Wake-up Call

Every once in a while, God gives me a wake-up call; sometimes, it's more like a slap in the face. It's as if God knows that every so often, I get complacent and unappreciative of the rich blessings of my life, so He gives me a glimpse of how life could be for me, but for His grace. This time, the wake-up call came in the form of a blog (http://weloveyoujoel.blogspot.com) that I found through another blog, and now I can't even remember exactly how I did find it! But it's a heart-breaking--and heart-warming--story of a little boy named Joel who had cancer and died. Joel had a twin brother named Josiah; and any story about a Josiah grabs my attention immediately. In this case, I found tears coming to my eyes numerous times as I read; and I could so easily imagine cancer striking our family and one of our boys being struck down. I can't even come close to imagining the pain that would cause; and as I tuck my boys in bed these days, I give them extra hugs, kisses, and squeezes, not even wanting to let go and say a final good night, knowing that but for the grace of God, these lives that are so precious to me could slip away so quickly.