Praying For Our Pastor’s Son

Two days ago I asked my my readers to pray for our pastor’s son Thomas. There have been over three hundred responses to that request. Thank you so much for your outpouring of love and concern. The last forty eight hours have been very hard for Thomas and his family. The reason the new kidney failed was due to several blood clots that formed, thus preventing adequate blood flow to to the kidney to keep it working. Thomas had to have two emergency surgeries that night. The problem as of last night was that Thomas was experiencing more blood clots in one of his legs. The reason for this was a mystery to the doctors. So we continue to pray for Thomas that this dangerous condition will be fixed. This will obviously be necessary before they another kidney can transplant.

A call went out to the members of our church, Christ Baptist, to come together to pray for Thomas, his mom, who is continuing treatments for breast cancer, and his dad. We normally have around six hundred in our Sunday morning service. Last night there were between 350 and 400 members of our church lifting up prayers for this dear family. This past Sunday morning our pastor's, Dr. David Hogg, sermon was about the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus was a man who was brought each day and laid at the gate outside the rich man’s home. He was hungry and very ill. The dogs came up to him and licked his sores. Everyday the rich man passed by Lazarus and never did anything to help him. He completely ignored Lazarus.

Dr. Hogg spoke of the rich man’s lack of compassion toward Lazarus, and pointed out that the rich man was so caught up in his busy life that perhaps it never crossed his mind to do anything about Lazarus’ condition. We were challenged to pay attention to ways we can help others in need. Dr. Hogg asked two questions. First, he said, “What can we do to help others with our money?” Secondly, “What can we do to help others without our money?”  Perhaps it is easier for us to help people by giving a little money to a cause. There is nothing wrong with that. We should give our money to help those less fortunate. But I think it is a bit harder to do something for others that costs us our time.

Last night I thought about those questions that our church was asked by our pastor. I looked around at the large crowd that had come to pray for this family we love so much. I thought about the hundreds of people all over the world who were praying, some sending emails that they would be praying at the time the church gathered to pray. One family in an Asian country said in a message that they would get up in the early morning to pray while we were praying. I thought about those of you who had agreed to take time to pray for a young man that you don’t even know. Probably most of people who are praying for Thomas are not members of our church, yet we are all joined together because of our faith in Jesus who gave his life for the Church of which he is the head, the Cornerstone. We are all asking our God who loves us, who desires the best for us, and who knows better than we what his perfect plan is for us to heal Thomas. We, the Church, cry out to the Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of the Son our Savior in one accord to heal our brother, Thomas Hogg. Jesus has put it in our hearts to love Thomas and his parents and to love those we don’t know.

What can we all do to help others without our money? We can love each other and we can earnestly pray for one another when life is tough. Thank you for praying for Thomas and his family. Please continue to lift this young man up to our Heavenly Father.