"...the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21)
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
A couple of days ago a friend asked me if my son was baptized before he died. When I told him he wasn’t he asked how I knew my son was in heaven if he hadn’t been baptized with holy water before passing away. I knew that I believed my son was in heaven but suddenly realized that I wasn’t entirely sure why I believed that or that I could explain it to another person. I’ve since spent some time thinking about the question, looking up some Bible verses, and talking with my wife about it. I decided to write down why I believe my son is in heaven and then post it here on my blog.
The Bible doesn’t really talk about this issue directly, but it does give us some clues that we use as the basis for our belief.
God desires that all people be saved.
God cares deeply about little children. In Matthew chapter 18 Jesus calls a little child over to Him and uses the child to explain a few things to His disciples. In verse 14 He says, “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”
To accept God’s gift of salvation a person needs to have understanding of a few concepts, namely those of sin, God’s perfectness, and God’s grace. If a person does not understand what sin is, and that they themselves are a sinner, and that God has offered them the gift of eternal life through Jesus, then they cannot make the decision to accept God’s gift.
As infants are not mature enough to understand these things, they cannot accept or reject God. Since they haven’t rejected God and we know God cares deeply about them we then believe that God takes them to heaven when they die.
There is one example in the Bible that seems to back this up, and it is found in II Samuel chapter 12. After David’s child had died, he said the following:
I am confident that my son, Uriah, is in heaven and I am looking forward to the day when I will join him in that blessed place.
The Bible doesn’t really talk about this issue directly, but it does give us some clues that we use as the basis for our belief.
God desires that all people be saved.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. (I Timothy 2:3-4)Nevertheless, many people reject the grace of God and the gift of salvation that He offers them.
God cares deeply about little children. In Matthew chapter 18 Jesus calls a little child over to Him and uses the child to explain a few things to His disciples. In verse 14 He says, “Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.”
To accept God’s gift of salvation a person needs to have understanding of a few concepts, namely those of sin, God’s perfectness, and God’s grace. If a person does not understand what sin is, and that they themselves are a sinner, and that God has offered them the gift of eternal life through Jesus, then they cannot make the decision to accept God’s gift.
As infants are not mature enough to understand these things, they cannot accept or reject God. Since they haven’t rejected God and we know God cares deeply about them we then believe that God takes them to heaven when they die.
There is one example in the Bible that seems to back this up, and it is found in II Samuel chapter 12. After David’s child had died, he said the following:
...While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live?David believed that he would join his son some day, and this could only happen if his infant son had gone to heaven.
But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. (II Samuel 12:22-23)
I am confident that my son, Uriah, is in heaven and I am looking forward to the day when I will join him in that blessed place.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18)
My son, Uriah Daniel Olson, was born on January 3, 2010.
He died on January 5, 2010.
His body looked absolutely perfect. He was the most beautiful baby I've ever seen. He was wonderful. Inside his perfect body was a damaged brain. Some time in the days immediately preceding his birth something happened that deprived his brain of oxygen and it killed his brain. He was born with no brain activity. Two days of testing confirmed this, and so on the third day of his life he was removed from the respirator and shortly thereafter slipped away to Heaven as his mother and I cradled him in our arms.
This wasn't supposed to happen. We didn't plan for this. We tried to plan for all sorts of other negative outcomes - Down Syndrome, autism, pre-term labor, and so on. But this, a healthy full-term baby born brain-dead - how do you plan for something like that? The possibility never crossed our minds for even a fraction of a second.
I miss my little Uriah. I miss him immensely. I want to hold him in my arms again. I want to kiss him. I want to watch him grow. I want to sing to him. I want to rock him to sleep. I want to talk to him. I want to tell him about Jesus' great love for us. I want to watch him take his first steps. I want to play with him. I want to hear him say his first words.
I rejoice that Uriah never knew pain on this earth, and that the first time he opened his eyes it was to see Jesus. I know I will see him again some day. Until then, we continue on, leaning heavily on the Lord and the prayers of our family and friends to help us through the pain, grief, and sorrow that we feel.
Hannah and I are anxiously awaiting the birth of our son. She's 38 weeks pregnant. She had her weekly ob-gyn appointment today and the doctor decided to strip her membranes to try to get labor going. We've read conflicting reports on whether or not this actually does anything. Some say it helps; others say it doesn't. We're hoping it does. She's had a few contractions since then, so we're hoping that's a good sign. She's in a lot of pain this time of year as it is with having lupus and arthritis. Add to that the pain and uncomfortableness of being 38 weeks pregnant and she's been having a really rough time lately. She's putting up with it all remarkably well though - far better than I would be if we traded places, that's for sure.
Today marks the 1-year anniversary of when we first communicated with each other. A day or two before December 16, 2008, Hannah had requested to add me as a friend on Facebook. I looked at her profile and couldn't figure out who she was, so I sent her a message asking her how she was doing and oh, by the way, how do I know you? One year later and we're now anxiously awaiting the birth of our son. The year has both flown by and crawled by. In one sense it seems like just a few days ago that we were getting to know each other via lengthy messages on Facebook. In another sense it seems like we've been together and known each other for a long time - far longer than a year.
I've dozed off a few times while writing this. Apparently I didn't get enough sleep last night. Hannah is lying in bed next to me taking a nap. I'd like to lie down next to her and go to sleep myself, but I have things to do. Work, for instance. :-) It's the last work day for me for this year. I have the rest of the year off on vacation. Yet another reason why I'm hoping our son will be born very soon!
