Thank You!

“IF I HAD A THOUSAND LIVES TO LIVE I'D GIVE THEM ALL TO MY LORD - HE'S BEEN SO GOOD TO ME - HE'S MADE THE GOOD TIMES OUT NUMBER THE BAD - HE'S BEEN THE BEST FRIEND THAT I EVER HAD - I JUST WANT TO THANK YOU LORD...THANK YOU LORD." Judy Marshall BMI

Last weekend we had the privilege of worshiping at the Restoration Church of Auburn, Alabama thanks to our friends Valarie and Trent. The experience, (as with all real encounters with God) was one of the transforming variety. It was obvious that their praise and worship team is both gifted and called to assist the congregation in coming into a mindset, and heartset of His presence. He was certainly there!

I say thank you to Pastor Mark Jenkins and his beautiful and talented wife Nicole for their hospitality at God's house. Thanks goes out to them also for the music CD which includes them performing an incredibly anointed version of the song above, which in turn led me to write this journal item today.

Actually, we were in Auburn for a weekend retreat at Linda and Roy's, (simply amazing people) who I now have in my life thanks to my wife, Dale. I already love them both as if we've been life-long friends, and I say thank you for all they did / do for us. One of the highlights of the trip was the dinner party which was held Saturday evening in honor of my bride and our very special friend Fran. In just a few short weeks they'll be forever united through a kidney transplant operation, thus we celebrated, and a large time was had by all!

I already know that the words thank you are not nearly enough to express Fran's gratitude for Dale's willingness to give of her body, nor are they full enough to express Dale's appreciation to God for choosing her to carry out this wonderful act of love. Yet, thank you is what we have in our vocabulary to express our appreciation, so it must suffice once again in these situations.

Since I was first introduced to Dale she has been so at peace with her decision to do this because she knows beyond doubt that she is being led by the love she receives through Christ our Saviour. After months of testing, numerous evaluations and vile after vile of blood being drawn, last Thursday Dale finally got the call she always knew in her heart would eventually come. She was an accepted donor!

The celebration began while she was still on the phone with Mary Ann, the transplant coordinator from the Kirklin Clinic at UAB. She put the call on speaker phone and as the good news came across I simply swept her up in my arms and we danced in a joyous circle filled with both tears and laughter. What a time of celebration! I say thank you to Mary Ann for all she has done in this situation, especially the love and kindness she's shown my beautiful bride throughout this process. We've come to see just how special she is as a person that's so gifted and absolutely right for her position at this clinic. She's treated Dale like anything but simply "another donor."

I want to say thank you also to all the friends that came out Saturday night – especially those that prepared the scrumptious food items, which I partook way too much of. What the heck, it was a celebration! What's interesting is that there was never any discussion about what the mood of the party (which had been put into plan several weeks ago by Linda) would be like if the news Thursday had been the opposite. It was simply a given that it was going to happen, and we were going to celebrate.

This wasn't merely a case of us being overly naïve, for we all know this is potentially a life and death situation - especially since we now know that of all the patients recovering in the step-down unit with Fran after her last transplant (a mere seven years ago) she is the only survivor. We celebrate her life, her toughness, and God's mercy - all evidenced fully in this situation. We understand the seriousness of Fran's current health and we thank you God for your steadfastness in the situation.

On the other side of the coin there are folks (both family and friends) which we've encountered over the past month that don't believe the things going on in our lives are the "right" choices. They think the decision we made to marry before the surgery and Dale's decision to give her kidney to Fran are not sensible ones. Not because they don't care about Fran or because they don't like Dale or I, yet it's because they choose to focus more on the potential negative effects these decisions could have on us.

Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not being critical of those that care enough about Dale to speak words of caution and concern out of love. I take issue with the ones that have (for a lack of a better way of describing it) simply "attacked" her. Attacking her character, her values, her intelligence, her faith, even attacking her commitment to Christ. Some of it has been nothing less than ridiculous! One even went as far as to suggest that Dale was only giving up her kidney because of some selfish desire to make herself look good to others - as if she were giving away an expensive dress to be sold at the Saturday morning church sale to impress the congregation. Please!

The fact is that Dale refuses to allow anyone around her to make a big deal out of her giving away her kidney. She won't tolerate any non-sense to be spoken about how this is something "special" on her part. I guess I'll be in trouble for even mentioning it in this journal item, but her donating a kidney to Fran is not the point I'm trying to make here anyway. Oh yeah, I want to say thank you to the folks that have shown that they are not on-board with the things going on in our lives as well, for I suspect deep-seeded in their minds and heart they only want the best for us.

If there is a positive to all of this it is - that with each new verbal attack about our decision to marry before the transplant or her willingness to give up a body part to a friend we've found that it merely draws us more deeply into an intimate state of being. We're both firm in our belief that it is God's will we're following, and earthly responses have no influence over our lives. He truly is our audience of one. We thank you Lord for your faithfulness, and direction away from confusion and into an arena of peace and sound-mindedness. If you're in a similar situation then let me encourage you to be resolved in your position to do as God has called. Never give in, or give up!

John 15: 9 -19 "I've loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you'll remain intimately at home in my love. That's what I've done—kept my Father's commands and made myself at home in his love. "I've told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you.

This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends. You are my friends when you do the things I command you. I'm no longer calling you servants because servants don't understand what their master is thinking and planning. No, I've named you friends because I've let you in on everything I've heard from the Father.

"You didn't choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won't spoil. As fruit bearers, whatever you ask the Father in relation to me, he gives you. If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it got its start hating me. If you lived on the world's terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God's terms and no longer on the world's terms, the world is going to hate you."

From The Message translation: the underlining is my own.

"IF I HAD A THOUSAND LIVES TO LIVE I'D GIVE THEM ALL TO MY LORD - HE'S BEEN SO GOOD TO ME - HE'S MADE THE GOOD TIMES OUT NUMBER THE BAD - HE'S BEEN THE BEST FRIEND THAT I EVER HAD - I JUST WANT TO THANK YOU LORD...THANK YOU LORD"

Whether you agree (or even care) about the things going on in our lives just know this - if we had a thousand lives we could live, we would live each one for God and then for each other, and I suspect (no, I know) that if Dale had a thousand kidneys to give, she'd give each one of them to someone in need - like our beautiful friend Fran.

For that is who He has made us - so we simply say Thank You Lord! doug