This is Kate.

Kate is six.  And, I don’t know about you, but those eyes are telling me a story.

She has an aggressive brain tumor that is ravaging both her body, as well as the hearts of many around the world who have followed her story.

I ask that you would please pray on Kate’s behalf.  Pray for amazing things.  (1) Pray that God would completely baffle the doctors with the disappearance of the tumor.  (2) Pray for Kate’s parents, Aaron and Holly, that they would have peace, comfort, clarity & wisdom through this difficult time.

Starting today, little Kate will have a year’s worth of chemotherapy administered in six days.  Since her body will be stripped of so many cells, she will need to undergo a stem-cell procedure that use healthy stems harvested before the treatment to rescue her.

As you can probably imagine, this will be a grueling period of time for little Kate physically and emotionally.  She will be isolated for several weeks to avoid infection, which has got to be horrible for such a little girl, let alone that she has a severe brain tumor.  Please pray that her heart be protected through this time, and that she know that she’s not alone in this.

God, in His infinite power, has the ability to immediately heal little Kate, so let’s ask Him to do just that.  However, if His timing is different, let us pray that He use the sufferings of this family to bring glory to His name.  And, let the McRae’s story model to us what it means to suffer well for Christ.

Please visit Kate’s caring bridge site for updates, as well as her site for more information.  Blog about her, twitter about her [with #katemcrae as the hashtag], post something on Facebook to your friends with a link to her site-use your sphere of influence to get as many people as possible to pray on behalf of this little girl.

God hears the cries of His people.  Let’s not grow weary in praying for Kate.

Ahem.  Ahem.  Is this mic on?

Madame Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, First Lady of the United States, and you blog readers:

I’ve come here today not only to address the distinguished men and women in this great chamber, but to speak frankly and directly to the men and women who sent me to this place.  And hear this: the state of the union is….

struggling.

I’ve been very busy as of late.  Be it personally or professionally, things seem to be popping up all over the place.  It has all caught me by surprise.

You see, I’m usually not a busy person.

Typically, if I have not had a shower on Saturday before noon, then it’s a good weekend.  I’m not lazy by any means, but I do enjoy peace, quiet and no agenda.  Well, that’s all changed.  There are some things happening that I’m pretty excited about.  I’m currently brainstorming with some folks (ODW & others) about using music to raise awareness/support for human trafficking, as well as extreme poverty.

There are some other potential ministry opportunities in the works, which have the potential of making a big difference.  On the other hand, there are other life/work stressors that are at a near-record high rate.  The combination of the two are teaming up to try their best to kill me.  Currently, I like their chances.

I think the worst part about being so busy is that I find little time to notice anything or anyone around me.  My wonderful wife is usually a casualty of this problem.  I have two standing resolutions every year:  (1) to try to better love my wife as Christ loves the Church and (2) what is(perhaps) our best resolution.  Stress and busyness cause me to miserably fail at both of these.  Struggling to find balance is beginning to take its toll.  I’m usually a very organized person, but lately I’ve felt things falling to the wayside.

That’s all for today.  A lot of irons in the fire.  Praying for clarity…that God would show me what’s important and what’s not.

How about you?  What’s your state of the union?  How can I pray for you?

Oh, and p.s.- the economy’s pretty bad, too.

image:  Brooks Kraft / Corbis for Time

I’ve grown weary of all of the negative media. I know you’re thinking, “hey man, where have you been?”  I know, I know.  But you see, my wife and I just got cable for the first time in our marriage (6 yrs) about six months ago.  So, we’re all sorts of exposed to things we had no idea about.  It seems like every channel is chocked full of negativity, death, infidelity, horror, injustice and manipulation.

It reminds me of two truths:  (1) Food Network is quite possibly from Jesus, and (2) this world is messed up, y’all.  It seems as if there’s a better chance of Paula Dean not using butter in a dish over something good actually happening in the world these days.
(more…)

Perhaps you know someone who is deployed as I type this…

Or, perhaps your grandfather is still living and served in a previous war.  Regardless, I’m sure there are not too many people that separate all of us from someone who is currently in harm’s way or has been in the past.

If this is the case, could you (and I) take the time at some point today to simply say, “thank you”?  I’m pretty sure it would mean a lot.  Also, if you do know someone currently deployed somewhere and would like to request prayer, post a comment with their name and location and I can pray for all of them this afternoon.  I think we can all find at least a little time to stop and pray for these folks.

Happy Veteran’s Day