Heart Surgeon

Rob was 10 years old, a time when kids dream of becoming President. He watched a documentary about open heart surgery. And he decided right then and there that he'd be the president's doctor. Not the president, but the man responsible for his heart and his health.

He never changed his mind... on the doctor part, anyway. He just seems to have known since that documentary that he was meant to be a doctor. Jeremiah 29:11 says, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Somehow, Rob tuned into that plan very young. I've never been so certain of my own calling.

Through our 20 years of marriage, it's been my honor to stand by his side. I've assisted as he provided care at a car accident, literally taking the shirt off his back to apply pressure to a wound. In China, getting our own daughter to bring her home, our hotel room became a mini-medical clinic as Rob examined baby after baby treating upset tummies, fevers and rashes.

He has called me to pray for families about to receive life shattering news. He has asked for prayers for wisdom when a baby is sick and he doesn't have any good answers. He has requested that I pray for hurting marriages that are literally making the family physically ill. His heart for his patients goes way beyond their physical health.

When the earthquake hit Haiti last week, he immediately wanted to go. It wasn't a question of if. Rather we asked how? when? Monday night, many churches gathered at C3 to pray for the people of Haiti, the relief workers, the medical professionals and the orphans. In our prayer circle, I asked God to open the door and show us the way.

God answered fast. Rob got two calls for mission trips yesterday. One came from our own C3, a missions and outreach trip with people he already knows. Traveling into that destruction with friends sure sounds appealing. The other call came from a Christian medical missions group with a hospital in Haiti. Going to Haiti to provide medical relief with people he doesn't know, but doing exactly what God designed him to do.

We had about an hour to decide. Time to pray - he prayed between patients. The kids and I prayed here. Friends prayed.

God spoke clearly. With total peace and a strong sense of anticipation, we knew he should go with the medical mission group. It was exactly what we asked God for on Monday night: the opportunity to minister to hurting hearts by ministering to broken bodies.

He's not the heart doctor to the president like he dreamed as a boy. Rather, he is a heart doctor for God, ministering not just to patient illnesses, but to their hearts.

Please join me here these next couple weeks as Rob journeys to Haiti. Join us in praying for the people of Haiti he will soon meet. Ask God to prepare him to minister to the broken hearts as he ministers to physical wounds. We know God prepared the way, and we can't wait to see what He will accomplish, through Rob's hands and heart.

Thank you.