Leaping Leap Day

Thank God for the extra day in this short month, for it has been full of good news. I went to bed last night with the threat of bad weather and the possibility of cancer on the horizon. Like I said, sometimes the waiting and the not knowing can be the hardest part.

Waking up this morning I heard reports of tornadoes and devastation to part of the country overnight. As I was driving into work I was perusing Twitter and I saw that it was Harrisburg, Illinois that was hit the hardest. I immediately thought of our friends from college, Chris and Laura Winkleman, who grew up there and had returned there a couple years ago when Chris took the job as pastor at First Baptist Harrisburg. I checked Facebook for an update and thankfully Laura's post was the first one on my news feed. It said that their family and home were safe but the devastation was not far from their house. The Red Cross has set up a shelter at their church. I would be in a patients' room to see how they were doing and inevitably get distracted by the awful scenes from there on CNN. There were terrible and heartbreaking pictures of the devastation online. So far they have announced that 6 people are dead, 250 homes have been destroyed, and 25 businesses. Thankfully our friends and their family are all safe. The Lord will no doubt use Chris and his church in the coming days to care for the community and the hurting citizens. Please pray for the town, the church, and our friends.

 

I got great news via Twitter on my drive home as well. I happened to notice that someone I follow had mentioned that someone with the same name as my patient was cancer free. I thought that surely that was impossible, but what were the odds that someone in Memphis would be tweeting about someone else with the same name and same condition. A little more research and I was able to find that it was true! He may not actually have cancer at all. There are still miracles in this day in age. I was speechless. As a Christian I knew it was possible, but as a medical professional and having seen what his scans looked like I still could not believe it. I think there still may be other tests to confirm it, but sometimes the waiting is worth it. In this case it was miraculous. Thank God for His protection, His provision, and His works. Please continue to pray for this family as well and that this is in fact real. Leaping for joy on Leap Day!