It’s been far too long since I posted here and I have been eager to add more posts regularly but life has prevented that. My last post followed Mothers Day and mentioned a young woman who had been in the youth group I led up near Chicago. She had been diagnosed with inoperable tumors which I learnt about on Mothers Day because my wife woke me up sobbing as she read the news on Facebook. The month or two she was given became a mere weeks and Heather passed on the other day. It is sad to lose a loved one, even though we can rejoice know that she has gone to be with the Lord whom she has loved and served for much of her life. My heart goes out to her husband and young daughters in particular who will miss her for the rest of their lives.
Since my last post, we drove up to Grove City PA for our daughters graduation from college there. She received a BA in Biblical & Religious Studies and is pursuing opportunities in youth ministry. Her long term goal has been to move back to England and share the gospel with British teens that have not heard it. Meanwhile she is seeking experience and working to pay off extensive college loans that will prohibit her from moving to England.
Last weekend I ended up spending my first night ever in a hospital (since birth that is) and did it up in style by being in the ICU even! My heart went into an irregular pattern on Saturday and when it had not settled by Sunday morning I had Jane take me to see a doctor. The diagnosis was Atrial Fibrillation (not sure the spelling there) which is not good but is not uncommon. I was placed in ICU only because they had to closely monitor an IV drip of medication and could not do that in a regular room. The real difficulty was the emotional side of it given it was exactly 6 months since my brother died of heart failure. His condition included an irregular pattern much more dangerous than Atrial Fib. I am now meeting with doctors to see what’s next in preventative measures. I got a real clear sense of what my father and younger brother went through with this hospital stay.
Modern Reformation Magazine‘s current issue has a features section on youth. There are some great articles in it and one by yours truly on youth conferences. Not many articles in the current issue are readable online without a subscription but mine is open at the moment (by my request). Another one that is open at the moment is on media ecology by T. David Gordon, a professor at Grove City College (my daughter had him last semester) which is really fascinating.
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