Our God is SO Big!

I was absolutely overwhelmed today by just how big God is. Ty and I were able to ask Dr. Steltzer, one of the top cardiac surgeons in the country a few questions today about Jake's upcoming surgery. This surgeon helped develop the Ross procedure, one of the options for Jake, and has performed more Ross operations than any other surgeon and is the leading expert on it today. He operates in New York City, but we have several connections with him, and he was kind enough to answer Ty's email within a few hours today even though he was on vacation.

Thinking back on how we formed this connection is absolutely amazing to me and showed me today how God began taking care of Jake long before we knew Jake. I have to share this chain of events and this story:

Let's go back to 1995 and my freshman year at Harding University. One October afternoon, my friend informed me that her boyfriend's friend needed a last minute date to a "function" (Harding's version of fraternity/sorority socials). She said a guy named Brian Hannel would be picking me up in his Black Eagle Talon in front of my dorm. Brian took me to the Knights' function that night, and consequently, he became of one my best friends in college. That spring his best friend Travis and he had decided to go on the Spring Break campaign to New York City, and they convinced Sallie (my best friend) and I to go as well. We had such a fun, memorable week as we volunteered with a boy's home and a homeless shelter, but also got to explore the city. We even got to be on the Today show (Well, actually, just Brian and Sallie did…they jumped in front of Travis and I when the cameras panned in and you could just see our hands frantically waving over Sal and Brian's heads). Anyway, we all stayed with members from the Manhattan Church of Christ, and Sallie and I got to stay in a penthouse apartment with a surgeon and his family. The rest of our friends had to stay in much smaller places and joked that we were staying with "Daddy Warbucks."

Fast forward five years, and Sallie actually moved to NYC to be a nanny and then a teacher and attended the Manhattan Church of Christ. As she got to know more people at church, she realized that one family, the Steltzer's, was the one we had stayed with that week in college. It turns out he is an elder at the church, and he and his family became good friends with Sallie.

Back in Houston, Ty and I got married, and our best "couple" friends with whom we co-led a life-group with were the Hance's. As we got to know them, we realized that Robert's uncle is none other than Dr. Steltzer.

8 years later, Jake needs his third heart surgery and may possibly receive the Ross procedure. Who is the nation's leading expert on this very surgery? The very cardiac surgeon who we "inadvertently" have had so many connections with over the past 15 years.

God intricately weaves our lives together, and many times we don't realize his plans until years later. I was overwhelmed today as this sunk in, and I thought back how this particular chain of events occurred. God was taking care of Jake long before I had considered having children.

Today, through the kindness of Dr. Steltzer (and my dear friend Sallie for telling him that we had questions), we have more knowledge and confidence as we go into tomorrow's appointment with Jake's surgeon. He answered many questions we had about the Ross procedure and what would be best for Jake. He also gave us questions to ask tomorrow to be better prepared (Although, if you could see the questions Ty already has, you would think we were already plenty prepared…). We had a consult with one of the nation's best cardiac surgeons and to think it all started back at a Harding social function.

God is big!