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The Truth and the Lie about Bad News

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As a pastor/preacher, I pride myself in heralding the Good News of Jesus Christ! In fact, I’m sure in almost all of my sermons, I say something to the effect of, “the Good News is.” When people come to church on Sunday, I want them to know that in spite of what they’re going through, there is Good News. I try my best to preach about faith, hope, trust, praising God in advance, and all the other wonderful virtues that the Gospel of Christ entails. Not only do I preach the Good News, I try to believe and live out the Good News for myself– you know, take my own medicine.

However, there are times in life when the bad news of life, tries its best to choke out the Good/good news in life. In life, when it seems as if all you’ve received is bad news, time after time, it’s extremely hard to receive good news. In fact, when all you’re used to hearing is bad news, the bad news seems to be more palatable to your heart, mind, and spirit.

How do I know this? Because in my own experience, parenthood has at times, been nothing but a blizzard of bad news. Losing 1 child, then another child, then having a child with special needs/disabilities, and then not being able to have more children with my wife (except through surrogacy and/or adoption) has been a rough journey. As some of you may know, parenting Super Mighty Max has come with its share of trials, tribulations, tears, and terrifying news. In my opinion, no one in their right mind likes to hear bad news. Bad news breaks hearts! Bad news can divide families. Bad news can make you act out of character. Bad news will cause emotions to erupt. Bad news can make you doubt God. That’s the truth about bad news!

The lie about bad news is, all news, ain’t bad news and despite what you’ve experienced in the past, everything won’t turn out bad! For me, this is birthed out of my experience with Super Mighty Max; who has been battling with seizures over the past 14-months. Over that time period, we’ve tried numerous seizure medications, and research says once you’ve unsuccessfully tried two anti-seizure medications, the chances of being seizure free is very unlikely!

Well, instead of trying another seizure medication on Super Mighty Max, in December we put him on the Ketogenic Diet, which is a high fat, moderate protein, and low carb diet. During his first 30 days of being on the diet, my wife and I still noticed seizures and wondered if this diet would actually work for him. That was the first 30 days! The Good News is, for the past 2 1/2 weeks, we can probably count on one hand how many seizures we’ve seen! Super Mighty Max has gone from having multiple seizures an hour to not having any visible seizures on some days, at all. This is wonderful new! For Super Mighty Max, not having any seizure could be a total game-changer in his development! Again, this is Good News, because it allows us to hope, believe, and have faith in different possibilities for our son!

Today, I’m grateful for the lie about bad news and the truth about Good News! The Good News is, no matter what it looks like, God is in control! The Good News is, no matter what we encounter, God is in the situation with us! The Good News is, no matter what the bad news may be, God can turn it into Good News! The Good News is, whatever the news is, God will sustain! The Good News is, right now, Super Mighty Max has had a dramatic decrease in seizures, and I celebrate that! Will you join me in believing in the Good News???

Stay Super, Make Mighty Moves, Be Blessed,

Brandon

 

Private Prayer, Now Public

Private Prayer Now PublicNew Blogpost

Last year, when Erica and Maxwell were in the hospital, at times I felt hopeful and hopeless. After losing two children, Erica was now fighting for her life, after a traumatic birth with Maxwell; while at the same time, Maxwell was struggling to acclimate himself to this new experience outside of his mother’s womb. The sad part is, it would be a few days until he would be able to be held by his mother, because she hadn’t woke up yet.

During this ordeal, I felt guilty because my wife had been through enough trauma and pain, now my son and here I am, watching them struggle. To help clear my mind, I wrote a prayer on my phone, and here are my exact words below…

“God I’m sitting in the hospital room, waiting on Erica to wake up. My son is at a totally different hospital. I feel anxious waiting Lord. Part of me feels guilty as well. Why do they have to go through this experience and not me. Erica has had it very rough since we’ve been married. I thought I had it hard- hardly. My prayer and my hope is that both Erica and Maxwell come out of this ideal healthy and normal. I just want to start life with my new family. Please please, do that for me Lord.”

While, it hasn’t been a cakewalk since Maxwell has been home, I thank God for my family!

Peace,

Brandon

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