MIRACLES BEGIN

Linda's pastor prayed that the medical folks would be surprised at his recovery. She asked us to look for that.
Ian had to learn to eat after a week of total paralysis. He learned fast. After his first bottle, the ICU nurse said, "It is a miracle he is sucking like this at this time."
Ian has been moved out of PICU to regular pediatrics. Ericka from ICU came for a visit with a student nurse in tow. She told the student, "If you want to see a miracle baby, come with me."
Another ICU nurse came by to visit. Looking at Ian she said,"It is just like his problem is being erased.

WILL IAN RUN

April 25
Today I take a break from the hospital to take in a track meet where Grandsons Ryan and Evan are running. It is a great day. Ryan qualifies for State in the 100, wins the 200 prelims and final and wins the 400 to qualify for State. It was great fun to see him run. Evan is just back from two weeks in bed with mono and having his tonsils out. He is obviously not up to speed, but has a good spirit about it.
Back to the hospital for an evening visit. As I drive there I reflect on the day and wonder if little Ian will some day run.
God assures me he will.

COME AND SEE

April 24:

Yesterday they have started taking him off meds and letting him come back. This was not a pretty scene. He looked like he would never be the beautiful little boy we once knew. I woke up praying, “Lord what will you do or say to us today?” The only answer I got was, “Come and see.”

I could hardly wait to get to the hospital.

When I got to his room, he was sitting on his mother’s lap. I sat down in front of him and started talking to him. He smiled at me!

THE OMINOUS MRI

April 23:

They now have done an MRI and there is clearly brain damage. There is damage to the left side of his brain. He will likely have motor problems with the right side of his body. His right eye may have problems, etc. Thankfully retardation is ruled out. My prayer is for some kind of recovery assuming such damage is irreversible. God then reminds me of the resurrection. I begin to consider Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Read about it in John 11.

When Jesus showed up Lazarus had been dead four days. When He asked for the stone to be rolled away from the tomb, Martha warned him there would be a stench. I wonder what the MRI of Lazarus looked like. My guess is any expert neurologist worth his salt would have said, “I assure you this guy will not be home for lunch.”

Minutes later Jesus called Lazarus out. The MRI then would have shown one astounding change.

I started praying for resurrected brain cells for Ian.

IAN WILL GROW OLD

April 22: What is going to happen with this little guy?

This morning I read Proverbs 22:6

Train a child in the way he should go,

and when he is old he will not turn from it.

God is saying Ian will grow old.

I also read John Maxwell’s notes on this verse he calls LEADING OUR CHILDREN. Great insights on parenting. 1. The best way to train a child is to live it yourself. 2. Training a child the way he should go may call for adapting our style to account for his temperament and wiring. 3. We need to create memories for a child. That is what he will remember and guide him when he is old.

GOD IS IN CONTROL

April 21: More questions from authorities. It looks like the detectives and DHS are wholly incompetent. It is clear if they ask and believe the doctors, the problem is not with Kevin and Lynae, but the daycare person. Go figure!

This morning I read Proverbs 21:1.

The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD;

he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases

God will direct the authorities.

FORGIVENESS

April 20: It is still hard to look at Ian lying in his medically induced paralyzed state. Will he ever recover? What a terrible thing was done to him. It is so easy to hate that person.

Today I read from Steven K Scott’s book, THE RICHEST MAN WHO EVER LIVED: King Solomon’s secrets to success, wealth and happiness, in preparation for my discussion with my friend over breakfast tomorrow. The chapter is on handling adversity. One piece of that is as follows:

Be quick to forgive.

In Proverbs 10:12 Solomon tells us, “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions.” Anytime someone hurts us it gives us a wonderful opportunity to respond with forgiveness, to be kind and loving. There is no act or attribute that is more pleasing to God than that of forgiveness. But it can be exercised only when we have been unjustly offended. That is why we should be truly grateful for even those people who have hurt us the most. The greater the hurt, the better the opportunity for forgiveness. The greater out forgiveness, the more godly our character becomes.

Whoa!!

OVERLOOK AN OFFENSE

April 19: Now we know what happened to Ian. Anger is beginning to build in all of us toward the perpetrator.

This morning I read Proverbs 19:11

A man's wisdom gives him patience;

it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

God does not want us dwelling on an offense not matter how grievous.

THE ENEMY AND THE STRONG TOWER

April 18: Now that it is clearly SHAKEN BABY, the authorities ramp up investigations. Police detectives interviewed Lynae and Kevin for two hours the first night while Baby Ian teeters between life and death. Now DHS comes in threatening to place Ian and 3 year-old Emily into custody. Custody is narrowly averted by the neurosurgeon setting a time-line for the injury to onset of seizures that clear Lynae and Kevin.

We all try to reconcile this additional burden as being necessary, but it all feels more like an attack by an enemy.

My morning reading is Proverbs 18:10

The name of the LORD is a strong tower;

The righteous run to it and are safe.

We have nothing to fear and God can definitely handle this.

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF CHILDREN AND NURSING INFANTS

April 17: By now relatives and friends have heard of Ian’s condition and hundreds if not thousands are praying for him from Alaska to Arizona and California to Florida.

