instead, I absolutely loved it and I can still distinctly remember the look of defeat on his face as he passed half of his scallops over to my plate. As we enter this time of Lent, though, that story sticks with me in relation to Jesus. I'd say it's almost certain that Jesus would have preferred to stay here on Earth, alive and loving and preaching. He would have preferred to keep all the scallops to himself. However, he also knew that God's children needed something else and, when they required the sacrifice of his comfort and his life, he gave them those things, even if it was not entirely willingly. He gave of his comfort so that we, the children of God, would be able to experience some of our own. So how does that relate? In this time of stress and anxiety and worry and every other emotion you can imagine, we can take comfort in remembering that God gave us His son to bring us peace. He gave up something He loved so that we would be able to grow and flourish. We can and should take comfort from that and from one another and from the assurance that God is working in our lives to heal my father and bring him back to a world-wide community that loves and cherishes him. I'll leave you with this prayer for peace and a promise of further updates when they arrive. We are so beyond thankful for all the love we have been shown and simply ask for prayers to continue. A CELTIC PRAYER OF PEACE Calm me, Lord, as you calmed the storm; still me, Lord, keep me from harm. Let all the tumult within me cease, enfold me, Lord, in your peace. Calm me, Lord, as you calmed the storm; still me, Lord, keep me from harm. Let all the tumult within me cease, Lord, enfold me in your peace. — Unknown Thanks be to God and we love you all.
1 Comment
Sharla McCaskell
3/4/2022 12:17:00 pm
Lots of prayers and love coming your way from Rapid City. May you be sustained by our Lord's love and care. We will continue to pray for God's healing power for Randy.
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AuthorAfter 43 years of ministry, Randy Cross lived his "fourth life" and shared about retirement, living boldly and intentionally in our world. To be sure, there was some North Dakota thrown in. Archives
March 2023
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