Joel's Psalm

Joel continues to cling to life. His heart rate this morning is 99, his blood pressure is 107/74, and his temperature is good. His hemoglobin level is 9.9. We are trusting that the Lord will maintain his hemoglobin level.

This morning the Lord directed me to a Psalm and I am considering it Joel's Psalm. This is amazing:

Psalm 41:

Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.
I said, Lord be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.
Mine enemies speak evil of me, when shall he die and his name perish?
And if he come to see me, he speaketh vanity: his heart gathereth iniquity to itself; when he goeth abroad, he telleth it.
All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt.
An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him; and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heal against me.
But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.
By this I know that thou favorest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.
And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face forever.
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting, and to everlasting: Amen, and Amen.

As I have meditated and researched it has become clear to me that this is a struggle for the sanctity of life. Is life a sacred gift from God, or is it not? We believe that it is. Two days ago I met a young man around 6 or 7 years old in the PICU visiting. He was in a special chair that appeared to be designed with a repirator. His name was Isaiah. I stopped and spoke with him and told him about the names of some of my boys. We have been blessed with Caleb, Daniel, Elijah, Micah, Andrew, Joshua, Jeremiah, Josiah and of course, Joel. Isaiah would fit right in.

We spoke for a moment and parted. Later I pondered, would he be next? Would someone some day make the judgement that he was not fit to live because he needs a repirator?

In one of the documents that I read the medical community has discussed what they call a 'higher brain death standard' where the legal definition of death could be expanded and applied to more people and their lives could be taken as well. Where will this end?

I thank the Lord for my son Joel. I know from the communications that we have received that he has touched so many lives. We are trusting God, by his mercy, to raise him up for His glory. Please continue to hold us up in prayer. There are times when our faith gets weak, and we need you to lift up our arms in the battle.