Saturday, September 11, 2010
7:00 am
Daniel J. Summers
Today is 9 years removed from September 11th, 2001. There is a lot going on today - fall Saturdays are typically sports days, and today is no different. There are lots of big match-ups in college football, and NASCAR wraps up its regular season tonight, locking in the drivers that will be competing for the championship over the following 10 races. There was a lot going on 9 years ago as well, although as a Tuesday, that day's scheduled entertainment was in music, not sports; Michael W. Smith's Worship and Enya's A Day Without Rain were both released on that date. (It's almost as if God knew that we were going to need them in the weeks to come.)
Of course, I'm not writing today to celebrate the 9th anniversary of Worship, though that album did revolutionize Christian music (not the first time Michael W. Smith had done that). It is remembered for the actions of a rogue band of terrorists, who turned that day into a day of great loss for our nation. It is remembered for the collapses in security that led to what is still both the worst terrorist attack on America, and the worst airline disaster in our history.
There are lots of directions that this post could go. I could talk about the absolutely horrendous idea of building a worship center for the religion under whose auspices the attacks were carried out mere blocks from the site of the attack; but, from my description, you probably can tell how I feel about that. I could also talk about the idiot in Florida who wanted to have the “Bonfire of the Qur'ans” today; but, again, I've probably communicated how I feel just now. I am thankful to God that he has decided against this.
But, today, in between games, cookouts, and races, all I'd like for us all to do is remember. Remember the lives of those who were simply doing their job that sunny September morning. Remember the lives of the police and fire personnel who ran into the building when others were running out. Remember those who were left with the choice of staying where they are and being burned to death, or jumping 100 stories to their death. Remember how the only thing you wanted to do was hold your family tight. Remember the over 3,000 military personnel who have lost their lives in the aftermath of this attack, in counter offenses in Iraq and Afghanistan. Remember the pain. That pain reminded people just how good we have it here, and for a time, united nearly all of us around the defense of our country.
When you're through remembering, turn to praise. Praise God that we have to go back 9 years to remember a successful large-scale terrorist attack on our soil. Praise God for leaders who made some tough decisions that have resulted in our protection. Praise God for the freedom we still have in this country. And finally, praise God that you were not among those who perished on that day, and resolve to accomplish what He left you here to do.
Friday, February 5, 2010
10:04 pm
Daniel J. Summers
The results are below, but first, the set up…
January 5th, 2010 was the first day back to work for me after the new year. I decided to put the radio on 91.5, which is our local Family Life Radio station. They were advertising a 30-Day Challenge - listen only to that radio station for 30 days. At the time, I didn't commit to it, but I thought “Eh, I'll give it a shot.” I only drive about 10 minutes one way to work, but driving home at lunch and back, then home for good in the afternoon, we start getting into some real time. At these times, they are generally playing music, or the DJs are discussing the topic of the day. A few weeks in, I befriended Dan Rosecrans, the local morning host, on Facebook. (He just recently got a national show on Sundays, playing praise music; congratulations, Dan!)
They also have talk programs. At work, I generally listen to podcasts or music from my computer, as I can't just tell people “Leave me alone - I'm listening to my radio program!” At my wife's suggestion, I subscribed to Intentional Living. They were doing a series of “If I Could Do It All Over Again” shows on different topic. Those weren't really doing much for me, and I asked my wife about her experience. She suggested I wait it out, as it was a show that she really enjoyed. She was right; I now wholeheartedly recommend it. I also, through driving my oldest son to scouts, heard Focus on the Family's daily broadcast. I wasn't new to FOTF at all, but I heard part of a show that interested me, and subscribed to their podcast as well. Their feed has about 4 months of recent episodes, and they have been hitting home runs every week! So, even when I wasn't listening to FLR, I was listening to a few of their shows, in a way where I wouldn't miss any of it.
The results…
The first week, it actually seemed like more things were going wrong than right. Work was stressful, home was stressful, and I wasn't handling it well in either place. Over the next few weeks, though, I began to have peace. The problems didn't go away, but I now have peace within them. More challenges have been thrown at me, and I'm not going to air a dirty laundry list, but in all of it, I have a peace about everything that is going on. Of course, that doesn't mean that I'm not trying to work through the problems and make them better; but, when I do what I believe God is telling me to do, I don't have to stress about the results - those are His problems now.
Even now, just shortly removed from them, I can see where some of these challenges (even those in the first week) have worked together for good, to help me address struggles that I've had as long as I can remember. 2010 is going to be an outstanding year, and FLR is a resource I'm going to keep.
