On Wearing Pants For The First Time In Months

"I am wearing pants for the first time in months."

That was the first statement of praise this past Sunday as our Fellowship @ Locke began our time of worship.  To be exact, it was not the first time my dad had worn any pants, but the first time that he had worn anything other than elastic waist track pants since his surgery back in February.   Sure it was nice to have on jeans again, but the true celebration was what the jeans represented.  Those jeans represented increased mobility after the surgery and they also represented that all the tubes that once where hooked up have now been taken out, and that his last incision from the feeding tube is almost now healed over.  These are things truly deserving of praise!

As life goes on quickly it is sometimes easy to overlook the truly remarkable things that God does in our midst.   It would be a tragedy, however, if we do not take the time to celebrate pants.    I hope that this is a powerful moment for our Fellowship.  What began as shocking news of my dad's cancer has now become a true praise, and I will go as far a saying a miracle.  It began with a providential finding in which my dad was sent to the wrong specialist for a medical issue he wanted addressed.  This specialist, although unable to address the original concern, decided to do a scan since my dad was in his office and had never had one before.  It was this scan that revealed the cancer that otherwise may have worsened before it was ever discovered.  God was at work.  We as a church took the time to anoint my dad with oil and pray before he began 7 weeks of intense chemo and radiation which was to be followed by a very intensive and invasive surgery.  It is the chemo and radiation treatment that I look back on and say that there was a miracle.  Simply put, my dad experienced little, if any, of the affects that the doctors were concerned and warned him about.  The medical team was astounded that he came through without loosing any hair, without loosing much strength and without ever becoming nauseous or ill.  And because he came through with such good health, he was that much stronger as he entered into the massive, invasive surgery from which he has been able to make such a quick physical recovery.  

So, pants are certainly something to be thankful for.  And for our church, pants are a powerful example of answered prayer and the power of God.  So the next time you are putting on pants, you can remember this story.  Similarly, if you are putting on pants it means God had given you another day and the physical means to do so, all of which are a reason to give thanks and praise.