Introduction

Welcome to “Nothing New.” The goal of my blog in the past has been to stimulate discussion about all things related to CBC, the Christian life, and the world at large. But it has recently been hijacked by my cancer and treatment. This means I have to eat some crow (which I hate) because early on I boldly claimed I would not allow my condition to take center stage in my life.

But it is taking center stage on my blog – for a while. I am rather torn about this development. I am uncomfortable making this all about me – because it’s not. It is strangely therapeutic for me to blog about this, however, and I cannot express even a fraction of my appreciation for everyone who reads and leaves their funny, weird, and /or encouraging words in comments and emails.

So please join with me in dialogue. I always look forward to reading your comments. (If you'd like to follow my cancer journey from day 1, please go to my post on 6/25/08 - Life Takes Guts - in the archives and follow the posts upwards from there.)

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Cancer Shmancer

I feel like I should apologize for not posting anything in several days. I know some of you check often for updates. But something happened a couple of nights ago that put my cancer in perspective (and even made me forget it for a while).

This is cooler than cool. My words won’t come anywhere close to communicating just how incredible this is.

Parker (my oldest son) gave his heart to Jesus Tuesday night.

And I thought I was gonna bust at the seams.

He began a conversation with Shanda that evening – about his naptime of all things. “I think Jesus was tugging at my heart” he said. Shanda asked him what he did and he said, “Well, I prayed and asked him if he would please go away.”

Not only is that funny, but I took it to be an authentic sign of conviction. How many of us, if we were honest enough, would pray the same thing?

I noticed the conversation going on so I joined in. The next 20 minutes or so were spent talking to Parker and answering questions about sin, heaven, and Jesus being the boss.

Then he said, “I think maybe Jesus is tugging at my heart again right now. Can I pray and ask him into my heart?”

It’s a good thing my wife was rock solid as these events unfolded, because by now I was nearly a blubbering idiot.

Parker prayed the most sincere prayer you could expect from any 6 year old. Among a few other things, he prayed, “Jesus, I love you and I want you to come into my heart. I know it’s junky and I want you to clean it up. Thank you for dying on the cross for our sins. I love you and want you to be my boss.”

He was beaming afterwards. So was Shanda and I – maybe just not as openly. I was so proud of him that I felt guilty about it.

Cancer? What cancer? When your son gives his life to Jesus, nothing else matters as much. Give me another day and I’ll post some updates, though.

14 comments:

Unknown said...

YAY!!!!! this is so exciting!!! such an amazing story, and i LOVE the prayer he prayed....faith like a child.

Unknown said...

:) That made my day!

Anonymous said...

Aaron, that's so exciting! I was beaming just reading about it. Tell Parker welcome to the family! That made waiting for your next post worth it. Love you all!

Anonymous said...

Praise God!

Heather said...

That is so awesome and I love hearing the story! Praise Jesus for his gift of salvation...for all of us!
Your family is precious!

david b mclaughlin said...

very cool!

Anonymous said...

All I have to say is:

Ummm...

Well I can't think of anything funny - sorry to fail you...

But it is "Flippin Sweet"

"I guess so"

Anonymous said...

I have been there with my children and nothing makes your heart just burst with joy than that...GIG all the time!

Christi Bell

Anonymous said...

Awesome! He is such a darling child--what a blessing!

Stephanie said...

Praise the Lord! This made me cry! Thanks for the reminder of what life is all about. Praying for you!

Anonymous said...

That's extremely exciting!

I know I was certainly thrilled to have my 6 year old sister accept Christ this summer.

Congrats, Parker!

andy titus said...

How AWESOME is that!? Funny how God puts things in perspective every now and then huh? Congratulations on this cool event!

Anonymous said...

I think it goes without saying how proud of him we are. That is awesome.

-sk

Anonymous said...

Parker's summation of the struggle with sin, "Jesus - please go away", is amazing. I don't remember ever praying that, but is the exact feeling that tugged at me for years before I surrendered as a man in his mid- 20s.

What a glorious day for Mom and Dad!
Dave Buchholz