Wondering where God is going with this....

So I got some pretty sad news today. My friend, Wayne Haston, who is a fellow chairman of a Corral Club at the rodeo is probably not going to make it. He was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer on the first day of rodeo last year. He went through treatment pretty successfully. But now, they've found it in his brain. They started radiation last week, but the tumors have not responded so they stopped treatment today. At this point, they are keeping him comfortable, but for all intents and purposes, his journey in this world is done.

So now I go to God and ask my questions....

All of my life, God has given me this gift....I don't even know what to call it. I just know when a situation is going to be okay. And with Wayne, I got the feeling that the situation was going to be okay. Now, I will tell you, that there are times when the situations haven't worked out the way I thought they should be....but in those instances, God has enlightened me to a bigger plan, and has shown me that He did answer my prayers.

I am reminded of one instance in particular. On May 1, 2004, seven of my co-workers at ABB (my client at the time) were gunned down in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. Five of them died instantly. Two were wounded. One of them, Tom Washburn, was struck in the neck by a bullet. When I got the news that Tom had been shot, I dropped to my knees and said a prayer. I told God that I wanted Tom healed, and I wanted him alive. I told God I was standing on HIS promises that He would answer my prayers. Tom managed to make it back to the states and was in the hospital in the Texas Medical Center. He was regaining feeling in his extremities and things looked good. Then something happened, and he passed away. I sat down at that point and had a talk with God. I said "God, I don't know what is going on here or why You didn't answer my prayers, but I'm going to trust that You will reveal this to me all in time." Obviously part of my prayer had been answered. Tom was healed completely. But he wasn't alive....

At Tom's Memorial service, his girlfriend got up to say his eulogy. She talked about how wonderful Tom was. She talked of his generosity, and the fact that they were establishing an engineering scholarship in his name. Then she said "You might not be surprised to hear that Tom was an organ donor. As a matter of fact, he donated his entire body for this cause. And because of that between 45-50 people have parts of Tom in them. Tom has managed to help that many people LIVE in his death." I was FLOORED. God may not have answered my prayers the way I thought they should be answered, but He had answered them. Tom was alive and walking around in 45-50 people!! I shared this thought with his girlfriend who shared it with his family. I'm told it made them feel blessed.

Anyway, so now I go back to God and I ask Him to reveal to me the meaning in Wayne's condition and probable death. And I know He won't fail me...

Until later...