I always love when Jason contributes to the blog. Please enjoy his words below:
In our current season of life, it can feel like things move so quickly and at times feel a bit out of control. Little things or comments can remind me of how fast life comes flying at us. A few weeks ago, I took my daughter to school as I normally do. I was backing the car out, making my way through the multiple cars parked in our driveway when my daughter jokingly said “just wait Dad, in a couple of years when I start driving we’ll have one more car in our driveway. Just when I am trying to come to terms that my last child is graduating 8th grade and moving into High School, she is reminding me that in a couple of years she will likely be driving. It does not seem like that long ago when our kids were in the diapers and temper tantrum stage and that all I wanted was for them to be older. Now, I actually miss those days.
This year so far has brought a lot of transitions and changes as well as updates on the medical front for our family (and we are not even halfway through the year). Noah is about to hit the one year mark since his heart transplant in July. As my wife mentioned in a previous post, Noah was hospitalized back in March with a virus that came from the donor heart. The particular virus Noah has is a common virus that many of us have in our body and in a person with a normal immune system the virus is kept dormant. For Noah, with his immune system suppressed, it became a serious complication and he had to be admitted into the hospital back where he was given high doses of an antiviral med. Thankfully Noah began to respond to treatment…which took some time…and he was released after a week stay at UCLA. One of the side effects of the high doses of Antiviral Meds is that it caused Noah’s White Blood Cell Count to drop to an extremely low level so we have periodically had to administer an injection at home to raise his WBC count. Unfortunately my first attempt at administering an injection did not go well (I only got to practice on an orange in the hospital) and Noah ended up with a huge lump and a bruise on his arm. Thankfully, someone from our church who is a nurse was willing to step in to help (I’m not sure Noah will ever let me give him an injection again).
Overall we are thankful Noah seems to be fighting this virus and was able to return back to School. We are thankful that his professors have been working with him to complete some of the work he missed which will allow Noah to complete his semester and stay on track to graduate in May 2024. This is quite an accomplishment given Noah has spent a total of 21 days in the hospital since he started at BIOLA.
Also, the other big change/update this year is that I was laid off from my job in February. This was not a complete surprise but it has caused me to step back and really seek the Lord in what He has next for our family. As we are walking in this season which feels uncertain, we know that God is fully in control. So we have been taking sometime to really ask the Lord what’s next…and whatever that is we want to be faithful and obedient to walk the path God has for us. This has come with a mix of emotions but it has also taught us a deeper understanding of what it means to trust the Lord and has provided some time for us to stop and really listen to His voice. In all honesty, this has not been particularly easy for me. So often it is just easier for me to find my comfort and security in having a plan or a clear direction but God has chosen to challenge my faith and understanding of who He is in this season of waiting. He has chosen to expose my weakness and areas of my life where I struggle to fully trust Him.
Over the last few months, I’ve spent some time meditating on 1 Corinthians 1:18-31. In that passage Paul says “God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong.” God chooses and has the power to use our weaknesses and our shortcomings which goes counter to our world’s wisdom, so that God gets the glory. As Paul says at the end of 1 Corinthians 1 “Let him who boast, boast in the Lord”. My prayer, is that in my weaknesses I would fully submit and trust in the strength, goodness and sovereignty of God.
