For Kayla

First of all, don't miss today's quote from Clement of Rome.  It is simply too good to miss.

Secondly, I want to take this opportunity to share a matter of community concern.  I got a call today from Shane Lamar.  Shane is a long time member of the church, and plays a mean blues guitar out at the Worship at the Water on Sunday mornings.  For years now, the people of this community have been praying for Shane's daughter, Kayla.  Kayla has lived most of her life with an inoperable tumor.  She and her father have almost worn out the roadways between Pensacola and St. Jude's Hospital, but she has done remarkably well, and her father attributes her sustaining health to the love and expertise of her caregivers and to the power of prayer.

Shane called me today with the sound of hurt in his voice.  It seems that Kayla is experiencing some progressive weakness in her left side, which is adversely affecting her mobility.  Whether it is directly related to the tumor is difficult to say as they await further test results.  The doctors are at work, but no clear plan for treatment has been identified as of yet.  What is worse is the way in which this latest development is affecting the young girl's psyche.  Out of concern, Shane has asked for prayer for Kayla, that she might not lose heart.  I'd ask that you pray for her father as well. 

This we can do.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.  Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (12:12-14).

At the same time, dear Jesus, "make our spirits restless whenever we think that the way things are is the way things have to be" (p. 161).