Scott Kalitta was a Top Fuel and NHRA champion. Today, during a qualifying run, his car exploded and lost control, then exploded further when it struck the end of the drag strip. I was associated with that family (and their other business) a few years ago, and while I never met any of them, I heard from their employees and acquaintances that they were good people and good employers. ESPN has a limited report now; I'm sure they'll have more information as soon as they can pull it together.
The above is paraphrased from 2 Corinthians 12:9. It's also the title of a song written in 1988 by Steven Curtis Chapman, a young up-and-coming Christian music artist. Over the past twenty years, many Christians have been comforted and encouraged by this song. Now, it's his turn to be comforted. Yesterday, Steven Curtis Chapman's 5-year-old daughter was struck and killed by one of her teenage brothers, who was driving an SUV and didn't see her. From the response posted on his site and his radio interview following it, it sounds like he is handling this very well. However, it's got to be difficult to go through something like this. Let's pray that the Lord will comfort he and his family.
His strength is perfect when our strength is gone;
He'll carry us when we can't carry on.
Raised in His power, the weak become strong;
His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
4:21 pm
Daniel J. Summers
Sig94, linked in the “Daily Reads” section, has an ill father-in-law. (I'll own up to using “daily” as a loose term…) Rather than try to explain the situation, I'll let him do it. Here is the original post, followed by an update last Saturday, another this past Tuesday, and an update yesterday. Stay tuned to his blog for more updates.
I've received a final update from Charles and Judith regarding their baby girl. (Previous updates here)
Our baby Mary Florence was born around 5:35 A.M. August 28, 2007. She was alive when born, but sadly she died in my arms a very few minutes later. Even though we were expecting it, we were not prepared for the hard reality of it.
Physically Judith is doing well. She had a fever for a time but her temperature is now back to normal. Of course there is pain after childbirth, but Georgetown University Hospital has been great.
Once again our grateful thanks to all of you for all of your kind words, thoughts and prayers.
Although the outcome of this is not what any parent would hope when they here of their soon-to-arrive baby - but, we know that we can trust God, and that He knows why the outcome was the way it was. Continue to keep Charles and Judith in your prayers, as well as the rest of their family; their oldest son has just been deployed to Iraq.
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
10:40 pm
Daniel J. Summers
I've received another update from Charles and Judith about their baby. (Previous updates here)
(July 21) The baby's heart beat often skips a beat, kind of 3 beats and then a skip but it is not always that regular. Friday they did a fetal echo cardiogram and discovered that the baby's heart has 2 small holes in it. The holes can easily be repaired later when the baby is stronger and they may even close on their own. However they are concerned because this can be associated with chromosomal disorders, especially Down syndrome (trisomy 21), trisomy 13, and trisomy 18. Babies with Down syndrome can live but few babies with trisomy 13 or trisomy 18 live more than a few months.
It is too late for amniocentesis (a test for these chromosomal abnormalities) as there is no fluid to speak of. They could get a genetic sample from the blood in the cord but the expert they had that does this got another job and they do not want to try it. It is hard to do especially since the baby is moving more and there is some risk of infection. They could use a needle to get a sample of the placenta.
A part of the amniotic fluid is urine from the baby. Whenever Judith urinates some fluid comes out. They collected some of this morning (Saturday) and will collect more, and send it for analysis. It will contain cells from both Judith and the baby and they hope to test the baby's cells to see if it has a chromosomal anomaly and which one.
(Aug 1) The results of the chromosome tests are back. It is definitely not trisomy 13, trisomy 18, or trisomy 21. There are some other possible chromosome defects but they are very rare and they usually do not test for them. Also babies with those defects usually result in a miscarriage. The baby is a girl. The baby's heart rate has dropped down twice now probably due to compression of the umbilical cord. The amniotic fluid usually protects the cord but of course we have no fluid. When the cord is compressed the baby is not getting enough oxygen and if the heart rate stays down too long they will deliver the baby via c-section. Judith and the baby are now being monitored for the baby's heart rate and for contractions 24 hours a day. They also do sonograms and for the baby's heart they do echocardiograms. The main problem is the development of the lungs and the birth defect.
I've received another update from Charles and Judith about their baby (previous updates here).
The baby was 24 weeks old on July 18, 2007. It has been seven weeks since the water broke. Only one baby in approximately 128 with PPROM will live this far. Because it has reached this age Judith and the baby went into the hospital on July 18. She has received two steroid shots that they hope will help the baby's lung tissue develop.
