Our Friend Zack

This our friend Zack.  

We have known him since he was in fifth grade.  He was in my Sunday School class and I remember him being so smart and knowing so much about the Bible, even at a young age.  When we first moved here, and he was in elementary school, I used to drive him to the high school to take Math classes, because he was (and still is) a math genius. 

He has an incredible family that loves him.

And over the years, we've been so blessed to have him be a part of our youth ministry.

He has an incredible heart and love for God.

And he's always been so willing to serve and to help others.

In his Jr. and Sr. High years, he was pretty instrumental in bringing a big number of friends to various youth events.

We've traveled with him to Washington,

Boston,

And he joined us for two missions trips to Puerto Rico.

He has been an important part of our church's softball team too.

In addition to just generally being an amazing person, Zack has also been an important part of our family.  Our kids love him and he's shared in many special events in their lives.

When we moved to the church's parsonage five years ago, Zack and his family also became our neighbors.  I cannot say enough about how much we love this family.

All that being said, this past week, our amazing friend Zack has been through some pretty challenging days.  Last Wednesday, an X-ray revealed an area that placed Zack on a trip into the city and a stay at Sloan-Kettering.  This past weekend, he's had a battery of tests and procedures and the diagnosis that he's been officially given is that he has Germ Cell Cancer in and on his lung.  

Knowing and loving our friend Zack as much as we do, and wanting to support him through this time, we did what made the most sense.  We called up some of his closest friends, and we took a trip into the city, to bring him some love.

Zack has some pretty great friends.

They love him

So much.

Together, we maneuvered through the subways.

With a big card that proclaimed our love and support.

We took the what seemed to be the world's longest escalator

And then walked 20 some blocks after realizing that we accidentally took the express train a few stops past where we needed to be.

After all of that, we finally made our way into the hospital to see our friend.  In addition to the four people who were already in his room, we crammed an additional 15 in for a visit.

It was so, so good to see Zack.  He was awesome as usual and we had a great time visiting with him and his parents.

Speaking of his parents, they are absolutely wonderful and doing just such a great job of loving and supporting their son and the new challenges that he is facing.

Zack, we love you so much!

We will be praying for you, in the days, weeks and months to come.

You are an inspiration to so many of us.

We know that God will be with you and give you the strength that you will need.

If you know Zack, I just encourage you to pray for him.  He will start a round of chemo tomorrow, and we are just praying that he will respond well to it and that it will start to do what it needs to do.  Please lift him and his family up whenever you think of them.