St. Jude Run

Tonight I had the privilege of bringing a short, encouraging devotional to the runners of this year’s annual St. Jude run from Champaign to Peoria. As I sifted through the stories from St. Jude, and the importance of children to Jesus, I came upon the scriptures found in Matthew 18 and 19. I studied these and it came to me how often we here a child cry out for help, and how we seemingly, almost impulsively respond with the all too familiar phrase, "oh it will be all right". I was reminded of how my son Krys cried out after a leg injury and I did just that. I felt he may be dramatizing a less than serious injury because his older brother had suffered an injury on the same leg a week earlier. As I displayed little regard for the potential of injury, I grabbed his injured leg and Krys screamed out in pain. As I frantically dropped the injured extremity I realized he was undoubtedly hurting. The paramedic in me kicked in and as I examined the extremity it became clearly obvious. Exactly where I had grabbed his leg was a major step off, or in layman's terms, a deformity to his once continuous perfect little leg bone. As tears welled up in my eyes and apologies flowed, I informed him that his leg was probably broken and we would need to go to the emergency department for x-rays. To make a long story short, it was broken and so was the other bone in his leg. Yes, Krys had broken his fibula and his tibia.

As I looked at these scriptures in Matthew, I saw the disciples arguing about who would be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 18) It was then that Jesus took a small child ¬- sat the child in front of them - and proceeded to tell them they must have the innocence of a small child, the heart of a child, the humbleness of a child, if they wanted to see the Kingdom of Heaven. BUT! In the next chapter, (chapter 19) Jesus is healing the people. Soon some parents move to the front of the crowd with their children in hopes that Jesus can heal their sick children. Yet the disciples, the same disciples that had just been taught the need to be like a child and how important children are to Jesus, pushed the parents aside and told them not to be bothering Jesus. Jesus stopped them and reminded them in His compassionate way, that the children are what make’s us. Jesus said, let the children come to me, and then he blessed them and healed them.

This story made me think of how many times the cries of a child go unheard. Sure we may hear them audibly, but many times we set them aside, possibly because they are young, and tell them it will be all right. My new friend Austin has Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. He also designed the T-shirt for this year’s St. Jude run. Yet much like the story of the disciples, and the story revealed of me, Austin’s diagnosis didn’t come immediately. Oh his family took him serious and kept returning him to the doctors for continual appointments. However, it wasn’t until several weeks after the first signs of illness, that the family of Austin learned the in-depth news. Olivia is his sister and she is a part of a family that I know appreciates all of those who give of themselves everyday for the betterment of children. I know they, as many of us do, appreciate all of those who are running for the cause and for the innocence of children. Austin was my helper tonight as I shared this devotional. He was and is the child Jesus says bring unto me. Pray for them and those of all ages who suffer from this growing epidemic called cancer.

Blessings,

Pastor Wayne