Things, stuff, garbage always
happens that place a sense of urgency in your life. Most of the time is
has to do with something out of your control. Things like tragedies,
natural disasters, accidents, illness, disease and such. When life
altering life changing events happen, your perspective on life changes rapidly
as well. All of the sudden there is a sense of urgency, a desire to move
and act quickly. There is that "Oh wow! Now what do I do
moment." Huntington's Chorea disease
was one of those things for our family.
We were just trotting along in life
and smelling the roses, when all of the sudden "BAM!" "Your
family has Huntington's disease." Now what are you going to do about
it? Our trotting along became a trap and our roses all became rotten.
This is not just a season or an event that will pass, it is now the rest of our
lives.
A sense of urgency is an understatement. We wanted to scramble and act fast. However,
that was not possible. There was
absolutely nothing we could or can do about it. It is during this kind of
crisis that you actually have two choices.
One is to surrender, suffer and let it takes its course. The other
is to fight like there is no tomorrow.
We chose to fight. By
fighting, we surrendered our lives to Christ and gave the battle to Him. In exchange, we were called to fulfill the
great commission, reaching the world for Christ. Reaching the world for
Christ always starts in your own life and spreads from there.
In the spring of 2007, an
opportunity came up for a mission trip to Satu Mare, Romania. My
immediate reaction was this: "We can't afford it, there is no possible
way." Carri's initial reaction was, "I am going." I
was the doubter and Carri was the believer.
While we were out jogging one
morning, Carri abruptly stopped and said, "If money had nothing to do with
this mission trip, would you go?" "Of course I would
go." "Who do you feel should go?" "You, me, and
Mackenzie without a doubt should go." "Then what is the
problem?" "I'll pray about it." "While you are
praying about it, I'm going to sign us all up."
May of 2007, Carri, Kenzie (oldest
daughter) and I went on our first foreign mission trip to Romania. The
cost was nearly $6,000. The out of pocket expense for us never amounted
to more than a couple hundred dollars. God said go, we said yes,
and He provided the means.
We are so blessed that we chose to
fight and not surrender to Huntington's disease. God has taken us to places physically and
spiritually that Huntington's disease would never have allowed. What should be implausible, God has made totally
possible.
When God says go somewhere, do not doubt Him. Why would He tell you to go if He really did not want you there to begin with?
The picture is the yellow brick road in Satu' Mare, Romania.
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
May my life be the proof and evidence of Christ's love!
