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Tuesday, July 31, 2007Robin Roberts Needs Our Prayers
Robin Roberts must have talked to God and asked to be of greater service to Him.
I write this with the proverbial 'tongue in cheek,' and tears filling my eyes.
I've been a huge fan of Good Morning America since childhood, when I watched the show with my mother after viewing my morning cartoons. When Robin Roberts joined the show's team several years ago, she felt like a friend. During her tenure, she has introduced viewers to her family, shared her grief over the impact of Hurricane Katrina, and now this.
In the first half hour of this morning's live broadcast, Robin clutched her co-anchor Diane Sawyer's hand and announced to millions of viewer-friends that she has breast cancer.
In a quivering voice, she detailed how she found a lump in her breast and sought an immediate examination. She expressed gratitude that the cancer has been detected in its earliest stages, thanks to a doctor who wisely ordered an ultasound as well as a mammogram to explore the merit of the growth.
I jest that Robin must have asked God to give her more to do, because in sharing her diagnosis live on the air this morning, she has raised awareness about the most common cancer among women to new heights.
I'm certain that her news has prompted numerous women with concerns about a breast lump or growth to call a doctor today. With her plan to return to work and occasionally share her treatment experience, the thousands of other women who are battling this disease will undoubtedly be encouraged. And hopefully more of us will join the fight to find a cure.
Robin, who recently penned a book titled "From the Heart: Seven Rules to Live By," announced this morning that she now has an eighth rule - early detection. She joins more than 211,000 American women who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and said she intends to remain one of the survivors.
Most importantly, Robin's on-air announcement included an unabashed reliance on God. She recited a phrase that is often repeated in houses of worship across the land - "God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good."
That is indeed true, Robin.
Let's keep her, and every woman we know who is living with breast cancer, in our prayers.
Psalm 91: 10-12 - 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.
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Friday, April 20, 2007The 'Orange & Maroon Effect' for Virginia Tech
Virginia, the state that I call home, is observing a Day of Mourning in honor of the 32 students and faculty slain in a shooting rampage on the campus of Virginia Tech University earlier this week.
I live in the metro Richmond area, where Governor Tim Kaine's office issued a request for state residents to embrace the 'orange and maroon effect,' and honor the Tech victims by wearing their school colors.
When I leave home today to attend several meetings, run errands and pick up my children from school, I'm expecting to encounter a sea of those colors. Across the nation, scores of individuals will be similarly attired, and my family is in the number.
However, with Tech being one of the state's top schools, it seems as if every other person I encounter in my local area has a personal connection to the university.
Several of my friends are Tech graduates, and the parents of many of my children's friends are as well.
One of the young men slain in Monday morning's shooting rampage attended a high school in my neighborhood. There will be a memorial service for him there this weekend. He was just two weeks away from receiving a master's degree in engineering.
Another student, a Tech freshman, graduated last year from an area Christian high school where plans are underway to honor her memory. The media have shared stories about her wonderful spirit and powerful faith, an attribute that has given her loved ones the comfort of knowing she is heavenbound.
I've read stories about several other victims who were also well-regarded Christians, and I continue to hear about students who might have been victims if they had arrived on campus a little earlier or made different decisions about how to start their day.
Of course, there are also the questions: How could God let this happen? What kind of God could be this cruel?
Similar queries arose after the other national tragedies we have commemorated this week - a shooting rampage eight years ago today at Columbine High School in Colorado; the April 19 anniversary of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombings.
The only certain answer is that God walks through the valley with us, and that when we weep, so does He.
We have the free will to serve Him or not, and those who decide the latter often seem to win.
Yet even when we can't see how or understand in what ways, we have to trust the truth in God's Word, which insists that His goodness, grace and mercy will stand forever. Faith in God's promises reassures us that in the end, evil cannot and will not prevail over the Master's divine love.
As we mourn these young people and their instructors, as we mourn the loss of their potential and the beauty of their lives, we can be thankful for the outpouring of support other Tech students and their families continue to receive from around the world.
We can be grateful that even when something this tragic darkens our days, the light of God's love can still shine through - in our prayers, in our loving actions and even by wearing orange and maroon.
Phillipians 4: 5b-7 - The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
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Friday, November 17, 2006Faith Reflected
Yesterday we had torrential rainfall in Richmond, but I plowed through it to visit a local elementary school and read to a class of second graders.
Their teacher gave me two books - one about pumpkins, the other about the pilgrims' journey to America and their celebration feast after surviving a long, hard winter.
Before I launched into the second book, I asked the energetic boys and girls sitting at my feet to silently think of one thing they were thankful for this year, and to remember to be grateful for it on Thanksgiving Day.
Most of the children smiled or promised to comply. As I opened the book, however, my eyes were drawn to one child, a boy sitting in the middle of group. In the seconds it had taken me to make my request and settle in to read, his demeanor had changed.
