When your child is sick, it often makes you feel helpless. Read Mark 5:21-24. My first full-time job out of college was working as an assistant manager at a convenience store. My first month on the job, I was working the overnight shift listening to country music over the PA system. It was 2:00 a.m. when a young father came into the store, picked up some children’s medicine, and went to the cashier. He pulled out a check and was told that we don’t accept checks. He appealed. She called me to the front. I apologized but told him we did not accept checks. A father had a sick child; we had the medicine he needed, but he left the store without it. It felt wrong, but I followed the policy. When the manager came in to relieve me, I told him about what happened, and he responded, “Take the check.” He was a father, and I wasn’t. Ten years later, I was the father of three young children. It was 2:00 a.m., and my son was struggling to breathe. We had spent about an hour trying everything we knew how to do to help him. We bundled him up and put him in the car and headed to the Emergency Room. The 20-minute drive seemed like forever. The ER staff was amazing, and within an hour, my son was breathing normally and asleep. I thought about the young father in the store ten years before and wondered about his sick child. Did he get the medicine he needed? Jairus was the synagogue ruler of Capernaum. Jairus’ daughter was dying. He was helpless. He walked down to the Sea of Galilee where Jesus and the disciples had just returned from the Decapolis. “Please put your hand on my daughter so she might live.” It was a short walk from the shoreline to the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler, but it probably seemed like an eternity for the father whose daughter was in serious trouble. As they arrived at the house, they were met with the news that the daughter had just died. Devastating! Nightmare! Gut-wrenching! Too late! Jesus announced that the news is wrong. She is not dead. He says to Jairus, “Believe.” Jesus goes into the house and touches the girl. She comes to life at the touch of his hand. Life is precious. God has asked us to love with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. If we find ourselves in need of the healing touch of Jesus, simply pray, “Precious Lord, take my hand.”

Prayer: Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am worn; Through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light: take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home. Amen.