Prayer Needed

Fellow Blueshirts:

I am breaking "radio silence" to let you know that our family needs prayer. The radio silence is the result of a relapse to acting out last week on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately, something bigger has come along to break the silence.

Last Friday our family learned that Braxton (my 14-yr old step son) has cancer. After a weekend of tremendous fear and worry, we had a chance to meet with doctors yesterday and learn more about it.

Braxton has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a type of blood cancer that is more prevalent among children than adults. While the medical field has very little understanding of the cause of this type of cancer, how the disease acts is well understood and very effective treatments have been developed.

The good news is that Braxton has a good prognosis. There is a strong likelihood that his cancer will be completely removed within a year. But of course there are no certainties.

While the prognosis is good, hard times lay ahead for our family. Braxton will begin a course of chemotherapy this Wednesday. He will be hospitalized until early next week. And, what is really hard for him, he will be out of school for at least a month. So he will be missing friends, sports, and all the things that make up a normal life for a fourteen year old boy.

Please pray for Braxton to find strength and peace during this time of treatment. Please pray that Beth and I will be able to be good shepherds over Braxton and the rest of the family during this time. It is very very very hard to see your children get sick. It is harder to surrender the health of your children to God than it is to surrender yourself to God. Please pray that we will continue to trust in Christ and seek only to do his will during this time.

Thank you, Brothers!