Oh Brad,
         Do I ever hear you here.  On top of that, I don't know if 
you were on list last December when I talked about being at a lady's 
death and singing the hymn: "The Old Rugged Cross?"  This lady died 
right on the words, "I will cling to the old rugged Cross and 
exchange it some day for a crown."   Anyway, the wife of the family 
that I talked about is the dying lady's daughter, which piles 
grieving on top of everything else.
         You're right, some people just seem to be a magnet for 
tragedy.  The family that we brought gifts too last Christmas is 
another one that just can't seem to get ahead.
         There is another single, elderly person that I know who has 
chronic conditions and really gets the run around from the medical 
community, partly due to the constraints of Meda_Care, and I've taken 
it upon myself just to give her a call around once a week and pray 
for her, just to give her an opportunity to air all her complaints 
and let her know that she's not forgotten.  Being alone, or poor, or 
elderly in this society isn't necessarily all that it's cracked up to 
be because we aren't in a godly society today, but a practically 
godless one in which, for many people, self reigns supreme.  What a shame.
Kathy


At 09:46 AM 6/18/2007, you wrote:
>kathy,
>
>Wow. That is rough, I can't imagine that. We here, our church that 
>is, is doing similar for a mother of two young kids battling cancer 
>in our church. Households taking turns cooking and bringing by 
>dinner and etc. But in your folks case, what a job to try to keep 
>one's spirits up, as it were, in the midst of such. Why is it some 
>people seem to go unscathed through life and they just live life, 
>not for God , may not even be a believer and yet no matter what 
>happens, things turn for good, and then there are those, believers 
>alike,  who seem to attract calamity in succession without relief? 
>Is it a Job thing or what. Don't you just wish you could find the 
>cure and answer to their problems and let them live a semi-normal 
>life? Or what seems semi-normal. Thanks for sharing that.
>
>Brad
>
>>Well Brad,
>>         You asked me to share, so I will.  This week, our church 
>> is ministering to a family in real need.  They used to attend our 
>> church, but left when their daughters hit puberty because we don't 
>> have much in the way of ministry for youth.  The mother had a 
>> breast removed this past March.  She had tried to return to work, 
>> but it has been discovered that she is allergic to the medication 
>> that she was on, so she is waiting to find another medication that 
>> she can tolerate. Her job is important because she carries the 
>> insurance for the family.  Her husband has twisted bowel syndrome, 
>> which means that, every once and a while, his intestines just knot 
>> up and he has to lay in the hospital, on pain killers, until they 
>> straighten themselves out.  He can't eat much in those situations 
>> eithre, for obvious reasons.  When he is working, he delivers 
>> beverages to local stores in the smaller towns around 
>> Bangor.  Near the end of last month, he was making a delivery to a 
>> small country store.  He had cases of beer and wine stacked up on 
>> a hand cart.  Someone at the store had carelessly left the trap 
>> door to the celler open and, as Steve was backing up, he didn't 
>> see this and fell into the celler, on to the concrete floor with 
>> all of the beverages falling on top of him.  He has massive 
>> injuries.  This couple's two daughters are learning disabled and, 
>> on top of that, the younger one is deaf.  The younger daughter was 
>> hospitalized last week with what may have been blood 
>> poisoning.  Her leg was swollen and hard, with red streaks, so it 
>> had to be drained and so forth.   Both parents are out of work, 
>> for now and it just goes on.
>>         Anyway, even though they have left our church, we have 
>> kept tabs on this needy family, because it is the right thing to 
>> do.  We took up a collection for them yesterday.  Some people have 
>> offered to purchase grocery store gift certificates, and I've 
>> organized for some dinners to start, until we learn what else they 
>> need.  This is truly the fun part of ministry, trying to help 
>> others in need.  I had made prayer shawls for the mother and two 
>> girls earlier this year to reach out and Greg is going to talk to 
>> the pastor of the church that  they are attending now to 
>> coordinate efforts.  We don't want any walls.
>>         I know that I tell you guys these stories from time to 
>> time.  This is what church is to me, reaching out as Christ's 
>> hands and feet to those in need.  When you think about it, pray 
>> for the Barker family.  They can use it.
>>God bless,
>>Kathy