2023 19th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Kaity's Story

Deacon Tim's Homily from the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time on August 13, 2023.

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Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:01):
Reading from the first book of Kings. At the mountain
of God orb, Elijah came to acave where he took shelter. Then
the Lord said to him, go outsideand stand on the mountain before
the Lord. The Lord will bepassing by. A strong and heavy
wind was renting the mountainsand crushing rocks before the

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Lord. But the Lord was not inthe wind. After the wind, there
was an earthquake, but the Lordwas not in the earthquake. After
the earthquake, there was afire, but the Lord was not in
the fire. After the fire, therewas a tiny whispering sound.
When he heard this, Elijah hidhis face in his cloak and went

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and stood at the entrance of thecave. The word of the Lord yours

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we'll hear what God proclaimsthe Lord for He proclaims me
he's near indeed is hissalvation to those who fear
Laurie dwelling inkindness and truth show me just

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this Sunday show kisses. Truthshow sprang out of the just the
show look down from heaven. Seeyour

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lawyer himself I'll give hisbenefit. Let's show you this
increase. Justice shall walkbefore him and prepare the way
off his.

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A reading from the Letter of St.
Paul to the Romans. Brothers andsisters, I speak the truth in
Christ. I do not lie. Myconscience joins with the Holy
Spirit and bearing me witnessthat I have great sorrow and
constant anguish in my heart.

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For I could wish that I myselfwere accursed and cut off from
Christ. For the sake of mypeople, my kindred according to
the flesh. They are Israelites.
There's the adoption, the glory,the Covenant, the giving of the
Law, the worship and thepromises. There's the patriarchs

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and from them, according to theflesh is the Christ who was
overall God blesses forever.
Amen. The word of the Lord My.

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Way wait for my soul waits forhis

Tim Stout (05:41):
The Lord be with you.
A reading from the holy Gospelaccording to Matthew. After he
had fed the people, Jesus madethe disciples get into a boat
and precede him to the otherside, while he dismissed the
crowds. After doing so, he wentup on the mountain by Himself to

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pray. When it was evening, hewas there alone. Meanwhile, the
boat, already a few milesoffshore, was being tossed about
by the waves, for the wind wasagainst it. During the fourth
watch of the night, he cametoward them walking on the sea.

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When the disciples saw himwalking on the sea, they were
terrified. It is a ghost theysaid, and they cried out in fear
at once Jesus spoke to them.
Take courage, it is I do not beafraid. Peter said to Him and

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reply, Lord, if it is youcommand me to come to you on the
water. He said, Come. Peter, gotout of the boat, and began to
walk on the water toward Jesus.
But when he saw how strong thewind was, he became frightened.
And beginning to sink, he criedout, Lord, save me. Immediately,

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Jesus stretched out his hand andcaught Peter and said to him,
Oh, you of little faith. Why?
Why did you doubt? After theygot into the boat, the wind died
down. Those who were in the boatdid him homage, saying, truly,

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you are the Son of God? TheGospel of the Lord?
Oh, you have little faith? Whydid you doubt? It's a great

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question, not just repeat herbut for us today. You see, the
scriptures today are all aboutfinding God, seeing God, not
where we expect to find him. Notwhere we want to see him. But
where God wants us to find him.
Experience him and experienceHis love. Even in the midst of
fear and doubt that can consumeus in this world. How many of us

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can relate to Peter knowing,thinking and feeling that our
faith is so strong? That we canwalk on water? Or how about
Elijah in the first reading,where we hear that God is not
how most people expect him inthe powerful wind, in the hot
fire, or in the earthquake, butin the whisper the scripture

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readings about faith and abouthow we encounter God and how we
experience Him are front andcenter for us today. And when
Peter is one of the maincharacters, we're know they're
going to be mistakes, struggles,and things aren't just going to
go the way Peter wanted them togo. And maybe even how we want

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them to go in our lives. For me,Peter is very easy to relate to.
If we were charting his faiththroughout all the scriptures,
it would be like an EKG line upand down, up and down. I can
relate to that. Can you? Arethere times where your faith was
challenged? Or fear made youdoubt God was with you? I think

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most of us have those struggles.
When we question our faith or wedoubt God and His plan. And God
knows this. And that is when wesee the power of God. That's
never been more evident in mylife than in the last few weeks.

