The theme for today is: Groaning 4.0.

Romans 8:22-23. We groan. Creation groans.

Paul groaned. Paul suffered. He wrote about it to the Corinthians. He even boasted about it. Imprisonments, beatings, and floggings. Stoned, shipwrecked, and adrift. Danger from rivers, robbers, his own people, Gentiles, the wilderness, the city, the sea, and false brothers. Sleeplessness, hunger, thirst, cold and exposure. Toil, hardship, and anxiety. The chief of sinners was also the chief of sufferers.

Paul knew suffering. Paul knew groaning. He knew personal pain and loss. He lived it. Everyday it seems.

Paul was not naïve. He knew about the reality of sin. He knew about the ugliness of sin. The serious impact of sin. The impact it had on us and all creation. We brought this on ourselves. The fall into sin was our fall into sin. Sin has consequences. Daily consequences. One of those consequences is suffering. He knew he would suffer. He knew people would suffer. He was not naïve about the vastness of this suffering. The whole world and all its creation will suffer. We suffer. Creation suffers. We groan. Creation groans. He explained it simply and succinctly:

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:22-23).

This explanation is realistic and far reaching. All creation groans together. This explanation is personal. We groan. We wait. We wait eagerly. We wait in hope.

This explanation is hopeful. The pains of childbirth don’t last forever. Pain turns into relief. Pain turns into joy. We receive adoption and redemption. We receive life. Eternal life. Creation groans for glory. We groan for glory. We groan for the finish line of the race that God has marked out for us. To cross the finish line into glory. No sin! No pain, no suffering, and no groaning.

Our groaning and suffering are real. But thanks to the real chief of sufferers, our Saviour Jesus, “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

We groan today. But we will not groan tomorrow. Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus. Come soon.

Today’s Updates:

Zach slept last night and had a restful day today. The doctors this week adjusted his medications for agitation and Zach seems to be responding well! We are so glad they found a method that helps Zach to relax right now. Because he’s responding so well to the adjustments, they’re going to slowly take him off the continuous sedation that he’s been on since the weekend and see how he does.

Zach is still breathing well on the trach mask. He’s receiving the lowest amount of oxygen that they administer. This means that he is keeping up his own oxygen levels without much support, and that he is on the trach mask mainly for comfort (to humidify his airway). We are so glad to hear this news, and we pray for continued healing of Zach’s lungs.

Zach has another chest XRay this morning. The left lung looks improved, but they said they’re going to leave the chest tube in until after Zach has his amputation surgery. Zach’s right lung (the one with the dead space) looks relatively unchanged, and the thoracic surgeons say that his right chest tube will need to stay in for a long time.

Zach’s blood work today showed high sodium, so they gave him continuous IV fluids and lots of free water in his PEG tube to bring his sodium levels down and keep him hydrated.

Zach’s amputation surgery date is still unknown. The surgeons say he’s not an urgent case, so they’ll fit him in when they can, perhaps next week if Zach is still in Winnipeg. Please continue to pray for Zach with this upcoming surgery.

We praise our God as Zach is as stable as he was early last week, and we pray earnestly that he will grant comfort and continued healing, particularly of Zach’s brain.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8: 18-25)