My youngest son, Trevor, is preparing for his birthday. He has been checking the mail, even after I tell him that I have already gotten the mail. He can’t wait to see if there is a birthday card in the mail.

Trevor was born on April 29, 2000. He was a big baby to say the least. He weighed well over 9lbs and was almost 22 inches long. Many of you already know that when Trevor was 18 months we started noting that his growth was tapering off. We would mention it to the Dr. and she indicated that it was normal for there to be times that he would not grow as at the same rate that he had been growing. He went from a big baby to an average sized 18 month old. We continued to talk to the Dr. about his lack of growth and we were always assured that he was fine and that we did not need to worry that his growth would start up again soon. We began to think that since Shannon is somewhat “vertically challenged” that Trevor might be the same. Finally after asking several times about his lack of growth, we insisted that our Dr. give us a referral to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis.

We met with the endocrinology department at Children’s and began a series of tests. Initially they were concerned about a pituitary gland tumor, but what we found out was that the posterior part of his pituitary gland had never formed. So, Trevor was diagnosed with Human Growth Hormone Deficiency Syndrome. He was three years old and still looked like an 18 month old. He was developmentally fine in every other area; language, etc. He was just tiny. It was humorous to hear this tiny little boy speak in full sentences.

The Dr’s at Children’s told us that we were going to have to start giving Trevor a shot of humane growth hormone every day, six days a week. The needles would be small insulin needles so the shots wouldn’t really hurt him, but just be more of an annoyance to him until he built up his tolerance to them. They also told us that eventually he would be able to give himself the shot. He has been on the shots for six years now and you would definitely never know that he ever had any problems growing.
Along the way I would ask him if he wanted to give himself a shot. He has always turned me down. That was until about a month ago, when I offered a little bit of cash to go along with the sense of accomplishment. Honestly, I didn’t think he would take the deal. I should have known better though, he’s a little money hound. I offered up a little bit of money and he grabbed the needle out of my hand, wiped off the spot in his belly (which he would never let me do…it always had to be in his arm) stuck the needle in, gave himself the shot and then held out his hand and waited for me to fork over the cash.
I was very proud of him, and we celebrated his accomplishment. I have made the analogy that Trevor’s medical situation is a lot like our spiritual conditions. We all need that daily shot of studying the Word, prayer, silence, worship and listening in order to keep us growing spiritually. I can’t tell you how many times that I have shared with people that if we don’t have that daily shot, we stop growing, and we die spiritually.

Trevor has reached a milestone in his physical development. He is now mature enough to give himself the shot. He does not have to rely on me to do it for him anymore. How about you? Are you still relying on someone else to give you the shot of faith that you need to grow? Or are you doing digging into the Word on your own and maximizing your daily time with God. Education classes, community groups, preaching all of that is wonderful, you can’t substitute those things for your personal time in His presence.
Keep on the grow! Let me hear about your personal, spiritual milestones like Trevor’s.

Mark