Bicycles - 21 Weeks

Good morning! One more week is under our belt! Burke is now 21 weeks old, gestationally. He is growing comfortably in a bag full of amniotic fluid, with nice big pockets of fluid all around him helping develop his lungs and digestive system. His cochlea is almost fully formed, so he can hear. Most likely, he hears my heartbeat, my stomach, and my intestines, but he can hear my voice, too. I choose to believe that he can hear his daddy at night, when Mike spends a few quiet moments with him.

Do you know what else I'm choosing to believe? I'll warn you. I'm about to get sappy and spiritual here. I choose to beleive that Burke can also hear his heavenly father speaking to him in the quiet moments. I have prayed that God would be with him at this time. If the fluid starts to get low, or if he gets scared during the ultrasounds, or if he feels uncomfortable when I'm crying... That God would be right there with him, whispering scripture over his heart and his life.

"'For I know the plans I have for you.' declares the LORD. 'Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future.'" - Jeremiah 29:11

"I created your inmost being; I knit you together in your mother's womb. Praise me, for you are fearfully and wonderfully made; my works are wonderful, you'll know that full well." - Psalm 139:13-14 (I changed the pronouns as if God were speaking the words himself, instead of David (or whoever wrote this psalm) speaking these truths about God.)

I'm reading a book series right now that has given me a few points to ponder. In a previous book, one of the set of parents had chosen a life verse for each of their children. They bought a photo frame engraved with the verse for the child and put his/her school picture in it each year. I was struck by what a gift that would be. So, I've decided to do that for my children. I need time to pray over the verse that God wants for Ruby, but I know the verse that God has placed in my heart for Burke.

It's a verse that I memorized my senior year in high school. It struck me, and I didn't know why. Since then, God has blown me away with his movements and miracles. However, I can honestly say I've never faced a challenge like the one before me right now. For Burke to arrive safely and healthily into my arms in fifteen weeks would be beyond my wildest imaginations and dreams. I have no doubt that, if God starts Burke's life out with a miracle of this proportion, He will have even more in store for this young man.

For that reason, I feel like God wants me to pass this verse down to my son:

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasureably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!" - Ephesians 3:20-21 (NIV)

That is the version that I memorized in high school. I think I would like to help Burke memorize both the NIV version and The Message version, though. I think he might understand the Message version more easily when he's young:

"God can do anything, you know - far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it, not by pushing us around, but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us. Glory to God in the church! Glory to God in the Messiah, in Jesus! Glory down all generations! Glory through all millenia! Oh, yes!" - Ephesians 3:20-21 (The Message)

So...what does this have to do with bicycles? (I'm so sorry. This post is getting long again. Feel free to stop whenever you get bored.)

In this same series, one of the children has an accident and falls into a pool. She's three, and she stays underwater for close to 20 minutes, by their best guess. Her mother, father, and grandfather are all medical doctors. They know that the scientific prognosis is very, very bad. Even if the little girl lives, she will never be the same again, according to scientific statistics. She will have severe brain damage, most likely leaving her a "vegetable".

Even though the grandfather is a very strong and courageous man of faith, he begins to pray that God will take his granddaughter home, since she'll never be the same again. He doesn't have the faith to believe that God can perform an amazing miracle of healing that bucks medical tradition. I'll be completely honest with you:

I am terrified that Burke will be born severely premature, and I am terrified of what kind of life that will give him. I know the statistics. I know the probabilities.

I have often prayed a very similar prayer. "God, please, if I can't have Burke with me, whole and healthy, please take him home to you."

A couple of weeks later in the book, the granddaughter is showing signs of miraculous healing. She has regained her sight and has other small improvments. The grandfather approaches his daughter (the little girl's mother), and this is the exchange:

"God can do anything, Dad, remember? You taught me that."

"I remember." Her father's eyes were bright with unshed tears. "And here's something else." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small folded piece of paper. "Open it."

The paper was fragile, cut out of a newspaper or catalog, perhaps. She opened it and there inside was a picture of a small pink bicycle. "I...I'm not sure I understand."

"It's for Hayley." He pointed to the picture. "I bought it an hour ago and parked it in the garage. It'll be there waiting for her."

"Dad, are you serious?" Brooke clutched the picture to her heart. His renewed faith in Hayley's future was the greatest gift he could've given her.

"Yes." He smiled for the first time that morning. "Because God can do anything, Brooke. Anything at all. And on the day Hayley can ride that bike down the driveway, I want to say I was the first one who believed it could happen."

(Excerpt taken from "Rejoice" by Karen Kingsbury and Gary Smalley.)

Why did this passage hit me harder than any other passage in the entire series (which has been four 300+ books so far)? Because Burke already has a bike sitting in his Poppa's garage. It's been there since barely after we told his Poppa that he was on the way. It's a Schwinn Stingray 5-speed Fast Back...the same make and model as Poppa's first bike.

In fact, there are four Schwinn Stingrays sitting in Poppa's garage. His original for Ruby. A green one for Kyle and Kim's first baby. One for Burke. And one for Kyle and Kim's second child. Poppa got on e-bay and started bidding with faith. Faith that, one day, we will all be home, and we will all watch the children riding their bikes up and down the driveway...just like Kyle and I did when we were young.

I am choosing to believe that, one day, I will watch my daughter and my son ride up and down Poppa's driveway on vintage Schwinn Stingrays, while their faithful family rejoices around their amazing lives.

I believe, Father. Help me with my unbelief. Amen.