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.

One could say a lot about this election. I'll try to keep my thoughts concise, but we'll see what comes.

First of all, one thing we can certainly be sure of in America is there is a reason why this place is so messed up: we reap what we sow and we sowed sin. And now we have a mess. Go figure.

The other thing we can be sure of: we can should repent, and there's no time like now (alright, well… earlier, actually).

But these issues do have realities, specifics and not just generals; meaning there are certain problems.

On the presidential candidates--

Neither Obama nor McCain are, in my opinion, an ideal person to be leading our nation. I would vote for McCain if I could, but I don't think he's perfect. His healthcare plan is expensive enough, I'd say. And his mortgage idea is also another staggering amount, following up on the recent corporate bailout. And frankly, we deserve someone like Obama, but I pray that God will be gracious to us.

Barack Obama is in fact, the most liberal senator in our nation at this time. This is based on his voting record, I would believe, but I'm not sure. In any case, even if he was the most perfect candidate in every other way, I cannot support a man who condones the murder of our unborn. It's murder, plain and simple, and I don't support those who support murder. His other policies aren't that great either; his healthcare keeps with the socialistic trend the US has been seeing. I have to give a McCain a point here… well, at least a partial point; his healthcare plan is more market based, which is good, because the government shouldn't really be involved in healthcare at all… so let's wean the American people off of it. On the other hand, though, McCain want to give tax cuts so people can buy their own insurance. Good or bad? It's not direct healthcare, but I don't know, their might be rules on what you could do with the money you save… I really don't know.

The US and world economies, healthcare, and environmental issues certainly might be hot button right now, but they are not the only issues (and I got issues with those issues anyway.. lolz). Some of the more important things to me right now, though, are easing off with governmental control, a huge reality check on environmental issues (as in, stop the idiocy, please!), and big black and white sin issues like abortion and homosexuality. A candidate who will state his intentions, hold a Biblical and conservative view, have some backbone, and not cave in to political and public pressure is one that would get my vote. And the presidential candidate that fits this description is not Barack Obama. But it's not John McCain either. Still, it's ignoring our duty to not vote and not take a stand. My ballot would have a bubble next to John McCain not because he's perfect, but because he best represents my beliefs as a Christian.

I urge the people of America to vote according to their convictions, not their feelings.

I got up around 5:00 AM today… it felt like the middle of the night. We left around 5:30, bound for the city of Fruitland, Idaho, which is quite close to Ontario, Oregon. I think we got there at about 11-something, our time. Fruitland and Ontario are in the Mountain Time Zone, which is an our ahead of us.

After a relatively brief wait in the front room, I went back into a room and got asked some of the usual questions (allegories, prescriptions). I got x-rayed too… kind of interesting, I stood sort of under/inside the machine, bit down on this thing, put my hands onto a couple of bars, and closed my eyes. The machine, scanned around my head to get a complete view of my teeth. You could see the wisdom teeth pretty well in the print, and you could see my eye sockets, too. A little creepy…

After that, Doctor Hillam came in and had a consultation with me and the parents. He told us what to expect after the surgery, what I could eat, what to do, and what not to do. He said it was the perfect time to get them out, and I agree. It's a four day weekend, which means time to recover and do homework, and I still live at home, which means people to take care of me. =^)

Anyway, after the consultation, I went to the lavatory, and then went to the surgery room. The nurse, or assistant, or whatever she was, who was in there, hooked me up with some monitors: blood pressure, heart, and some sensor that went on my finger which I do no know the purpose of. Mom suggests that it may have been a blood sugar monitor.

The doc came in and I got hooked up with an IV. Either before or after that, I don't remember which, they gave me oxygen through the nose. I think my vision might have started to go a little weird after they started pumping the sedative… but I don't remember. In fact, it was sort of dreamy after that… and then I slowly woke up in the recovery room. I was a bit dizzy, and my vision a little messed up. After a while, I pulled on my sweater, and a while after that, I walked out to the car with Mom. I think I looked OK compared to some poor girl who walked out shortly after we arrived in Fruitland.

Anyway, I'm on Vicoprofen right now, have an icepack strapped to my head (check out the Facebook pics, LOL), will be taking antobiotics, and doing mouthwash.