What Does It Take To Save A Life

Along this journey, we have said many times that our perspective and priorities have changed. Most of the things that were a normal part of our lives are things that we can no longer include in our schedule. I had a discussion the other day with a friend about what was important in life. We agreed that our relationship with God, our families and other relationships were important. Our jobs and other responsibilities were also important, but when you face a life threatening illness in your family, your true priorities become obvious.

We often say that we would do anything to save our kids and our family. But we have found that it was easy to say that, but being put to the test takes more than lip service.

A few years ago there was a movie that dealt with real life issues of teenagers called To Save A Life. It dealt with the hopes and dreams of a basketball star and his cheerleader girlfriend. Their lives were changed when a friend took his life and they were faced with decisions that would effect the future of their lives.

This journey we are on has forced us to evaluate our decisions. We have had to change plans, readjust schedules and put many of our hopes and dreams on hold. We have quoted the verse before "How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? from James 4. But this is the first time in our lives when we really have no idea what tomorrow will bring.

As we have readjusted our priorities we have been faced with the difficult issues of life. We have had to make decisions about prolonging life and had the difficult discussions with Josh about what extent we would take to save his life. Along the journey the financial impact of his medical treatment has been one of those issues that we follow but have very little control over.

Every week we get medical bills and statements from the insurance company telling us what bills have come in. We have never had any major illnesses in our family before, and I don't know that we have ever used up our deductible before in a calendar year. But this year, we spent our deductible after his first week in the hospital.

As we have watched his medical bills come in over the last few months, (we are very thankful for insurance and for the medical providers who have partnered with us to fight the cancer that is trying to kill Josh) we have been faced with the question of what is a life worth. 

We support a child in the Philippines through Compassion International.  There is a link on the top right hand corner of this page that will take you to their website. To save a life in the Philippines, it costs $38 a month. With Joshua's medical bills to date, you could feed 2,200 children for an entire year. What makes my sons life worth more than those 2,200 other children in the world?

I can't answer that question. I can't put a dollar value on the life of my son. But I do know that what I am learning from this journey is that God has a purpose. He has a plan and He wants to use the challenges we are facing to point people toward Him. He has allowed Josh to get the necessary treatment to save his life, at a cost far beyond what we could ever afford.

Maybe this year as we approach Christmas, He wants to use Josh's story to save the lives of 2,200 children around the world. Maybe He wants all of us together to find away to share the love of God with the people that we know. What ever the reason, I know that in God's eyes, my son's life is worth more than a million dollars. In God's eyes, every life is worth saving, He was wiling to give His Son's life to save each one of ours.

As we move into this Christmas season, think about what you will do with the life God has given you. He gave us all the gift of life, it is our choice how we spend it.

Josh was released from the hospital yesterday (Tuesday afternoon). He is home resting, and has been eating a little better. Please pray that we will be able to stay home until his next chemotherapy treatment on December 12th.