October 24, 2010 in Uncategorized with 6 Comments

This weekend the State of Oklahoma District Youth Department held an event in Tulsa called Convergence. This is an event where teens from across the entire state come together for worship, preaching and just alot of fun together! At Convergence Doug, Grayson’s dad, took the opportunity to share Gray’s story with the 2,000+ students and leaders in attendance. He shared the journey that Gray and our family have taken over the past two months and pointed out how Grayson and his story are being used for God’s glory! He encouraged every person in the room to take whatever is happening in their own lives and let it be a “tool” to be used by God. God promised that he could and would use the good, the bad and the ugly for His glory! We can either mope and moan about our problems or we can get up each day and use what we have and what we are living to reach as many people as we possibly can. While we, as a family, would never have chosen for our child to be sick and while we would much rather him be well and healthy instead of being a t-shirt and a prayer request we also know that what the diagnosis of “cancer” means for harm and pain and devastation God can use for good! We are trusting and believing that he is doing just that with our little baby boy! As a part of his message, Doug shaved his head in honor of Gray. He wanted to show the young people of our state the love that a father has for his son and in turn hope that each teenager would realize the love that God has for them. God sent his ONLY son to die for them and to save them from the sin of this world. He offered his son as a sacrifice and allowed him to suffer and die for us! Doug’s message resonated with everyone in the room. There wasn’t a dry eye in the auditorium and whether or not everyone could relate personally with our story they could see, through us sharing something so personal, the love our heavenly father has for each and every one of us. It was a powerful service. Also, at Convergence, some friends of ours put together a Pray4Gray table where they sold t-shirts, wristbands and necklaces to raise money for our family and to help pay Gray’s medical bills. Again, this is so humbling but we were beyond grateful! The t-shirts sold like wildfire and it was truly amazing to see all the young people and leaders of our state wearing shirts bearing the name of our tiny son! Thank you to everyone who purchased Gray Gear this weekend and a more important thank you to all who took a moment to pray for our baby boy. Your prayers are the most powerful way you can help Gray and our family during this time. Please pray with us this week as Gray begins his second round of chemo. This is the first time he has done outpatient chemo so we are a bit anxious to see how he will react and what side effects he may have. This round of treatment is five consecutive days, Monday through Friday. We will be at the hospital approximately six hours each day with each treatment so it will be a long and exhausting process for the entire family. We are just praying that Gray will have minimal side effects and that our family will have the strength to make it through the week, one day at a time. Please also pray for our oldest son, Seth. We hope that he will have patience and understanding during the weeks where our family isn’t home together very much and where Gray may need extra attention and care. Like we said this weekend at Convergence, so many of you have asked how you can help us and, even though it may seem like you’re doing nothing when you pray, prayer is truly the most powerful thing in our world right now! We know that each prayer is strengthening our family and as each of you stand in the gap for our son we are moments closer to a miracle!

“I saw the Lord always before me, Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices: my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.”  -Acts 2:25-28