Blessed Sunday to all of you.

Praise God! Geni and Travis arrived home safely this afternoon. We teased Pastor Marc before leaving church today that we knew that he regularly prayed for his three small children, but that those prayers would change tremendously when they begin to drive!

Psalm 33:8 “O taste and see that the Lord is good.”

Psalm 100: 5 “For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting and His truth endures to all generations.”

I have to write a paper for my ethics class. It has to be analytical in nature and taken from one of the readings discussed in class. Analytical means that I have to take a passage of the reading and argue either for or against the author’s view. Since I am not well read enough in Christian theological authors I do not operate in theories, ideologies or opinions. So I have decided to pose a moral situation close to my heart.

We sat in the family room at the hospital on a Friday morning. Our son with incurable cancer is just down the hall. The latest test results tell us that the sarcoma cancer has covered his left lung completely and all but 20% of his right lung. The chemotherapy did not work and we are now out of possible cures and treatments. If left alone, we will lose our son in three or four days. We can pump enough pain killers into his system to keep him comfortable and let nature take its course or we can extend his body functions indefinitely through the use of life sustaining machines.

The moral question is: Do we have the right to make this decision for our son? Do we extend his body functions or do we allow him a remaining, however brief, quality of life?

If you have followed this blog and the one we began on the Caring Bridge website you know what our decision was. We prayed with Doc Adams on numerous occasions and it was through prayer and belief and trust in God that we believed our decision was the one Casey would have determined for himself.

We believe God is good. We believe that God is love. We believe that God holds the present and the future in His hands. We had to trust and be not afraid.

I have shared the last conversation I had with Casey with you before. It is the conversation in which he told me that his time was not long and that he was not afraid. Even in the worst situation I could ever imagine God was so good and we all were standing constantly in His presence. We were each blessed with a final moment with Casey. It was at this moment in time that we surrendered ourselves to God and His tender mercies and God took complete control of the situation.

When Jesus was hanging on the cross God was in control of the situation. God knew that Jesus had one more thing to do before He died. Jesus had to talk to one more person about the Kingdom of Heaven. The thief on the cross next to Jesus received salvation just before he died. God’s goodness was present in the worst situation ever; the death of His Son.

My friends, when faced with life’s toughest decisions - pray, read the Word and recognize God’s goodness. Then trust and be not afraid.

Take joy in your journey. We love you all so much, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.