This morning I planned to write a blog on a book I just read. The book deals with perhaps the most neglected and most difficult discipline in the Christian life, prayer. I never anticipated that this book was exactly what I needed at this exact moment in time. God has been challenging me in my prayer life. I have learned much from this book and God has used it to remind me that the power in prayer comes from recognizing my own weakness and inability. It is throwing yourself at the mercy of an all-powerful God acknowledging that you are powerless.
An hour ago I received a phone call that I was not expecting. Rarely do we expect these types of calls. One of my best friends, a fellow pastor named Trevor Peacock was on the other end of the phone. He was on his way to the hospital; there was something seriously wrong. When he went in to wake his daughter, Hope, for school she would not move. She was completely unconscious and hardly breathing. On the way to the hospital she stopped breathing and the medics had to perform CPR. The last update just moments ago (1:15pm) was that her breathing was being assisted and they were trying to stabilize her. They are running her through the full gamut of tests hoping to find out what’s going on and hoping to saver her life.
I do not know what God is doing but I know He is in control. I do not think that it is ironic that her name is Hope, nor is it coincidence. She was named Hope for a reason. Hope in and of itself has limited usefulness. It is the object of our hope that makes all the difference in the world. The object of our hope is the Almighty God, the Ruler of the Universe. I know that He is good and gracious, kind and merciful. I know that he can be trusted in the good times and the bad. I know that He calls me to cry out to him like a child, in weakness and desperation. That is what I am doing on behalf of my friend and his family right now. In hope, I call out to the God of hope.
Paul Miller in his book, A Praying Life says that, “our brokenness is the door to our Father’s heart.” I am broken and calling out to my God. He is a faithful and gracious Father and I will trust in Him alone. To whom shall I turn but Him?
Please join me in praying for Hope, Pastor Trevor Peacock, his wife Heather, and for little sister Gabby.