Phil.2:18 For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things. 20But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
I was just catching up on the Mark's blog and was reminded that it is so easy for me to get sucked back into the world of the banal, the world of what is right in front of my nose and needs an answer right away, the world of what is really not that important.
I guess after having been through some deeper water than I am accustomed to, I am looking at life differently. I still really enjoy what I do, but after reading what they are battling for, life itself, I'm irritated that I get sucked back into the things of this world so quickly.
I really do want to be a stranger and an alien, but the cosmos has a strong pull on my heart. The time "away" with Grant's event was so sweet. Being able to just read and sit in his room and visit with all of you, either in person or electronically, was a tremendous blessing and encouragement to me. It's hard to believe that something happening like this in our lives could be looked back on with such affection. I truly think this will be one of the best times in our lives.
Grant is 18 this Saturday. I am so thankful to have him here. We get to enjoy another BD with him. He has no idea of what he wants to do, he's so easy going. He had a golf practice round, for districts, on Monday and played pretty well. Districts are on Wed. He still is tired, but he's been doing lots of things and going lots of places. It really is amazing. God is Good.
Click here to read the next part, "God the Amazing Orchestra Director"
1 comment:
June 6, 2008
Hi,
You don’t know me I came across your blog from the May 15th story on your son. Let me go ahead and introduce myself my name is Katie and I live in Seattle WA. I have been reading all your blogs this morning while at work crying non-stop. I am crying for a few different reasons…. I am crying one because I am so happy that your son had received a second chance on life but also sad because I have received that phone call that you dread. Let me explain 4 years ago my 16 year old brother died in his sleep from sudden cardiac arrest. He was a member of the varsity football team and a very serious athlete. A year earlier he had been diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, but had sense been cleared by a team of leading cardiologists at Pittsburgh’s Children Hospital (when he found out he couldn’t play football he moved back home with my dad hoping that my mom and Seattle’s children’s hospital was lying to him) well he got his wish he was cleared and healthy and able to play football again. He played in a few varsity football games and 1 JV football game and passed away in his sleep on Monday September 6th. We were devastated we are a VERY close family even with my mom and dad living on different sides of the US we grew up a happy very east coast family in Pittsburgh and my mom my 2 brothers and I had just moved to the west coast. I lost all faith in god we grew up very catholic and I just couldn’t imagine why god would do this to my brother he had never done anything bad in his life all he cared about was football and his family. After about a year of yelling at god and deciding I didn’t believe in god anymore because no god would ever do this to my family we didn’t deserve this. I realized something everything does happen for a reason and I truly believe god is the one that helped Nicks heart heal for that few months so he could play football. It’s hard for strangers to understand but football was his life it was the only thing in life that really made him happy. He wore his football socks EVERYDAY to school once football season started he was a special kid….. I still am angry a lot and my heart literally hurts for my brother I would do anything to hold him. I really related to a lot of the things you have said in your blogs, on that day September 6th EVERYONE was in the correct place they needed to be when we found out about Nick it was so strange looking back on it today I really believe Nick and God were working together on his plan. Maybe it wasn’t the plan we had for our family but I really believe it was the plan god had all along for our Nick I believe he was an angel from the moment he was born. So much good has come out of Nick’s death. My mom and my Aunt started a foundation in memory of Nick and we are doing so much good I know Nick is watching over us with a beautiful smile on his face so proud of my family. We held the 1st ever FREE cardiac screening in Puget Sound earlier this year and literally saved some kids lives that had NO idea there was anything wrong with their hearts. We are working on passing legislation to make it mandatory to have AED’s in schools and most importantly awareness to everyone that this doesn’t just happen to your Grandpa but also to you brother, your son, your grandson, your nephew, your cousin, you best friend. God is powerful and never again will I ever not believe in his power on earth, I still sometimes question why us but know that in the big picture we are saving lives all in Nicks name. I do not know why I was so compelled to write you, a lot of stories have come across our email having to do with teens and sudden cardiac arrest I just really felt comfort and joy when reading your blogs. Embrace everyday with your son he is one of a kind and god really does have much bigger plans for him. Please tell your kids to cherish everyday they have together as siblings. I have my older brother and sister as my support and we all have regrets and wish we would have embraced each other more. All 3 of us hurt for our baby brother and would do anything to have another moment just the 4 of us siblings hanging out. Tell them to embrace every family moment and memory they have with each other, there will always be a void in all our family memories from September 6th and on. I wish all the best to your family and to Grant and am excited for what the future holds for him. If you would ever want to look at some of the stuff our foundation is doing feel free to visit our site it is www.nickoftimefoundation.org.
Thank you for taking the time and reading this.
Katie Varrenti
Katie@nickoftimefoundation.org
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