Epic adventure of the Smurfs

So I sat at this lunch table my freshman year in high school, trying most of the time unsuccessfully to fit in with the cool girls. And there was this girl who used the "f" word as every part of speech. I had to try my best not to laugh out loud because it sounded so utterly ridiculous. Anyway, it occurred to me that the only other word that I had heard used in a similar way is "smurf," which got me thinking of one of my favorite SNL sketches of all time.

How Do You Do That?

We have some very good friends that have recently struggled with health challenges in their lives. Matt Lemmons, an elder at our church The Church at Stones Crossing (the site isn't the best but gives you a general gist), was diagnosed somewhere around the 4th of July weekend with Small Cell Type B Cancer with a tumor wrapped around his trachea. It's a cancer that general unhealthy smokers get in their 60s. Matt, however is 44, a very fine fit fella with a nutrionist for a wife and he's never smoked nor been around secondhand smoke on a regular basis.

If I had to describe the Lemmons, they would be pretty much the couple with the strongest marriage, the parents with the neatest kids (there are three boys - Grant who's in the 10th grade, Blake who's in the 8th, and Craig who's a 6th grader), a family that truly serves our church in so many unbelievable ways. Top that off with the fact that Matt is a very successful businessman who operates with the highest level integrity and it all adds to a big "huh?" when someone like Matt is diagnosed with such an agressive cancer of the rarest and most dangerous type.

Needless to say, their journey to wellness has been rocky over the last few months. Through it all, Matt has been blogging every few days at his Caringbridge site. If you get a chance, read his story (go to the journal entries, too). I am constantly amazed at his Christ-centered attitude and desires in the midst of all of the illness that surrounds his physical body. If you think on it, pray for Matt and his wife Robin (my hero of the past several years) and their three boys (there are pics on the site, too). They are truly precious in His site and in mine, too.

I had a completely crappy week last week for various reasons. With my prospectus due this Thursday, papers to grade next week, and 120 exams to grade the week after, the next few will probably continue to smack my mouth loose. But when I consider these small things in the face of something what like the Lemmons are currently struggling with, I consider it nothing.