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Our family has experienced thehighest highs As and the lowest
lows just a little over a monthago on July 12. My wife Kelly
and I were sitting on the couchand her phone rang. It was a
call from our daughter. She wason the phone so she didn't
answer. So my phone rang and Idon't know about how your family

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is. But if mom's phone rang, andnobody answered dad's phone
rings, and you need to answerit, something's going on. And
it's one of those phone calls.
That's a life changing event,and not necessarily for us. But
for them. It went something likethis mom and dad, were pregnant.
Baby number four, to go with afive year old, a three year old,

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and a one year old. All boys.
Whoa. We get off the phone andwe're just sitting there smiling
at each other. Little shocked.
Happy. Who doesn't love babies?

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We're smiling. We're cutting up.
We're thinking to ourselves,they're gonna be busy. And we
know their faith is strong, butwe know that it's going to be
test. All the while in the backof our minds praying for a
healthy baby after our lastgrandson was born with a cleft
palate, healthy baby. And maybein the very back of our mind and

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back corner somewhere way backhere hoping that it's a girl.
Couple of weeks later, Kelly andI are literally walking on the
water. We're on a boat in theocean. As part of a work trip.
We're having fun. We're cuttingup and we get a text. It's a
girl. I love those early tests.

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Pink border, it's a girl. Gameon. We're happy, happy dances
everywhere. God is good. What ablessing. July 29. The next day,
we're literally still flyinghigh. We're on a plane. We're
coming home. And you know today,you can get your text messages
on a plane. And I get a textfrom Katie. She says don't

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worry. I'm in the UK ER with abum leg. Swollen, very weak. And
I don't think much about it. Shekind of discounts it a little
bit. She tells me it's maybepinched nerve or a blood clot or
something we both think. Noworries, it'll get fixed up. We
land in Atlanta, and we'rewalking actually we're running

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because we're trying to catch anearlier flight. And my phone
rings. And it's Katie. And shesays, Dad, what are you doing?
So I'm trying to get on thisplane. I want to get home early.
She says, Okay, call me backwhen you can. And I say Katie,
it sounds like you're cryingwhat's, what's wrong? What's

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going on? And then I heard thewords that no parent ever wants
to hear that I have a braintumor. Right there, in the
middle of the Atlanta airport,Kelly started to drown in the

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ocean of life. pregnant with ababy girl and a brain tumor.
Come on God. What are you doing?
What's the plan? God? Why isthis happening? And then I
remember I'm supposed to be thesource of strength and hope. I'm

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a deacon, I gotta take a deepbreath. I have to focus. And I
got to get us home as quick aspossible. Also remember saying
this to Katie. So Katie, you area woman of great faith. Now is a
time to live that faith. All thewhile I was saying those words.
I was scared to death. I wasafraid I was even a little mad.

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Maybe a lot mad at God. Why isthis happening to Katie? And,
you know, fear. Fear seems toentrench itself in our minds,
when we are in danger of losingsomething or someone, especially
someone that has been soreliable to us in our lives so

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dear to us. But that threat ofloss, it is a call across
troubled waters, that sinkingfeeling that you get right here.
When you hear those words withbad news. It is our recognition
that we are unable to walk thewaters of life on our own. And

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it is during these times thatthe hand of God is most visible.
Some people will call itSupport. Others we'll call it
family and friends. But those ofus with faith, we know that it
is God's hand that guides us.

