What a cost...

But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

-Isaiah 53:5

You may have read my previous blog entry back in the fall about my oldest son, "Yes, Not Yet, and I've Got Something Better".  As it turns out, my son had a relapse of his previous episode of bleeding.  We just got home Monday from a 6-day stay at the hospital.  Davis had to have a lung biopsy to try to determine what is causing his bleeding.  If any of you are aware of what is involved with a lung biopsy, you know that a chest tube is involved with the recovery.  This turned out to be a VERY painful ordeal for my thirteen year old.  He entered the hospital looking fairly healthy (other than his bleeding lungs) and in fact was very irritable - as I would have been, too -  Thursday afternoon since he had been fasting since Wednesday night at midnight and his surgery got delayed 10 hours.  Unlike his previous stay when he went in feeling bad, he went in feeling okay.  He left feeling very differently

I had somewhat of an idea of what we were signing up for when the Pulmonologist said that my son would need a chest tube.  However, what actually took place was very different.  Anytime my son would cough (which was frequent), laugh (not so frequent on day 1), move (he had to get up to go to the bathroom), or breathe, it was very painful.  At one point on Friday, Davis had to go to the bathroom and this was after his surgeon stopped by and checked on him, after he had to do some breathing exercises and after he had a coughing spell.  When he tried to stand up with my wife's and my help, he began to cry.  Then my wife began to cry, then i began to cry.  It was very pitiful.  But Davis was a trooper.  He made it through the pain and suffering of the hospital to go home yesterday.  Now our prayers are that the doctors get some answers for us.

The main point of my blog entry today was not to talk about the syndrome and his condition, but to focus on that pain of the chest tube that my son endured.  I went home that night and prayed to God that if it were possible for me to switch places with my son.  I would give ANYTHING to take the pain away from my son at that time and put myself in his place.  Then my next thought is what inspired this blog entry.  I thought, "I wonder if God thought the same thing when His son was on the cross."  I don't claim to even have the mind of God or think like Him.  Scripture clearly tells me that I don't.  "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." -Isaiah 55:9.  However, I can always wonder what God thinks in prayer. 

Here I am with one of my three sons - and one of my four wonderful kids - in pain and sick.  He didn't do anything to deserve this.  I would do anything to help my son out and take his place.  But I may or may not ask to do the same for others, though - if I'm being completely honest.  Sure, I'd sympathise with you.  I'd pray and lay hands, claim healing, bring you meals and minister to you the best I could, but I don't know if I would say "God can you have me swap places in order to save him/her?"  But with my child - I would do it in a heartbeat.  Its that thought that makes what God did for us even more amazing.

God loved us SO MUCH that He gave us His one and only Son.  Did you just read that?  His ONE and ONLY son.  Who died the most gruesome, painful death of that time.  Who was completely innocent of any wrong doing.  He was beaten, flogged, pierced, persecuted, mocked, judged, crucified, for OUR sins, OUR wrongdoings and OUR transgressions.  And as the scripture in Isaiah says, "By his wounds we are healed".   Jesus also wento the cross for ALL people.  I'm not so sure I could send any of my sons (remember I have three sons) to endure torture, agony, pain and death on a cross for ALL.  In this spiritual journey, I have a new appreciation for the cost paid for my sins and for your sins. It can be summed up in six words:  Amazing Love - How can it be?

Once more, I'll say, if I had the thought of my son, laying in a hospital bed, on his way to healing (Praise be to God and His son Jesus for by His stripes Davis is being healed) and wanted to swap spots with him, I wonder if God had any similar thought about His innocent Son, our savior, nailed to a cross.  I do believe that God shed tears that day for the pain Jesus endured, just as my wife and I did for our son.  No father likes to see their child in pain.  But being an eternal and ever present God, He knew that price was necessary so that you and I could one day see Him in Heaven.

As far as my son goes, we continue to pray that he has complete healing - claiming Isaiah 40:31 and 53:5 for him.  I'm sorry, Davis that you had to be pierced, prodded, endure extreme pain - only to have no conclusions yet and a long road ahead.  But your experience has drawn me closer to my Heavenly Father and His son, my savior, Jesus Christ.  And for that I am grateful.

May God bless you and keep you all today.