“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:38)"They say that every trial is an opportunity for God to be glorified and that through adversity there is growth and a chance for our faith to grow infinitely. There’s been a trial, and we have an opportunity…to grow, and to give. So many times we are reluctant to give when we feel that we don’t have ‘enough’ to give. We think that our small portion won’t measure up to someone else’s or even make a difference. Yet, if we all gave a little, that humble portion would be increased immeasurably through faith and the power of God’s hand and would make a significant difference. We have an opportunity to make this happen. In November of 2014, our friend, Jonathan Mullins experienced a spontaneous pneumothorax, where his right lung was 90% collapsed. He ended up in the hospital for a week, waiting on his lung to heal itself. Even though Jon had insurance, he still incurred over $8000 in out of pocket expenses. Jon was married on July 25th, 2015 to Jessica Kissing. During the entire wedding celebration week, jokes were made on a continual basis about how everyone hoped that Jon would not “pop a lung”. Jon and Jessica decided to postpone their honeymoon until the end of September to go on their honeymoon which would have been September 26th. On Monday, September 21st, Jon and Jessica were on their way to spend some family time with Jon’s parents. While waiting to pick up dinner, Jon called his parents and told them he was pretty sure his lung had collapsed while he was sitting in the car laughing at a funny video on You Tube. He ended up in the ER that evening where a chest tube was inserted to inflate his lung and he was then admitted to Lakewood Ranch Hospital. On Tuesday, September 22nd, he underwent pleurodesis, a surgery to repair his lung and stop the leaking. The surgery went well and after spending 48 hours in the Intensive Care Unit, he was transferred to a regular room. On September 30th, we thought he was going to be able to go home as his lung had healed and was no longer leaking air. However, when the doctors removed the chest tube, his lung collapsed a second time and the chest tube had to be reinserted. While it is very rare for this to occur, it does happen on occasion. Once again he had to wait until the lung healed again on its own. On Sunday, October 4th, Jon’s lung was finally healed and he was discharged from the hospital, 13 days after he was admitted. Not only did Jon and Jessica miss their honeymoon (which was rescheduled) they will be starting out their life together facing approximately $10,000 in additional out of pocket medical expenses added to the ones from the year before. While it’s said that it doesn’t matter what the cost as long as he’s okay is true, it is still a burden that weighs heavily on this newly married couple. It’s our prayer that we can come together as a community to rally around Jon & Jessica to show them God’s grace, power, and love as we give a little so He can do a lot.
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