“First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.” (Romans 1:8, ESV)
This verse of Scripture perfectly shares my heartfelt love and appreciation for all of you who have continued preaching the Gospel and praying for our family during these difficult days of trials and tragedy. This posting will provide a brief update on the life and ministry of our family.
These last 3 difficult weeks have ended a very difficult 9 months for our family. Last September our son Joshua suddenly started experiencing unexplained bouts of a very rapid heart rate (tachycardia). After consulting cardiologists in both London and Toronto, our entire family was launched into a painful and unnerving journey back into our past to determine whether there was any genetic connection between the death of our first son nine years ago and Joshua’s condition.
Though Dawn (my wife) and I had both said on many occasions that “we didn’t ever want to open that painful chapter of our lives again”, we would later be very thankful for the prophetic words of a believing friend: “God has written the book of your life…He holds the pen…and He requires full access to all chapters at all times.” Ouch! Tough, but true. I took those words to prayer and heard a very clear response from the Lord. He said to me: “Never fear the truth.” I wasn’t really sure what that meant at the time, but I sure was about to find out!
It was late last year when the Lord re-opened that chapter in our lives and we were confronted with a shocking reality. We had never received any medical explanation of our first son’s death, however, we were now presented with a research paper from the American Journal of Medicine reporting on the phenomena of our deceased son’s condition: one of the first reported cases in the entire world. Though we have to believe that the doctors involved with our situation are doing their best based on what they know, let the record show that the Lord always gets the last word and it’s ultimately His report that we receive as truth! Furthermore, our identity is found in Christ alone, not medical prognosis or scientific determination. But, as you can imagine, this traumatic “blast from the past” really added to our confusion concerning both Joshua, and the new baby Dawn was now carrying. We praise God that Joshua has been without incident since January, but in the meantime we humbly as that you continue praying that God will give wisdom and clear medical direction to the situation as we wait on his healing.
Judah Elias McKenna (May 30th, 2009 ~ June 5th, 2009)
On Saturday, May 30th Dawn gave birth to our fourth son, Judah Elias McKenna. Immediately after Judah was born, he started developing health issues seemingly very similar to those of our first son, Canaan. After the Lord helped us deal with the initial shock, over the next several days we began settling into a prayer/neonatal visitation rhythm painfully reminiscent of 9 years ago. However, not only were we very thankful that the medical paper we recently received was able to offload a lot of difficult storytelling about our past situation, but the support we received from our pastor, elders, TCC team, and entire home church was and still is…well…simply beyond description. We thank God every day for our church family and I pray that all the evangelists reading this posting are cultivating healthy relationships with your churches too! Despite the many, many, many blessings of the Lord that we have experienced amidst this trial, it is with mixed emotions that I report that the Lord only numbered 6 days for Judah before taking him home. Though we will miss him dearly, we are very grateful that we will see him again soon and all the McKenna boys now have a brother to play with – both here on earth, and in heaven too!
Canaan James Nolan McKenna (September 21st, 2000 ~ October 18th, 2000)
A beautiful memorial service was held for Judah here in London and I personally performed the graveside service in our hometown of Halifax, where Judah’s remains were buried beside his brother Canaan. We praise God that He allowed me to preach His Gospel to many family and friends and we are very thankful that the gracious support of our Christian family and friends has been an undeniable witness to the reality of Christ’s resurrection and His transforming regeneration of His Church. Please continue praying that the Lord will cause this very difficult experience to work for His good by producing fruit of salvation. We also thank God for all of you who have been suffering with us, praying for us, and practically supporting us in so many other ways.
Though I could say SO much more, I do need to ask you to continue praying for my wife, my family, and me as we step back onto the mission field this week. Though it’s going to be a challenge, we praise God that His grace is sufficient and when we are weak, He is strong. I encourage you to be regularly checking our online ministry calendar, this Studio/Street blog, and our online Members Site for the latest news and updates related to The Cross Current.
Remaining in His Grip,
Cory, Dawn, Joshua, and Caleb McKenna
