Isaiah 26:3

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you."

What a wonderful promise, and how much greater a reality if we will do it. I am sitting on the 8th floor of Hartford Hospital, waiting for my wife to be moved from the recovery room into the room that she will call home for the next 2 days. The doctor called me following Barb's surgery to report all had gone "very well" and that Barb did wonderfully throughout the procedure. We had prayed for the protection and watchcare of our Heavenly Father, and He had answered our prayer.

During the past few days I have been impressed by how important the body of Christ is in the life of its members. My wife had calls and emails from family and friends, literally from around the world! What a source of encouragement. When we got to the hospital this morning we were visited by a dear friend who shared some Scripture, prayer and even breakfast (although that had to wait until after Barb went to surgery). Since coming to the hospital I have spoken by phone with friends in Maine and Virgina, had emails from friends in Connecticut and Florida, and talked with family in Massachusetts, Georgia, Alabama and Florida. [Just a thought, but hasn't God given us unprecedented opportunities to be involved in the lives of others via the technologies of today?]

As I have been sitting here in the hospital I have been privileged to pray for others I have learned are facing medical challenges of their own. A young man hospitalized in Florida awaiting tests results. A friend in Maine who also had surgery today. Those who will be facing various medical procedures in the days and weeks to come. We have been given the opportunitiy to express God's love for others. In turn, we have experienced so many manifestations of that love ourselves. But that love finds its source in the God of the Bible who first loved us.

I have to wonder, what do people do who don't experience that kind of love? And I wonder, can I do more to show that love to others?