We were reminded of the preciousness and fragility of life in a powerful way yesterday.  During Max and Charlie's birthday party, their friend and St Pat's first grader Matthew Chu nearly drowned.  Thankfully this story has a happy ending, the best gift any of us could have hoped for. Matthew is okay - already smiling and laughing again.  We are grateful for his life and his brave fight for recovery.  We thank God for Matthew and we love you! 

Please help us with prayers for Matthew…

Kurt is filming this pageant this coming Saturday (May 19) - kind of the opposite focus of "Little Miss Sunshine". I could use help from friends - but it's an ALL Day deal (11:00 AM to 9:00 PM), and I need helpers to commit for the whole time.  Friends can also come and simply watch and support the girls…

She broke in front of me, just kind of crumbled. Her liver was scarred and failing. All the venous blood was supposed to flow smoothly back to her heart by first passing through the cleansing tissues of her liver. But alcohol had long since ruined that process. Instead her blood was getting all backed up, like a clogged drain, by the alcohol scarred mass that used to be her liver. And the crazy thing is that it backs up into the veins of the esophagus, which often break open, filling the…

http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2012/february-online-only/higherstakes.html?start=1

I was impressed by this article by John Ortberg in Christianity Today's Leadership Journal. Especially impressive (and instructive to me) are the Five Rules on page 2 of the article.