Rejoice Always?

We are told to "rejoice in the Lord always." It doesn't take a brilliant mind to realize that's not easy. Jen and Jeff had a sleepover last night for Jolie's 9th birthday, and there were 13 9-year-olds there plus 5-year old Jeslyn. I suspect the rejoicing took place this morning when they returned to a household of 4. We did our part by taking Jeslyn for lunch and a 3-hour nap (grandma's house is so relaxing!) so that Jen could get ready. I wound up making 3 trips over there and each time the household was in an increasingly frenzied state. The first trip was to take Jeslyn home, assuring her that her long nap had not caused her to miss any of the party. The second was because I forgot to drop off her dance clothes and the inflatable mattress the kids were borrowing. A this point the 9-year-olds were seeing if they could get into the book of world records for "longest time jumping up and down without stopping." The third trip was because Jen couldn't get the mattress to inflate. I jiggled and wiggled and got it to blow up. By this time all 14 girls had their sleeping bags out on the living room floor getting ready to watch a movie. Jen and Jeff's facebook posts the last 24-hours have talked about survival, not joy. It's a little easier for grampa to find points for rejoicing.

I rejoice that we live close enough to our grandchildren that I can make 3 trips over there that totaled resulted in being away from the house for about 15 minutes total.

I rejoice that Jeslyn loves her big sister so much that she had me wait in the car while she added the finishing touches on the drawing she was giving her for her birthday.

I rejoice that Jolie is the kind of little girl that sends out 13 birthday invitations and winds up with 13 acceptances--including Girl "C" who said she wouldn't come if Girl "J" were invited, but came anyway when Jolie explained that she was inviting ALL her friends.

I rejoice that Jennifer married a man for whom fatherhood is a calling he takes seriously--during trip #2, the girls were getting ready to have "dirty Q-tips", and Jeff was doing the cooking.

I rejoice that Jolie and Jeslyn, no matter how involved they were in the mayhem, took time to give grampa a hug during all 3 trips.

Finally, I rejoice that Jolie has thus far been granted a life that allows her to pursue all of her dreams and joys without the spectre of major illness.



This brings me to Jack. Jack is 2. Jack probably doesn't even know my name, as I've only spoken to him a couple of times when his parents brought him into the sanctuary after church. Jen and Jeff would heartily agree that Heidi and Kurt, Jack's parents, have endured a much more stressful weekend than they. Jack developed a rash on Wednesday that has turned into fever, swelling all over his body, trips to the ER, and no definitive diagnosis as yet. Obviously, finding joy in that situation is a little more of a stretch. I think of when Jen was two and stepped on a hot waffle iron, burning layers of skin off and not understanding her pain at all. That was not a situation spilling over with joy and I would suspect for this family the pain outweighs the joy right now.

For me, as someone who loves this family but cannot really help them with this burden,
I can rejoice that Jack's parents have learned to turn to God and his church for hope in times like these.

I rejoice that Bruce's sermon this week "coincidentally" was about God's sustaining grace, that is enough for any situation that life brings us.

Most of all, I was blinking back tears of joy reading the words sent to Heidi and Kurt on their public blogs and facebook pages. Countless examples of the Church being the Church when it needs to be. If you know Kurt and Heidi and want to offer help and encouragement, you are not alone. If you don't know them, then please add your prayers for little Jack to those that have already been offered. That's really why I decided to write about this, so that people who read this can join in.