He hung his head. He sat there scowling. It was obvious that he felt like he had little reason to give thanks.
I asked his name and motioned for him to join me in the reading chair. I smiled at him and told him I couldn't have any sad faces during story time, so he would have to be my helper.
He sat next to me while I read with as much enthusiasm as I could muster (it wasn't hard- these kids were great). At the same time, I was uttering a prayer, in my mind and heart, for this sweet little boy.
I don't know what was troubling his youthful soul, but the pain had been written all over his face. I knew I couldn't erase it with a brief story time.
Yet in the ten minutes it took me to share that story and ask the students questions, as I turned the pages and showed them the illustrations, my little friend's countenance changed. He relaxed and leaned close to me, and by the time I closed the book, his smile had returned.
Yes, it was only temporary. But I hope that if he has nothing else to cling to on Thanksgiving morning, he'll remember that the lady who visited his classroom to read cared about him. Maybe it will make him smile again.
John 13:34 - "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
Questions? Comments? Contact Stacy at stacy@stacyhawkinsadams.com.
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Friday, September 8, 2006Faith Reflected (Friday Devotion)
With September underway, many folks are preparing to play, or watch, some form of football, soccer or baseball. It's a busy sports season, but also a period when competiveness and the desire to be the best can go into overdrive.
I see it as I sit on the sidelines several times a week and watch my son at flag football practice, or when I drive past the local YMCA and glimpse several teams of youths running the length of a field with a black and white ball bouncing between their feet.
What's reassuring, whether you're athletically inclined or not (like me), is that when we have a relationship with God, there are no winners or losers.
With Him, there's no competition for first place or the winning score. We are all the apple of God's eye. We are all worthy of His love - yesterday, today and forever.
Isn't that a great way to start the weekend - and the Fall sports season?
Psalm 136:2 - Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.
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Tuesday, September 5, 2006Life Interrupted
If you work from home all or part of the time, you know how it goes when you've completed your "To Do" list: You'll get up early to work, get the kids off to school or walk the dog, go to your scheduled meetings and return the necessary phone calls.
By late afternoon your day is complete, and even if you haven't finished everything, at least you have made some progress.
That's the ideal, right? Over the weekend, I chuckled at the countless times I've made such plans, only to watch them go awry.
Friday was one of those days. I know- it's life. This happens all the time, and everything happens as it should.
The culprit that threw me off schedule was Ernesto, the threatening hurricane that became a tropical storm that had downgraded to a tropical depression by the time it reached Richmond, Va. At that point, though, my son's school had closed, and most of my meetings had been cancelled. (My daughter's school remained open, so off she went as usual.)
Sure, I could still sit at the computer and write. But if we were going to be stuck at home on a cool and rainy day, that called for a leisurely breakfast. Then my little assistant tired of reading and watching the children's programming on morning TV.
That meant I had to play at least one game of Bingo with him. I actually enjoyed myself, despite that angel on my shoulder reminding me that deadlines beckoned and that people were awaiting my calls.
Once my son was satisfied with his "mommy time" and began playing with his toys, I did get to work. I also got a call from an acquaintance who was watching the storm and flood warnings from the safety of her home in another Virginia town.
As we chatted, our talk turned to her son, who recently entered his senior year of high school. I asked if she were sad or if she thought she'd cry when he graduates in the spring and leaves home for college.
Of course, only time will tell how she'll handle the transition to an empty nest. Today, though, she laughed and said she couldn't wait. "I'll get my life back! Everything I've had to put on hold, I can do it, with nothing holding me back."
Her comments gave me pause.
On one hand, I fully understood her sentiment. How many of us who are parents have had to turn down promising work-related assignments, social outings or opportunities to flourish in some way because they conflicted with the need to be there for our children?
On the other hand, I fretted. Was parenthood supposed to remind us so starkly of what we had lost or given up to assume this role? Were we meant to feel as if our lives had been put on hold to care for sick kids; help with homework; drive carpool to and from various practices or games, and miss days at work when schools unexpectedly closed due to bad weather?
The more I thought about it, the more confident I became that my friend, who loves her son dearly and would do anything for him, had rendered her comments as a positive balance to the transition that is looming. She's looking on the bright side of the "new normal" that will soon visit her household.
Yet, our conversation made me yearn to be careful not to approach the next 10 to 13 years that I'll have my 8- and 5-year-olds at home as a holding pattern. This, too, is a time to flourish.
The things I experience and write about now are just for a season. When my children leave the nest, I'll be on to new adventures, new opportunities and new subjects to focus on in my fiction and nonfiction.
Until then, I'll concentrate on cherishing the here and now - waylaid deadlines, bingo games, stormy days and all.
(Note: This post also appeared on Stacy's www.faithchick.com blog.)
