Do you remember that scene in "Holy Grail?" The "I'm not dead yet!" scene? Well - that's what came into my head as I drove home from the hospital tonight.

Against all the odds, with everything stacked against him, Gerry has fought off the immediate threat of the pneumonia. He started to actually look better yesterday, and when the respiratory therapist listened to him tonight, the RT said he was sounding better. He is still desperately ill - and nothing has changed on the cancer front, except that it looks like radiation will resume on Monday, and he'll have more chemo later in the week. But doctors and discharge planners are talking about sending him home without any arrangements for home health care, much less hospice. I guess this counts as a miracle.

This whole experience is radically transforming my understanding of prayer - sometimes it seems like I can actually feel this enormous web of compassion and intercession that you are weaving around us. In the midst of all my sadness and fear and fatigue is this deep sense of trust and thanksgiving - and there's no way that comes from inside me - it's a gift and a blessing - from God and from you.

I have no idea what happens next - but I know now that I - that all of us - can bear it. And I am filled with the gratitude that today I got to hold him in my arms again and let him know just how much he means to all of us.

Thanks be to God.