A little over 30 years ago our first born son Christopher slipped on some freshly fallen snow on his way into the house. I remember it like it was yesterday. It was on a Saturday evening after a church event. Without going into too much detail, that injury led to the discovery that he was born with one kidney and that kidney was diseased. After 30 years of quarterly visits with his nephrologist, his kidney function finally degraded to the point where he was forced to begin dialysis. Clearly dialysis is not the best long term solution for such a young man, so a transplant seemed like the next logical step. For the past eight months or so, he and I have been through every imaginable test to determine if he was eligible for kidney transplant and if I could qualify as a donor.
It wouldn't normally have taken that long for approval, but in the process of evaluating Chris it was discovered he had a large (baseball sized) tumor in one lung. Praise be to God it was contained and subsequently removed. Then came the Corona virus and all non-essential medical procedures were canceled, including kidney donor testing. A few weeks ago I finally had my last test, and last week I got the long-awaited phone call that I had been approved. We found out yesterday that our surgery date will be August 11th 2020.
Our next outdoor in-person service will be this Sunday at 9:00 am at our Sandown campus.
I share that with you for a couple of reasons. First because I welcome your prayers. God is the great physician and I know that with our lives in his hands, Chris and I will be well. But I also share this because, for a few weeks, I am likely to be less available to do much of what I generally do. Fortunately, we have an amazing leadership team at Rock Church and I know our ministry will not skip a beat.
From about August 1st to 10th I will still be working from my home office, but I will have to be quarantined. They want to minimize any risk of either of us getting sick before the surgery. Post-surgery they anticipate that I will be in the hospital for about 4 days and then on bed rest at home for a couple of weeks. Apparently your body needs some time to adjust to living with one less kidney. But if all goes well, I hope to be getting back into some aspects of ministry by early September.
So please do keep Chris and I in your prayers. After so many years of anticipating this day, it is hard to believe it is actually here. But I know the promise of scripture that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” No matter what we face, no matter what we go through, God is with us.
Have a great week.
God Bless,
Pastor Steve
On another note, I also want to remind us that this Sunday we will hold an in-person outdoor service. This one will be at our Sandown campus at 9:00 a.m. I look forward to seeing you either in person at the service or on the livestream.