Joe is the father of two sons with hemophilia. He and his wife, Cazandra, are active members in the bleeding disorders community and often facilitate workshops both locally and nationally. Joe is a pastor in the United Methodist Church and writes a blog about spirituality and faith. You may follow his blog at www.joekmac.com.My wife and I stood around my son’s hospital bedside, waiting for the anesthetist to come in and prepare my boy for surgery. My son Julian required a port-a-cath due to how much medicine had to be infused into his system daily. He was about 1 year old…
We’ve just entered the season of Lent. This particular time in the church calendar is the 40 days before Easter. The goal is to remember divine deliverance and to prepare our hearts and minds for the joy of Easter. As a pastor in the Christian tradition, I encourage parishioners…
For the past few weeks, I’ve written about my youngest son’s hospitalization in Houston when he was 11 months old. In one of those columns, I shared about Caeleb’s complications from a bleeding episode because of his circumcision. Caeleb spent several weeks in the hospital and eventually had a…
Last week, I discussed the unfortunate series of events that led my wife and youngest son, Caeleb, to check into Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston because of a bleeding episode. Caeleb, it turned out, had a high-titer inhibitor that prevented clotting from occurring, even with the help…
When my youngest son, Caeleb, now 17, was 11 months old, he had a bleeding episode that shook us to our core. We’d recently moved to New Mexico from Houston and didn’t yet know our new medical team. Because my wife, Cazandra, had promised to play oboe at…
Given all the mass shootings, economic uncertainty, and contentious political discourse happening in the United States right now, it’s easy to see that our country is in a state of chaos. Yet, I continue to draw hope from the words of Maya Angelou: “When you know better, do…
As a pastor, one of my favorite things to do is to mentor men and women who respond to a call to ordained ministry. I enjoy theological conversations that spark great debates and critical analysis. Mentees and I form a collegial bond that lasts many years. First, I help them…
First, I want to make something clear. This column isn’t titled “In the Twinkling of an Eye: The Money Issue.” When I speak of investing, I mean directing our energy to different areas of our life. Think of it as depositing essential acts of kindness and assistance to those we…
This time of year, I hear many stories of people committing to change and promising to embrace a new way of living. Unfortunately, many of us quickly forget our resolutions. A sense of failure can seep into our lives as, once again, we fail to honor promises made to ourselves.
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, I can’t help but remember a particular year in the MacDonald household. In 2013, my youngest son, Caeleb, couldn’t catch a break from hemophilia. Constant spontaneous bleeding episodes into his right knee and ankle kept my boy in the hospital more often…
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