I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and at least took some time to remember why we really celebrate it.
Sure, you constantly hear people say “Jesus is the reason for the season,” and see plenty of church signs with the same statement, but is that really at the forefront of our minds this time of year. I admit I haven’t spent as much time focused on Christ or in the celebration of His birth as I should. It’s so easy to get caught up in earthly celebrations of gifts, food, and even that of family. Not that there’s anything wrong with celebrating family (or food, or how blessed we are to be able to give and receive gifts), but let us not forget what it’s all about. Celebrate and have joy in our Savior!

Tomorrow I will be leaving for Ocala to go to Holiday Youth Convention. I made a sort-of last minute decision to go; I’m getting to old for it and I figured if I didn’t go this year, I would definitely feel too old to go next year—not that there won’t be other older than I there, there definitely will be.
I’m bringing my laptop along in hopes that there will be free wireless in the hotel, but with the expectation that I won’t have much time to use it anyway.

The doctors let Luke wake up today! His aunt Diana (“Mama D” to Luke), says he knew who they were and remembered the accident (to him it’s like it happened yesterday). I don’t think he can really talk yet though because he has a tracheotomy. It’s such good news that they’re not going to keep him so heavily sedated anymore, and it means he’s healing enough to be awake! We’re planning to go see him Sunday or Monday.

Good news about my mom’s cousin who had the heart attack too. They took him off of the ventilator today and he’s breathing on his own.

Praise God!

1. My cousin, Luke gets in very serious car accident.
2. Our pastor falls down an 8-foot embankment.
3. My great-aunt has a stroke.
4. My mom’s cousin has a heart attack.

It’s everything all at once and just so overwhelming. Times like this you can’t help but wonder why; I need to read The Problem of Pain again. I know we need to just have faith an know that God is in control, but at the same time I feel so helpless.

The most serious is still Luke. Bro. Crabtree is still recovering, but God has healed his major injuries. My great-aunt is doing fine, they caught it in enough time and they think that it is related to her medicine. I don’t know much about my mom’s cousin Peanut’s (yes, Peanut) heart attack, we just found out today.

Luke has been heavily sedated, basically in a medically induced coma, for just over 3 weeks now. Can you imagine losing weeks of your life? His wounds are serious, but the doctor says he’s young and it is definitely something he can recover from he just has a rocky road to get there. He’ll be in Shand’s for at least another couple weeks. We’ve been going to see him at least once a week, I wish there was some way to comfort him and that there was something we could do to help him.

Until last week the way they had him sedated, they said he might could still hear us or know that we were there, even though he wouldn’t remember later that was still comforting. And there were also reducing ever-so-often, to check if he was responsive, which he was and that’s very good to know. But the type of sedation they’re using now, they say he’s completely unaware. He has an infection called VRE and Pneumonia, but they were anticipating both, so it’s nothing unusual for his situation. His wounds are healing so that’s good. They talked about moving him into a regular room this week. We just have to keep praying! The church in Gainesville that belongs to the same organization as the one my (more immediate) family goes to has been very nice also. The youth pastor went to visit Luke and prayed for him, and they also sent a nice care package to the part of the family that is staying there. Who knows maybe it will spark an positive interest in our church for the other side of his family.

Jesus be with him, give him strength, comfort, and healing!

My cousin Jason “Luke”, who is 19 years old, was in a very bad car accident Friday night. He was riding in the back of a pick-up truck when they were rear-ended; he was thrown from the truck and hit some trees off the side of the road. They did emergency surgery on his colon here and then airlifted him to Shands in Gainesville, where he is in the surgical ICU. His pelvic bone is shattered and his bladder ruptured, he really needs your prayers.

They’re planning on doing a surgery tomorrow that will last about 6 hours. I think they said they won’t keep him so heavily sedated (he’s basically been asleep since Saturday morning)after this surgery, I just pray he can stay strong when he sees how badly he is injured. We’re probably going back down there Friday to see him. I think he’ll have to have a few more surgeries after that. He will be in Shands for 4 to 6 weeks, and then the recovery will take about a year.

One of the nurses said that when Luke arrived at Shands, she saw that both of his parents are deceased, not knowing that he still has a big family with an aunt who is like a mother for him, and she really bonded with him. So it’s comforting to know that the nurses there really pay attention to the patients and care for them above just the call of their job.

Please say a prayer for Luke.

Well, I had been getting better about posting regularly, until this past week. But I have a good excuse, my cousin Jeff, his wife Andria, and the adorable Haylee were in town.

Update with pictures later, for now there’s a good article up on RelevantMagazine.com about the portrayal of religion in The Simpsons.

…even a Jewish Rabbi, Daniel Wolpe, has found the show (and book) helpful in his teachings. “The Simpsons occasionally makes fun of hypocrisy in religion, but not the ideals of religion,” Wolpe said. “Some of the episodes that I like best might be called, ‘Homer Learns a Lesson.’ Usually in those episodes, Homer winds up with new respect for religious values.”

(Read the full article)
The book mentioned is The Gospel According to the Simpsons by Mark Pinsky, which I definitely have to buy.