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Even while we struggle withfear, even while we struggle to
answer the question, why? Andour faith during these times it
becomes visible and obscureplaces like hospital rooms, or
waiting rooms or driveways. Weare scared and we are afraid and
unsure. But we move forward. Allwhile trying to remember that

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fear. Fear is not a sign ofcowardice. It's not. It's an
invitation, it is an invitationto admit that we are wondrously
dependent. And what are wedependent on? On a cross, a
historical sign of torture anddeath, we not only look at the

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cross, we move towards it, notknowing the path. But knowing
the destination, we move towardsJesus, we move towards his
eternal love. And it is here itis here when Jesus whispers in
our ears, do not be afraid. Hetells us this over and over and

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over through Scripture. He tellsus to trust in him. And he tells
us He loves us. And it's here inthe presence of that love that
we come face to face with Godpresent in this world.
physically present in our lives,in our family and our friends
and the people we encounter intimes of trouble, anxiety and

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fear. You know, in our familysituation, fast forwarding to
today, so much more hashappened. The tumor has been
removed. We know what type ofcancer it is. We know that we
can both fight the cancer andsave the baby. Something a
surgeon told us was impossiblejust 10 days ago. Katie is

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undergoing intense therapy atCardinal Hill trying to rain use
of her right side and improveher cognition ability. So the
road for will be challenging.
And here's the important part.
We have also seen the face ofGod in so many places. First, in

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the fact that she's pregnant, agift that most likely saved
Katie's life. Because withoutthat baby girl, we may not have
found that tumor in time. At theairport, we're trying to get
home as quickly as we can we getto that gate and he sees the
meltdown. But he also says Ican't get you on that flight.

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It's full.
Five minutes later, we're on theplane on the way home. The face
of God is everywhere in themiddle of a six hour surgery.
Kelly and I go look for a chapelat UK hospital. It's a big
hospital. We can't find thechapel. But we found father out

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to Giacomo walking around.
always smiles if you know fatherAli always has a smile on his
face. He gave us a hug andprayed with us. We decided we're
gonna go get something to eatsince we couldn't find the
chapel and we run into fatherRichard Watson. He helped bring
Andrew into the church a fewyears ago. He had this he prayed
with us. We see the face of Godeverywhere. And friends that are

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doctors and nurses that help usunderstand the maze that is
healthcare in our pastor fatherLin, who assures us that God is
with us, and that God is incontrol. When we feel like we
have no idea what's happening.
We see God and friends who helpus get from point A to point B

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with more food than we should beeating. But with plenty of hugs,
plenty of tears and laughter andmaybe even cold beer. The hands
of Jesus are everywhere. Butmost of all, they're in the
countless prayers from ourfriends from strangers that we

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don't even know from all overthis country asking God to look
out for Katie and Andrew, theirthree boys and the baby and all
of us. And this display of faithand prayers over the last few
weeks has been the greatestdisplay of God's power of God's
love that we have everexperienced. It has been truly

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extraordinary. So I say thankyou. I thank God. I thank him
for you. For people we don'teven know but I also asked you
to continue to pray for Katieand her Baby and all of us. But
I also asked you to stop and dothe same for others. There are a

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lot of crisis's in people'slives now, people you know,
people you don't know. And youknow, when somebody walks up to
you and says, Hey, would you putso and so on your Prayerless do
it, it means something. Takethat extra minute, find out the
details and pray for them. Andif you can help in other ways,
do it. You won't be sorry. Butdo it because it's our calling

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in life. We're called asChristians to be like Jesus, to
be the hands of God, to be thehands of Jesus to love one
another unconditionally. Andremember this, we are called to
love each other. Because throughlove, we conquer fear. And our

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God knows when we are afraid, heknows when our faith is being
challenged. And it is then thathe extends his hand. He extends
his hand to us during thosetimes. Just like when Jesus
extended his hand a Peter on thewater. It may look different. It
might look like Linda or Scottor Henry or Bob or father Lynn

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or Deacon Dallas, it may lookdifferent. But make no mistake,
it is God's hand. And throughthat hand, through that love, we
move through fear. And then wefound ourselves on solid ground
we found ourselves back in theboat. And when the storm has

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passed, and it will pass and thehand of Jesus has pulled us
through. We too can recognizejust like the disciples on that
boat. That God is truly with us.