This weekend, my 11 year old son saw the word “humdinger” embossed on the back of a tricked out jeep. The jeep was riding high and mighty in the middle of Moab, Utah, on jeep week of all weeks! He asked curiously, “What does humdinger mean?”
Shad and I immediately found ourselves telling him our thoughts of what this word meant to us reciting our examples in a long Texas drawl. We said things like “That was a humdinger of a hit!” “Man look at that humdinger of a burger!” “Man, that storm was a humdinger!” We had a hard time actually defining it. Being southerners, we just knew what it meant because we were raised in the environment that afforded such colorful language. We just couldn’t define it. Google got the best of me and Merriam-Webster decribed is as a ‘striking or extraordinary thing.’
Yes, that jeep was striking and extraordinary, if the owner could say so himself. Confidence is no stranger to jeep owners, or is it? I say this because we actually bought a jeep in the middle of our ‘Spiritual Awakening’ a few years back re-evaluating life as a whole. So live on jeep owners, I get you! And we loved that jeep more than food!
We recently were thrown a humdinger of all humdingers and we are fervently praying over the news. Crosby, our baby of the ‘spiritual awakening’ in our 40s, came down with a high fever for over five days topping out into 107 and was loosing the battle. We took him to the ER only to be admitted to Children’s Hospital of Denver, Colorado for two nights. During his stay, they diagnosed the adenovirus with high inflammatory markers. Guys, you prayed, our church family prayed, our family prayed, our grocer prayed, everyone prayed, and by the grace of God, his fever decreased and he managed to keep it down for us to be released! Praise hands all around! The doctor shared the great news that night with one condition, we were told we could leave once the cardiologist visited with us.
What? Why? He’s doing great! You told us we could go home!
Of course, the nurse told me later that night, that he was cleared for a condition called Kawasaki Disease that has the same symptoms of the adenovirus that he contracted, yet the cardiologist wanted to still talk to us. Well, there goes my sleep. How they cleared him for Kawasaki Disease was through a sonogram. This said sonogram, however, found something that only 1 in 50,000 people find in “chance” situations, a condition called an anomalous right coronary artery originating from the left sinus of Valsalva (ARCA), and it is a rare. Apparently, doctors usually find this condition in an autopsy diagnosing “cause of death” or angiography (imaging) of the heart for other heart conditions.
We go in for the cat scan Friday and verify this diagnosis. We are praying that this was a mistake and not a discovery. We are serious when we say this. We are praying that they tell us to “go home, this was all our bad. Have a nice life.”
If it is not a mistake, then guys, this was a GIFT FROM GOD. He shone a light on this congenital condition before his “sudden death,” as the cardiologist so brutally, yet honestly told us. We wouldn’t want it told to us any other way. He was clear and concise mixed with a “fellow parent brotherhood” type of compassion. It was news no parent wants to hear, but it was explained to us in a way you explain to two stunned parents on three days of no sleep. No flowers, just facts. We appreciate.
Heart surgery is the answer to this condition. Like the open-stop his heart- kind of surgery. I’m not ‘kapeesh’ with my 4 year old’s heart stopping, so miracles are the answer to this mama right now.
If you are the praying type, please pray for the miracle. I believe. Believe with me, with us.
This verse popped up as soon as the cardiologist finished.
You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good,
to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Genesis 50:20
And check out how the message translates the same verse…
Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid. Do I act for God? Don’t you see, you planned evil against me but God used those same plans for my good, as you see all around you right now—life for many people. Easy now, you have nothing to fear; I’ll take care of you and your children.” He reassured them, speaking with them heart-to-heart. Genesis 50:20
Heart to heart? Really God? Thank you. Just thank you. Thank you for your whisper of confidence that he will be ok. That this trial will be his testimony to the “saving of many lives,” for “life for many people.” Lord, thank you for reminding me to not be afraid, for bringing me back to my life verse…
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
Lord you are good. We say this in our family all the time, with that unshakable Texas drawl, and we are claiming it at the top of our lungs.
God is good all the time! All the time, God is good!
You are a good good Father. You are the God who we point to when miracles happen. You are the God of healing. You are the God of truth. You are the God who handles all the humdingers of life. Now that, my friend, is a striking and extraordinary thing!
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