The scale showed 137 this morning when I weighed myself. That's the most I've ever weighed in my life! 3 pounds to go for my next goal. The goal is 140 by Christmas time. Looking forward to it!
Since I first started thinking about my childhood memories, or lack thereof, I've discovered that I do remember more than I initially thought. However the memories aren't all readily available in my mind. They come to me randomly throughout the days and weeks and leave just as quickly. So in an effort to document them so I don't forever forget them I'm going to start writing about them in my blog. Hopefully others will find them interesting and won't be bored to tears by them.
It is also worth noting that the memories I will be sharing are only as accurate as my memory is - meaning some of what I share might never have actually happened, or might have happened rather differently than how I am explaining it.
The first memory I will share is an "imagined" one. I am quite sure this actually happened, but parents and siblings have both told me they have no recollection of this ever happening, thus I must have dreamed or imagined it. We've discussed this many times over the years, and to this day I still can't help but wonder if they really do remember this happening but will never tell me because it's rather humorous for me to have this "fake" memory.
I think I was between the ages of 4 and 7 at the time. It happened when our parents were taking us kids out west to visit our grandparents (Mom's parents). They lived in Wyoming, I think it was, and so we flew out to an airport in a neighboring state (Utah? I think?) and our grandparents picked us up from the airport and drove us back to their place. I remember the car ride back seemed to take a rather long time. Anyway, Dad wasn't able to fly out with us. I think it was due to obligations at work. We flew out ahead of him and the plan was that he would follow on a later flight, probably the next day, and bring our dog, Ginger, with him. He did arrive safely at some point after we did, and I remember him telling us about a scare they had on the flight over. The pilot had been flying *way* too low in the dark nightime skies and narrowly avoided colliding with a radio tower, thanks to the flashing light on top of it. After hearing that, we were VERY thankful that Dad had arrived safely!!
So there it is. The first childhood memory on my blog. And it's something that apparently never even happened (the part about Dad's plane almost colliding with a radio tower). I remember it quite well however!
We're finally getting married! Hallelujah!
The pastor who has been counseling us told us about two weeks ago that he thinks we are ready to get married. We've been waiting to hear those words for a couple of months now! We've scheduled it for the 11th of November. It's just going to be a very small private ceremony - no guests, and that's just the way we want it. We're both looking forward to it and are counting down the days until the 11th!
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I met last night with one of the men from the church we've been attending. I'm in need of some good friendships/advice from Christian men, and I'm hoping last night is the start of what will develop into a good Christian friendship.
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I've been doing some research into vaccine safety recently. We need to decide what our plan is for immunizations once our baby is born. The easiest thing to do would be to just have him get all of the recommended immunizations at the recommended times, but I don't know if that's wise. A lot of people are concerned about various negative things associated with vaccines. Some people believe that vaccinations are linked to autism. Some studies suggest there is a link between the two; other studies suggest no link. Who to believe?!?
Hannah is in one of the high-risk groups for the H1N1 flu because she's pregant. When you're pregnant your immune system is greatly suppresed so you can catch illnesses much more easily, and once you do catch them they can easily develop into something much more serious, like pneumonia, for example. She found out earlier this week that the H1N1 flu shot would be available in our area today, so she called her doctor yesterday and found out that they were recommending she get the shot. (At her previous appointment the doctor said she didn't have a recommendation yet.) In my research online I had discovered that most of the H1N1 flu shots contain thimerosal, a preservative that contains mercury - which some studies have linked to autism. However, a small set of H1N1 shots was being manufactured without thimerosal for those who are concerned about the potential negative effects of it. Thankfully the health department did have some thimerosal-free shots, so Hannah got one of those.
It's difficult to know what to do about vaccinations for our baby though. On the one hand we want him to be protected from all the serious diseases. On the other hand we don't want him to be affected negatively in any way from the vaccines, whether it be autism or something else.
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Jesse
Tags: autism, baby, friends, H1N1, immunizations, marriage, relationships, vaccines
Tags: autism, baby, friends, H1N1, immunizations, marriage, relationships, vaccines
I had my six-month followup appointment with the sleep doctor yesterday. It was an uneventful appointment - the best kind. I told her that I've only been taking one dose of Xyrem per night, because the single dose works quite well for me and helps offset the ridiculous cost of the medication. She was a bit surprised, I think, to hear that I had been taking it that way, but gave her approval for me to continue taking it once a night as long as it is working well enough. She is very pleased at how well the Xyrem works for me, as am I.
We had the corn stove going earlier this week for a couple of days - burning wood pellets - to provide some warmth for the house. The days and nights have been getting quite chilly lately. The wood pellets don't burn very hot though. We tried turning the furnace on yesterday, only to discover that it isn't working. No clue what the problem is. Well, that's not quite true. It's flashing an error code of 31, which is supposed to indicate a problem with the pressure switch. Hannah called her brother this morning to ask if he would come take a look at it as he has some experience troubleshooting gas furnaces. He said he would stop by later today, but he hasn't shown up yet. We're hoping he can figure out the problem, because we can't really afford to call a service technician right now. In the meantime we try to stay warm by dressing warm and using blankets. Oh and we started the corn stove back up today. It is helping heat the living/dining/kitchen area somewhat. It was 55 degrees in the house when we woke up this morning. It's up to just over 60 in the main part of the house now, thanks to the wood pellets. We'll be buying corn soon and that burns a lot hotter than the wood pellets.
Last week we finally met again with the pastor who is helping us with pre-marital counseling. The meeting went well, and he gave us a series of videotapes to watch regarding the biblical view of marriage. We have yet to start watching them, but are planning on starting tonight.
