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| | Gabriel's 10th Birthday! "With the cross of Jesus going on before!" This is a tribute to a precious boy, our dear son, who was born 10 years ago today, and to our gracious God, who in His wisdom, took him to his eternal home when he was 6 years old. As I was remembering him this morning, I saw a spiritual lesson lived out by Gabriel's attitude toward his brain tumor and approaching death. He exemplified Psalm 60:12 : "Through our God we shall do valiantly, and it is He who will tread down our adversaries." As he lived the 8 months from diagnosis to death, it was as if he verbalized this determination: "Whatever is happening to me, I don't really understand, but it's not getting the best of me! I'm meeting it head on! Onward Christian Soldiers!" Onward Christian Soldiers was the hymn of his life. We sang it every night at bedtime, and he would hold his hands up high in the shape of a cross. "With the cross of Jesus going on before."
It began with the MRI that confirmed the diagnosis of a terminal brain stem glioma. They wanted to put him out, thinking that a wiggly 5 year old wouldn't be able to lie motionless for a 45 minute scan. With the skill of his debater older brother Michael and sister, Renee, he convinced them he certainly could, and would hold still! And he did it, with Richard and I each leaning halfway into the MRI machine, tightly clinging to one of his hands.
During each of his more that 30 daily radiation treatments, when the nurse would call his name, he would barrel full steam down the hallway toward the radiation room, laughing at the nurses' response. After each scary radiation treatment where he would be strapped to the table and left completely alone in the room, he would shout, "Boo!", to scare the technician when she came back in to unstrap him. Again, because of his determination, he was able to forgo the standard procedure of children his age, which was to be put to sleep for each daily treatment. Everyone involved was amazed at his level of cooperation and determination. We were able to see clearly that God was with us in a very tangible way, supplying strength, fortitude and courage where none humanly existed. "With the cross of Jesus going on before!"
Gabriel lived the next 8 months with total gusto, meeting life head on. We never saw him once waver, harbor fear or self-pity. As the brain tumor grew, his physical abilities deteriorated. Nonchalantly, he explained away each disability. When his friend, Joel, pointed out that he was drooling (he even lost the ability to swallow), he airily dismissed it with, "Oh, it's just my new habit." Two days before he died, I wheeled him around the back yard in a wheelchair. In spite of knowing his legs no longer supported his weight, he valiantly planted his feet in the grass and tumbled out the the chair onto the lawn in his extreme desire to run and play. As Richard lifted him back into the chair, with determination in his voice, he slurred the words, "Tomorrow I will run and walk!" At exactly 7:00 a.m. two mornings later, he breathed his last on earth.
Now, as we continue to live out our earthly lives, with determination, we too, hold our hands up high in the shape of the cross, and declare, "With the cross of Jesus going on before!"
  | | | Posted 11/12/2007 2:28 PM - 7 comments
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