A little of Pastor Dad's family history

February 29, 2012

I wrote this several years ago before I even knew what a blog was. So, for all of you that I have just recently met or have just started reading, here is a little insight into our family…

It was around March 20th 1995. I was sitting in the floor of my living room eating cereal watching my 3-month-old son. It was around 10am or so when the phone rang. My wife was working at the bank and her mother had taken our 4-year-old daughter to the doctor. Her symptoms weren’t catastrophic, sore back, went to the bathroom a lot, the usual symptoms of a little girl with a bladder infection. I answered the phone and cannot remember who had called but it wasn’t good news. Kelcey had more than a bladder problem she had a pancreas problem. I loaded Jordan in his seat and headed to pick Tammy up at the bank and then on to the doctor’s office. We arrived to Kelcey sitting in the lobby coloring with one of the nurses. Dr. Baxter told us that Kelcey had an unusually high amount of glucose in her urine and we needed to take her immediately to Children’s Hospital. We arrived and were taken directly to a room and five full-grown adults (nurses) were in the room, some holding down loose limbs that were flailing and others trying to comfort while one gave Kelcey her very first insulin shot. She had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. Dr. David Nickels stood outside her door with me after this event and told me words I will never forget. He said, “You will have to do that 3 to 4 times a day for the rest of her life.”

I held together pretty well. Doing what us Dads do best, strong front, in control, waiting for the next event so we can jump to attention and fix the problem. Tammy wouldn’t leave her side so I went home to get clothes and necessities. As I walked into my home it hit me. I sat down in my kitchen floor and cried. I was hurt, mad, disappointed and I wanted to know how the God that I had read about in the Bible that could heal and even raise people from the dead could allow this to happen to my little girl. Then logic began to gain ground and I was certain that this was just a test and if I did right and continued to love God that He would heal her and I would have a great testimony in the future. After all that is how good testimonies end. Everyone happy, God comes through and the church shouts, “Amen!”

Didn’t work that way for us! Well meaning people told us all the time that they felt that God was going to heal Kelcey. We would have her prayed for until finally we stopped. Understand right here that we didn’t stop praying. Understand that we didn’t stop believing. No, we started doing something that doesn’t get taught or even talked about very much in Christian circles. We began to trust. Real trust. The kind without conditions!

History and family didn’t explain the diabetes. There are some in our family with diabetes but not Type 1. And because of the world’s lack of understanding of these two distinctly different diseases we would always hear the pat answers from people, Christian and not, “well, I’m sure she’ll grow out of it.” Well she didn’t. And 5 years later we learned that her little brother was also a Type 1 diabetic. That’s a hit! It hit our finances, it hit our family, but the most significant hit was our faith.

How do I explain to people that my God is a healer but he isn’t healing them? I know what you Pentecostals are thinking, “If you just had faith or didn’t have that hidden sin, God would do it.” Honey please! Remember the question the disciples asked Jesus about the man born blind. “Teacher, who sinned? Him or his parents.”

Remember Jesus’ answer? "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” (John 9:3)

There are still days that Tammy and I get down. Those days get fewer for us but I’m not sure they do for Kelcey and Jordan. There will be days ahead that we will question why things have worked out the way that they have. But we will never question God’s power or His love. I choose to trust, no matter what!

My faith is as strong now as it has ever been. My prayers get answered everyday. God doesn’t ignore me but sometimes he whispers, “I know you don’t get it right now, but trust me. I haven’t let you down yet have I?”

At the cross of Jesus we can see God’s unfailing love for you and me. At the cross we can see the control over the chaos that God has. And of course, at the cross we can see that even the darkest of days can bring the greatest joy. Mary wouldn’t have agreed with you while Jesus was hanging there but if you ask her today what do you think she would say? Yes, it turned out to be a good thing.

Tammy and I could list the good things that have happened to our family as a result of our children’s diabetes. We are more compassionate to people that are hurting. We are a very close family. And our kids are more mature than most their age because they have to be. This isn’t the complete list but it is a pretty good start. Trust God today! Good things can happen but we have to be willing to stick around to see it.

This picture is about 3 years old but these kids do look really sick don't they...