Matt Jamison in “Unfinished Business”

Matt Jamison

This is the story of a a little boy. I'd say, "Stop me if you've heard this one before," but you have, and I don't really want to be stopped. This boy, he's a good kid; not perfect, but good, and when he's about 10 years old, his mom and dad tell him he's gonna have a baby sister. And the baby sister comes, and of course he loves her very much. But she's getting attention. His attention. So he wishes actually he prays for that attention back and a month later, he's diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia. And the cancer eats away at the boy until there is almost nothing left. But he fights it. He survives and now he has a choice to make. Does he decide that he was punished or that he was rewarded? Will he be angry for having been made to suffer, or will he be grateful for that suffering because it changed him? This is the story of a little girl. She's 8 years old, and just over a week ago, she's playing in the park. She loves to go high on the swings, up to the point where you hang there for a moment, suspended, before the chains clink and gravity pulls you back down. She's been asleep in a coma, for 9 days now. Her brain activity is negligible. Her outcome is undetermined. The girl's name is Emily and so that little boy is asking for attention again now. For Emily, let us pray.