Today I read Matt 21:9-16 about the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem:

9 Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

"Hosanna to the Son of David!' Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' Hosanna in the highest!"

10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"

11 So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

12 Jesus Cleanses the Temple

(Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48; John 2:13-22)

Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'"

14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant 16 and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"

And Jesus said to them, "Yes. Have you never read,

'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?"

Ian is a nursing infant lying helpless and silent in a hospital crib. It occurs to me those hundreds of praying people, hearing of God’s answer to their prayers, is how God is praised by this nursing infant who cannot speak.

SHANNON SEES IAN’S ANGELS

Lynae’s friend Shannon came in to comfort her and pray for Ian. As they prayed Shannon said, “Lynae I see the angels and they are so think around Ian you could cut them with a knife.

IAN’S ANGELS BEHOLD THE FACE OF MY FATHER IN HEAVEN

Matthew 18 is about the disciples wanting to know who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus called a little child and proceeded to say those who would become like this little child would be the greatest. Later in verse 10 he says, “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angles in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.” I don’t know how many angels are assigned to Ian, but I do know they have access to God for him.

WHAT’S WRONG? WHAT HAPPENED?

5:00 pm April 16 the ophthalmologist comes in to look in his eyes for retinal bleeding. The report reads bleeding spots too numerous to count. Can this be from bumping his head? No, this is shaken baby. Someone of adult strength has shaken little Ian violently. It makes us sick to think of it and see it as incredulous.

IMMEDIATELY

APRIL 16

We left the hospital about 2:00 am.

A neurosurgeon was standing by to operate if the swelling caused too much pressure. While Kay and I were driving home we prayed that God would stop the swelling. The next morning I read in Matthew 20 of two blind men who cried out to Jesus to give them sight. Jesus touched their eyes and immediately they saw. As I read this, the word IMMEDIATELY jumped off the page at me. I prayed that is what we want to see Lord. At 9:00 am the doctor check Ian and announced that the swelling was gone. God does not need time to act and accomplish.

CONFIDENCE IN GOD

Praying made up a great deal of that first night and continues. A Hospital Chaplin came in and prayer with us and left. Lynae asked me to pray so we gathered around holding hands and prayed for Ian. As we still stood in a circle, a woman none of us knew, walked in, realized we were praying and asked if she could pray for us. Her prayer was clearly focus around what Jesus said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” When she ended her prayer she looked directly at Lynae and said, “He is going to be all right.”

GOD'S LOVE

Kay and I arrived at Memorial Children’s Hospital to find Lynae prostrate on the floor pleading with God to save her baby’s life. For this Dad that will never be forgotten as long as I live and I cannot think of it without coming to tears. In the midst of that God said to me,” As much as you love Ian, you are my child and I love you just as much.”

7 MONTH-OLD GRANDSON IAN SHAKEN

Wednesday evening, April 15, 2009 we receive a desperate call from Daughter Lynae that the baby sitter just called her that grandson Ian had a seizure and the paramedics were there resuscitating him. At the first hospital it was determined he had a hematoma on the left side of his brain. He is then transferred to a special children’s hospital with serious swelling of the brain.

ARE YOU A SLAVE?

Solomon said,"The rich rule over the poor,
and the borrower is servant to the lender. "
When you whip out that credit card buy those toys, who's servant are you?
When the US whips out its Stimulus or Bailout Credit Card, who did we sign on to serve?

The Chinese own a big chunk of our US debt. How are you say "Yes Master" in Manderin or Cantanese?

The Power of a Gift

This morning in reading Solomon's proverbs this caught my attention;
A gift opens the way for the giver
and ushers him into the presence of the great.
Sometimes we get so wrapped up on business and marketing that we forget this great principle. Giving to the customer, the employee, the supplier, your friends or family has more impact than anything you can do.

DOWNTURN SURVIVAL PLAN

I used to bother myself trying to fugure out what the government should do to save us. Thinking there must be somethilng they will do to solve our problems. The present situation has taught me, and should teach you, THEY DON'T HAVE A CLUE!

Reading about the Federal Reserve, how it was formed, what it is, what it does, etc. (see The Creature from Jekyll Island) mad a convert out of me.

FIGURE OUT YOUR OWN SURVIVAL PLAN. Don't rely on anything they say or do. Solomon said, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; There is nothing new under the sun." Man is this true of the Fed, Treasury, Congress, Presidents, et al.
Read history and the newspaper.

Survival Plan: Create and control your own business.

Source of Wisdom

Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. The Proverbs are his writing of this wisdom. Borrowing his wisdom is a great benefit.

A friend of mine introduced me to a mentor named Steven K Scott. Steven was failing in about everything he did. Dr. Gary Smalley sent him to Proverbs for the answers. Look up Stevens bio on the internet.

George Christian and I have been meeting for a few months following the Proverbs advice.

This morning I began reading Steven's book, "The Richest Man Who Ever Lived". I was struck by the "Dedications" page. He has truly learned the power of words from Prov 25:11

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

Steven has made a fortune as one of the lead infomercial writers of our time.