Weekday Devotion With Pastor Chris

My brother Brewster has sepsis now.  The doctor had said that if he got through the weekend then he was likely on the road to recovery.  That’s certainly the way it looked.  After a very tough week, he started feeling better this past weekend.  On Sunday he even talked about getting up and going downstairs for a while.  Monday, he actually made it and did some work in his study.  But then things changed.

     I’m not sure exactly when the pain started building in his chest, but by 11 p.m. Monday night it was bad enough that his wife drove him to the hospital.  This was huge because my brother, like our dad before him, really dislikes hospitals.  The staff there diagnosed a lung infection and began to treat him.  I'm told the doctor was reassuring, but it still threw me when I heard about his hospitalization Tuesday morning.  I had been hoping and praying that his battle with Covid 19 would never reach this point.

     Then today came the news that he has sepsis.  It shouldn't have come as a big surprise given his lung infection, but it did.  According to the Mayo Clinic, “Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition caused by the body's response to an infection. The body normally releases chemicals into the bloodstream to fight an infection. Sepsis occurs when the body's response to these chemicals is out of balance, triggering changes that can damage multiple organ systems.”  The good news is that it is treatable, and was caught early on.  The scary part, of course, is that my brother’s whole system has already been challenged by his two week struggle with this virus.

     Bonnie reminded me that I had sepsis years ago when we were out in Colorado.  What Brewster is going through, however, is at a whole different level.  I’m not sure how this is going to turn out.  I want to be optimistic, but I'm not there.  I hope, but I'm not hopeful.  I'm fearful, but I haven't given up.  So I’ve been asking people to pray, and I’ve been praying a lot myself.

     Does prayer make a difference?  There have actually been some credible studies at places like Duke University Hospital and USC that have demonstrated its impact on patients’ recovery.  But that doesn’t mean it is some kind of guarantee.  It isn’t.  Remember Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane.
 
      I pray because I believe it makes a difference, even if it is not always the difference I had in mind.  I pray because 1) Jesus did, and 2) both Jesus and the rest of Scripture call us to pray.  No, it doesn’t always make sense.  But it doesn’t have to.  The call all by itself is enough for me.  I don’t think Jesus would teach us to pray if he thought it was a waste of time.  What Jesus offers, what Scripture offers, is an invitation to live into the mystery of God’s movement in this world, and so in some small way to become part of what God is doing.
 
     There are two things I know.  The first is that even though my brother is isolated and can’t have any visitors, he is not alone.  The Lord is by his side.  And second, that no matter what happens, my brother abides in the hands of our Creator, and that nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate him from God’s love.  We belong to God in this life and for all eternity, and God will never let us go.  I don't want to sound like I'm all at peace here.  I'm not.  But I do find comfort in God's promises even in the midst of all my fear.

“The Lord is near.  Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” (Philippians 4:5-6)