Moving to the Rhythm

Lauren, ready to stand up for the change that she believes in, even at 8.

Could you resist a face like this at your door raising money for kids with cancer?

Here is Kelly and her family.  Despite their early starts, you can see that both of her children and thriving today.  The best part of this family is that their insides are even more lovely than their outsides.

Sometimes, in the busy living of our own story, we forget to look up and see the ripples - the way Jonah is touching other stories.  We forget that other people love him and are watching and cheering him on, and in that, God is transforming other lives too.  Here is a chance to look up and tell a few stories.........

The first story is about our 8 year old friend, Lauren, in Colorado.  Back when her parents lived in Chicago, we were all in small group together, so we've known them for years.  A couple of summers ago, they decided to join us at Kanakuk Family Kamp and the kids all jumbled together and worked on building their own relationships.  Jonah's illness bothers Lauren, so before the holidays she started pestering her mom to do a fundraiser to cure cancer.  Her young, optimistic heart isn't looking for a treatment but a cure. Her mom wanted her to wait until after the holidays, so on a playdate right after New Years, she and a friend went door to door collecting money for "childhood cancer".  Lauren has great courage and conviction, so when a door was shut in her face, she knocked again and told the resident that that was rude and that they needed to support childhood cancer.  Lauren raised $38 with her unsanctioned fundraising.  With a little direction from mom, she is now planning a dance-a-thon fundraiser later this year.  I love seeing God grow compassion, social action and empathy into the hearts of children we know.  I love how their unbridled enthusiasm both focuses on changing one life but also changing the big picture without the limits adults set.

The other story to share is about our friend from Boston, Kelly, who both a great photographer (if you're looking for one in Boston) and a runner.  You can see in the picture above that Kelly has two healthy happy children in her family.  What you don't see is that both were born between 24-29 weeks.  Kelly knows hospital life - the hard, the hurt and the hope.  This year, Kelly is running the Boston Marathon - the world's oldest annual marathon and one of the most prestigious out there - in Jonah's honor.  She is running to raise money for the Claudia Adams Barr Program in Innovative Basic Cancer Research at Dana Farber Cancer Institute.  Barr investigators have made numerous breakthroughs resulting in improved survival rates and quality of life for patients everywhere and these funds will provide valuable seed funding for novel investigations that precede new clinical innovations.  Dana Farber was the hospital that we got our second opinion at regarding Jonah's treatment plan, so even though we're not at Dana Farber, we hold it close.  Cancer research matters, and Kelly is hoping to raise $10,000 towards a team goal of $5.2 million.

Both of these stories are of course about rasing money on one level (if you want to support Lauren, let me know and I'll hook you up with her mom, if you want to support Kelly you can do so at http://www.runDFMC.org/2016/kellylorenz ), but on a more important level, they're about the heart.  They remind me again of this quote from Leslie:"We can stare at where the jewel was dropped and focus only on that space, or we can look at those ripples and see what God is doing. We ache for the drop of that jewel but we still get to see what God is doing" . These are the ripples of what God is doing in other people through Jonah.  It's hard to look up from where our jewel was dropped, focusing on the space of treatment and the hospital, but these beautiful ripples remind us that God is working, and that we are blessed to be able to look up and see them.