Driving Slow in a Marriage Like a Country Road

Reformissionary Steve McCoy and his family have had a hard year. He's chronicled his wife Molly's Chiari I Malformation on his blog, in addition to his regular blog habits of featuring new great music every Monday, sharing pictures of his kids, and being generally enthusiastic about Tim Keller. I have a special love for Steve because he is one of the very first bloggers I worked with at TheHighCalling.org. It is no exaggeration to say, the early success we found in our organization's relationship helped us make a case for this network. Which is why I want to call everyone in this network to pray for Steve and Molly again. He summarizes the challenges of 2008 in an article at TheHighCalling.org this week called When Doctors Are Stumped . And astonishingly, he finds joy in friends who "love at all times." Toward the end of the article, Steve writes,

My blog is basically about my work, though it contains other elements as well. I try to point people to good resources for the benefit of the Church. Over the last several weeks, while I have blogged on my wife's condition, surgery, and recovery, I have received dozens and dozens of emails and online messages from people around the world offering words of encouragement, Scripture, prayers, and love. Some of these I will never meet in this life. While cultural critics debate the value of blogs, I have found a network of professional friends through mine that have supported us in prayer.

So again, I want to call everyone in this network to pray for Steve and Molly. He is so generous. His blog sends readers to a hundred different links. He gives himself away with no expectation or hidden agenda. He features the successes of his friends , like Al Hsu (whose Suburban Christian site is an unofficial friend of highcallingblogs.com as well). But Steve's site is more than just links to others. He shares his faith from the gut, like this post on his ten resolutions for the New Year . Steve holds no punches. He writes,

The end of 2008 was really difficult for my marriage. We never grew apart or stopped loving or liking each other or anything like that. But most of my readers know how really tough these last few months have been. When you spend all the time thinking about how your car isn't working right you never get to experience the joy of being on the road. You get too focused on the problems. Same with our relationship. We need to get out and feel the wind in our hair and hug a few turns on the country roads again, even if Molly's issues mean it will be at a slower speed. This means things like getting date nights back in order, finding more time in the evenings to just hang and talk about something other than what's wrong with Molly, and me stopping being such a jerk.

So, a third time, let's pray for Molly and her husband. (He claims he's a jerk, but I suspect he's a liar about that.) God be with Steve and Molly and their kids. Give them peace. Give them healing. Help them be content no matter the circumstances. You all are welcome to comment here or at TheHIghCalling.org, but I think it would be best to head over to Steve's house . Find something there that touches you and encourage Steve with some good conversation.