Hi Everyone,
Welcome to our blog! We have never done anything like this before and if you had told us a month ago that we would be starting a blog, we would not have believed it! We are very ordinary folks, like most of you. We have had 4 kids. We have 3 grown kids that we adore, an awesome daughter-in-law, and the most adorable 1 year old grandson that you have ever seen! Our son, Tommy, was killed about 10 years ago at the age of 19 in an auto accident. We have been happily married (most of the time!) to each other for over 32 years and consider each other to be our best friend.
Haven't you experienced circumstances in your life when you knew that as a result, your life would never be quite the same? That happened to us when Tommy died. We are now experiencing another life changing event. On June 23rd Gene was diagnosed with ALS, or you may know it as Lou Gehrig's disease. We all know what cancer is, heart disease, and diabetes. Have you ever known anyone with ALS? We haven't. We won't bore you with the details of the disease, but if you are interested you can do a Google or Yahoo search by typing in ALS.
This past March we went to a John Piper (our favorite Christian author) conference entitled "Don't Waste Your Life". In Pastor John's opening prayer he said something like this "...and Lord, if someone goes home tonight and goes to the doctor with some jagging pain and the doctor says that it is very bad and that they have cancer, I pray that they will not waste their cancer." Though Gene was experiencing symptoms at the time, we had no idea that just a few weeks later our world would be turned upside down. Our deepest prayer is that we would not waste Gene's ALS; that is why we have started this blog. But don't get us wrong, this is not going to be an ALS blog. This is going to be a "how not to waste your life" blog. We don't mean that to "not waste our life" is to complete a "bucket list" of all the things we ever wanted to do. For us, it means sharing our experience with you. It means, not wasting our suffering by feeling sorry for ourselves.
We would like to invite you to come and journey with us, as we walk this challenging road. We would like to open our hearts and our lives to you. We want to share our joys, our sorrows, our good times, and our bad. Of course, we will use this blog as a way to update all of you about Gene's condition. However, we want this blog to be much more than that. Life is hard. How do you navigate the hard things? We want to share how we navigate them.
This blog is for our family, friends, fellow ALS sufferers, or anyone else that would like to take a peek into our lives. We welcome your responses to our posts. If you prefer to contact us privately, our emails for Gene: www.genemccain@roadrunner.com and for Michele: www.mccain2@hotmail.com
We would like to sign off this post with a verse from 2 Corinthians 4:15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
To the praise of His glorious grace,
Gene and Michele
8 comments:
So good to hear from you!!! Thank you for blessing us with this blog. I will continue to pray for this endeavor God has placed before you.
With much Love, Jill
2 Tim 1:9-10 - For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was His plan from before the beginning of time—to show us His grace through Christ Jesus. And now He has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News.
As you continue to share your faith and Trust; we are encouraged and strengthened in our walk. Know our hearts and prayers are with you daily. Dennis & Betty
Dearest Gene and Michele,
I am not surprised that you are sharing this experience in your life for God's glory, for that is how you have lived; doing all things to the glory of God and putting first His kingdom.
I feel humbled and blessed to be your friend and will stand with you in prayer and praise to God in the months and years to come.
Much love, Joyce
Dear Michele and Gene,
Thank you for sharing this personal journey with those that care and love you. It is clear that you have always openly accepted the providence and guidance of God.
Blessings and love,
Stephanie & John
Dear Gene and Michele,
Thank you for sharing your heart and faith with us in this journey. We are pointed to the Savior by you as we walk and pray with you.
We pray that you may know Him more and more in the "fellowship of His suffereings".
with love and prayers,
Dave and Lynn
Dear Michele and Gene,
Thank you for the precious letter. I know we will all be blessed and our walk and trust in the Lord Jesus will grow because of your faithful witness. I pray you, in turn, will feel our love, support and prayers for you. May God reap a great harvest from your faithfulness. I know that is your heart's desire.
With love,
Cheri
Michele and Gene…..I want to thank you for sharing this experience with us and using it to glorify the Lord. Let us be reminded that the Lord shall be glorified in us. What greater thing could happen than for the Lord to be glorified in us? The glory of God is bound up with the resurrection, and the resurrection is God’s unique and sole prerogative.
So if God is to be glorified in us, we must live on Him as the resurrection and the life from day to day, and know Him as just that as we go through life’s trials. We will continue to keep you both in our prayers.
Mike and Donna
Gene and Michele
This is my pray to you.
It is in this pray where I find my Strength.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust."
Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
Ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you make the Most High your dwelling—
even the LORD, who is my refuge-
then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
You will tread upon the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
"Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
He will call upon me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
With long life will I satisfy him
and show him my salvation."
Psalm 91
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