Today, July 19th we got another sonogram. The gestational age was 22 weeks and three days so as expected it is undersized. However there were some positive things. Since July 2nd the baby's weight has increased from 300 grams to 516 grams (1 lb. 20 oz.). There was some confusion in the initial report of the birth defect as to whether it was an omphalocele or whether it was gastroschisis. Gastroschisis is a bigger problem but fortunately they think it is omphalocele and also they think that the liver in not involved and in its normal position. That is still serious and life threatening.
The main threat now is the possible lack of lung development due to no amniotic fluid. No matter what the weight or other factors this one is the key. Unfortunately the lung tissue cannot be seen on the sonogram. There is only one way to tell if the baby has enough lung tissue to survive and that will be to test them out in the real world when the baby is delivered. Each day that there is a delay in the delivery of the baby increases its chances. So there is increased hope, increased chance of survival but make no mistake, at this point the percentages are not great. The baby is on the cusp or edge of being or becoming viable. This is more than could have been reasonably expected at the beginning, so all praise to God for His love and mercy toward us and thanks to all of you for your prayers and support.
I received another update from Charles about their baby (original request here, first update here).
Sorry about all the medical jargon in this email, but I can only pass on what we have been told and what we have researched. It is hard to translate all this to regular English and if some of you want to do your own research the technical terms can aid in searching although at times they can also hinder getting understandable articles.
Prior to today the best web information I have found is at:
From that we knew that “Midtrimester (13-26 wk) PPROM has a dismal prognosis”. (PPROM is an acronym for pre-term premature rupture of membranes.) Most women (93.75%) with this condition go into labor prior to four weeks, but a very few continue on for longer periods. In this case we are among the fortunate few who beat the odds. However as you we see below there are other even longer odds stacked up against us and our baby.
The sonogram result from today is that the baby is underdeveloped for its gestational age and there is very little amniotic fluid. No movement of the baby was observed although from time to time Judith has felt movement. The heartbeat is still normal.
Both our ob-gyn and the specialist we saw today have never seen a case like ours where the baby has survived. We did not talk much about the birth defect (omphaocele) or the operation for it except that she did mention that the chances of other birth defects such as downs syndrome etc. is high. We mostly talked about the fact that without the amniotic fluid the baby's lungs will not develop properly. This would result in pulmonary hypoplasia which means the baby would not be able to breath and probably would not survive even if that was the only problem. If the baby survives another two weeks (until after July 15) we could transfer the prenatal care to this specialist. The only treatment would be bed rest and to administer steroids to hopefully aid or accelerate the development of the baby's lungs. Judith would have to stay in the hospital all the time until the baby is delivered. Nobody knows when this might be. Potentially it could be up to 16 weeks or so. Even with all of that the chances of the baby surviving are “one percent or less”. This just the risk from the pulmonary hypoplasia alone without taking into consideration the operation required for the birth defect. That defect alone is also life threatening i.e. without the operation the baby will not survive. That operation must be done under general anesthesia and so of course the baby must be able to breathe in order to survive that. There could possibly be some slight delay between the birth of the baby and the operation to allow for more lung development, but if that is possible it would have to be “very carefully managed”.
I am sorry the news is not more encouraging. Obviously most of our hopes have not yet come to pass. We are grateful to God for the extra time that he given us with out baby, time that others are not so lucky to have. (While PPROM happens in only 3% of pregnancies that is still 150,000 pregnancies a year. My heart goes out to all those people who have suffered as much or even more than we have.) We always hope and pray for the result that we desire but we end our prayers asking for God to help us in accepting His will for both us and our baby. In this life we usually do not see or understand why we must suffer, but I believe this life is just part of a deeper, more encompassing reality where somehow all of this has meaning and makes sense.
Thank you again for all of your prayers and support.
The baby's not out of the woods yet. The prognosis is dim, but it was dim when we first started praying. Keep Charles and Judith in your prayers.
Of course, I'm not writing today to celebrate the 9th anniversary of Worship, though that album did revolutionize Christian music (not the first time Michael W. Smith had done that). It is remembered for the actions of a rogue band of terrorists, who turned that day into a day of great loss for our nation. It is remembered for the collapses in security that led to what is still both the worst terrorist attack on America, and the worst airline disaster in our history.
But, today, in between games, cookouts, and races, all I'd like for us all to do is remember. Remember the lives of those who were simply doing their job that sunny September morning. Remember the lives of the police and fire personnel who ran into the building when others were running out. Remember those who were left with the choice of staying where they are and being burned to death, or jumping 100 stories to their death. Remember how the only thing you wanted to do was hold your family tight. Remember the over 3,000 military personnel who have lost their lives in the aftermath of this attack, in counter offenses in Iraq and Afghanistan. Remember the pain. That pain reminded people just how good we have it here, and for a time, united nearly all of us around the defense of our country.