No Lord.. not the "C" word.......

I did not sleep well lastnight... in fact, I don't think I slept at all.  I have been dealing with shoulder and neck pain for quite some time. But that was not the reason for my sleeplessness.  There are few things in this life that should keep a person from getting that sweet, peaceful sleep that God talks about in His word.  However, having someone you know and care about fighting the biggest, meanest battle of his life is one such time when sleep should elude you, and the prayer warrior within needs to step up and do battle with the enemy.  It is funny how the Lord works... very funny... and difficult to understand sometimes.  Mark and I have a dear friend who was given the heart breaking news that he has inoperable pancreatic cancer.  We had lost touch with him and his wife for a number of years due to a sad and difficult situation that had taken place some time ago.  Basically, we went on with our lives and they did the same.  So now we find ourselves 5.. 6 years later, barely uttering a word to one another.. and this terrible news reaches our ears.  I actually found out quite by accident.  When I emailed my dear friend, Jen and asked her about it, she said that she did not want to post anything on FB because she did not want to "take away" from our daughter, Megan's wedding.  So here I am celebrating one of the most beautiful, God-honoring events of my lifetime, and her world is being shaken to the core!  The day I found out, I went upstairs to tell  Mark.  He was Sean's best man at his wedding.  He was watching a cooking show, something he loves to do!  "Mark, I need to tell you something...".  At first he kept watching the TV and said, "Ok,,, what is it?"  "I heard some really bad news about Sean...  he has pancreatic cancer."  Mark's face dropped and he just said, "No!"  He shook his head and looked at the ground.  "Oh my God... "   The C word has hit very close to home several times in our life.  My dear mother in law, Mark's mom, died of ovarian cancer.  She battled with it for 3 years before succumbing to it.... cancer also took the life of my dear friend, Francis, a 72 year old, vibrant woman who lost the will to live after her only son passed away from heart problems.    The shock of it all has not gone away.  It's still there, just under the surface... it'll probably never go away. Mark called Sean yesterday.  They spoke for quite a long time.  It was as if they never lost touch at all... that those 5 or 6 years of not talking didn't make a bit of difference.  God is funny like that.  It's that "Jesus" bond... that bond that knits believer's hearts together.. it's that love that forgives and allows us to let go of anything that threatens to destroy that bond.  It is a beautiful, nonsensical thing that only Jesus himself can create.  It's called friendship.

"Friends are friends forever.. if the Lord's the Lord of them...."