On June 23rd, Aaron William Duke was confirmed, and welcomed as an official member of Our Redeemer’s Lutheran Church. Aaron and Jodi Duke have been encouraged to follow The Journey this coming Fall, as they, and others gathered here, share our faith and make commitments to God in their membership in the Body of Christ in the world. Aaron’s statement of faith that follows shows how our stories are caught up in the story of God and our salvation.
It wasn’t supposed to happen. It was a straightforward surgery that had been performed numerous times before. Yes, there were risks, but we met and read the statements from those who underwent the procedure before, and they were all fine.
My wife Jodi’s sister adopted an infant girl, Bella, who was super cute and amazing, but we noticed she was starting to look more and more orange. After lots of testing, we found out she had biliary atresia and needed a liver transplant. Jodi felt that God was talking to her and calling her to help Bella, and I heard the call to support Jodi in this. Jodi got tested and found out she was a perfect match to donate a piece of her liver to this adopted child. Proverbs 3:27 states ‘do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act’.
Our family didn’t think twice about it – we had a sense of calm, understood that God put Bella with our family knowing Jodi was a match, and leaned into God’s calling to help. Jodi was doing a great deed, she felt that calling and we just knew it was the right thing to do. She was responding faithfully to God’s call.
I had always been taught to believe in God and to listen for his guidance. From my baptism in Flint, Michigan as an infant through my high school baccalaureate ceremony in Kitsap County, I was raised in faith. We went to church every week, I attended Sunday school, and even attended the world’s longest Easter vigil service ever (at least according to our priest). I learned how act in the world, how to help others, and to live as Jesus taught us to. I never went through confirmation but also never wavered in my faith.
Faith is a gift from God and the means of our salvation. In Ephesians 2:8 it is stated ‘for it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God.’ To me faith is more than just believing in God but trusting that he calls us to service and guides us along the proper path.
My faith, plus the love of little Bella, was the foundation of my unwavering support of Jodi in her decision to be a liver donor. I was not prepared for what would happen – it’s still not clear to any of us how the accident occurred – but after Jodi’s vagus nerve was severed during the surgery, things were different. I honestly struggled to understand what was going on. We were acting on faith—why was it turning out this way, if God had called us to help Bella? How could Jodi be hurt in the process? Were we wrong; what was the point to her suffering?
Our kids were very young, we were trying to keep up, but Jodi and I would often be at appointments or in the ER, so we were struggling. Struggling with getting good meals on the table, struggling with projects around the house, and just feeling lost. I am not someone who asks for help or accepts help easily (even to this day), so the love, caring and support that our family was blessed with was overwhelming. Our family needed help through this, and God sent people to help us through this tough time.
In faith, we see that the love of God is shared. God gives us each other to share our struggles and help each other when times are tough. We are called to support each other and help those who are struggling or suffering. In Galatians Chapter 6, Verse 2, Paul wrote “carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.” We witnessed this love firsthand, from one of my son’s best friends’ dad climbing around a tub to replace bad caulking with extreme detail, to another mom hemming and ironing new curtains, to their 2nd grade teacher blessing us by drawing a chalk painting in our garage. It showed me that faith is not just about understanding or seeing the world in a different light. Faith is tied to actions—God’s will is not just something to understand—it’s not just something we say or think, but something God does through us. It’s in things we do for our friends and family, do for strangers, or anyone in need. It can be as simple as support through prayer, to researching the risks of treatment for a loved one. From chalking a work of art to inspire, to giving part of our bodies so another may live.
I was raised in faith, but it wasn’t until I witnessed the numerous acts of selflessness and love that I really understood what it means to be a servant of God. I stopped struggling as much to understand the why of the accident and focused more on how God was trying to transform my relationship with him and my relationship with the concept of giving support. God showed me that things aren’t always convenient, despite his actions in our lives. Just like they weren’t convenient in the parable of the Good Samaritan, they weren’t convenient for Jodi, they weren’t convenient for the dad contorted in the bathtub digging out old caulk, and they wouldn’t always be for me either. Having faith in God doesn’t mean life will be easy, but it does mean that the ways we feel called do matter—the ways God moves us to love and help each other aren’t diminished by the struggles we face in life.
Because of faith, I continue to seek ways to help others. I am no longer afraid of a bad outcome or letting an uncomfortable situation stop me from offering the aid that is needed. I know I will continue to be in God’s care and receive his grace, even if things don’t go according to plan.