The theme for today is: Connectedness.
Zach loved building Lego. Lego was fun. Lego was challenging. Lego was entertaining. Lego was educational.
Lego taught Zach about structure. Lego taught Zach about support. Lego taught Zach about connectedness. He learned how to build Lego by connecting the pieces in all kinds of ways building all kinds of things. A pile of disconnected Lego blocks could slowly but surely be turned into a building all connected together. Supported together. Not falling apart.
The Lego blocks were designed to be connected. So were we. If you’re a part of God’s family, the church, you don’t have to go through life alone. You don’t have to persevere in trials alone. You don’t have to suffer sorrows alone. You don’t have to deal with setbacks alone. A church family should be a connected family. No member left behind. All members connected. By God’s grace, ‘piles’ of disconnected people turned into a ‘building’ all connected together. Supported together. Not falling apart. The church. The church of Jesus Christ.
In Jesus Christ, the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. “And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:21-22 NIV).
The church is built to be a place of connectedness. The church is a place of support. Both in Winnipeg and Calgary, hospital staff can’t believe the level of support Zach is receiving from family, friends, relatives, co-workers, and brothers and sisters in Christ. Cards, prayers, visits, love, laughter, tears, fellowship, and connectedness. They are seeing the support of the Church! They are witnessing how we are connected to each other. They are learning that we are connected to Jesus Christ.
Thank God for Jesus Christ the “corner Lego block,” the Cornerstone on which His connected church is being built. Keep running, Zach! So many are staying connected to you. So many are supporting you. So many love you.
Today’s Updates:
Zach has had some ups and downs over the past couple days. He made some good progress in his physiotherapy yesterday, and did well with his corked tracheostomy. He continues to follow some commands when he is calm enough to do so. The medical team was also able to remove most of the stitches on his legs yesterday.
Yesterday afternoon, they completely removed Zach’s tracheostomy. This means that he is now breathing normally through his mouth and nose and has to cough out all his secretions without any extra assistance. Praise God for Zach’s continued progress in his breathing. Now that Zach’s tracheostomy is removed, in the case of another breathing emergency, they will likely have to intubate him rather than connecting his trach to a ventilator. Pray that God will continue to preserve Zach’s lung function so that he does not need to be intubated again. Right now, Zach is managing to keep his oxygen levels up with some extra oxygen given through his nose. Please pray that Zach will continue to have the strength to be able to breathe on his own, even as his lungs continue to heal from his necrotizing pneumonia and lung collapses.
Since yesterday evening, Zach has been inconsolably agitated with a high heart rate. His breathing sounds laboured and he is very restless. He has also been gagging frequently, so he is receiving medications to help settle his stomach so that he does not throw up. Zach got almost no sleep last night and had a high heart rate throughout the whole day today. He was not able to do much physiotherapy or work with the speech pathologist today since he was so agitated. Please pray that Zach’s agitation will decrease. Pray that he will have a restful night tonight so that his body will be able to heal. Please also pray that he will be able to work with the various teams (physiotherapy, OT, speech pathology, etc) tomorrow so that he can continue to make progress.
Thank you for your continued support and prayers from all over Canada and beyond. Please join us in asking God to continue to heal Zach’s lungs, body, and brain. Please pray that he will be able to communicate with us again one day soon.
“As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and,
“A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
(1 Peter 2:4-10)
