the changing of times

Last Tuesday, one of my friends tumbled off a road and down a hill in a crew cab pickup truck. We got news of a rollover on Tuesday night, and not too much later we heard that Isaiah Buck had been life flighted out.

He is in a Lewiston hospital now, and has been in a coma for over a week. The amount of prayers going out really has been explosive. The word went out, and the saints hit their knees. All over the world, really; Sweden, Hong Kong, Africa, US, etc. Really it has been amazing… it has gone out through church networks, prayer chains, word of mouth, many emails.

If you want the story and aftermath of the rollover, this Chieftan story does a fairly good job; I don't feel like fully recounting it here.

We Providence people (and then some) had a prayer meeting in the school chapel this morning at nine. It was good to have another group prayer; there was a more general gathering (less school specific) at the Hurleys' place last Wednesday. I think it would be good to have a prayer meeting every Wednesday somewhere until the end of the matter, which we do not know when that will be.

We shall not stop praying, but we have many things to thank God for already; that there was only one fatality, that the rest of the young men are doing relatively well (broken bones and Jaymz has a fever), that there is the means to care for them, especially Isaiah, that the Lord has been upholding Mr. and Mrs. Buck in an amazing way, that we can come together freely and pray, that we are never alone, that Isaiah is alive (it was iffy that first night… shallow breathing and that stuff), and many more praises. But do not stop praying, in the faces of either good or bad news. The woods are thick yet.

I'm compiling a list of public stuff on the internet concerning Isaiah. It's under the tag isaiahbuck in my Delicious bookmarks. Feel free to comment about stuff that's now on there and I will probably add it. I am adding Mrs. Bakker's blog posts about Isaiah to the list as they come… she is a pretty active blogger, so I wouldn't be surprised to see more to come.

This truly is a new experience to me; never before have I been in danger of losing a friend, never before have I had one in a coma like this. It's something new, and it's something that's stretching us. And that is good. Good things already are coming out of this, praise God for that. And I pray that more may yet come; we are connected here in this little county, and this is rocking the boat a bit, I should think. Well, let's walk on water.

The Changing of Times by UnderOATH, by the way.