Theresa came home on Monday afternoon (Sept. 20) after 18 days in hospital, battling a GI obstruction and then three different kinds of infection. She is adjusting to new restrictions at home, like no stairs by herself and limited cooking. She made coleslaw yesterday.
She continues to fight and we are hoping she will be well enough to return to chemo in the weeks that lie ahead. We appreciate all you prayers.
Thanks
A.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
How Do They Do It?
How do unbelievers face suffering and death without the comfort and strength and hope that God offers by his word, his presence and his people?
2 words: Humanistic Stoicism
Humanism says that man is the highest order of being. There is no God with whom we will have to recon after we die. When the end comes, that’s all there is. We get eaten by worms and turned into plant food, never to experience consciousness again.
Stoicism says this is all there is and this is as good as it gets. We should expect no better and therefore desire no better. Kill your desires for a perfect life and make the best of this one. Keep a stiff upper lip and trudge on with all the dignity, grit and contentment that you can muster so as not to make a spectacle of yourself.
Jesus says, Mt 5:4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
In other words, keep your desire for a perfect life intact and invest that desire in waiting for a perfect eternity. You will grieve its seeming tardiness until you receive it, but you will receive it and you will be comforted.
Those who kill their desires, kill their motivation for hope. They may gain strength from their philosophy, but it is only enough strength to keep them away from Christ for all eternity. They will see heaven from afar and have no choice but to mourn with no hope.
Lu 16:26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
Blessed, happy are those who mourn now.
*saints note* One thing I find interesting in the time of mourning, is that the hope becomes even more real, even more tangible, than in times of harmony. In times of mourning, there is something to hope for, but in times of happiness, there is nothing motivating us to hope for heaven, because we have it “all worked out” here in this life. Therefore, to truly appreciate the magnitude of the perfection of heaven, even to a small extent, times of mourning and loss are vital to us in this life.
2 words: Humanistic Stoicism
Humanism says that man is the highest order of being. There is no God with whom we will have to recon after we die. When the end comes, that’s all there is. We get eaten by worms and turned into plant food, never to experience consciousness again.
Stoicism says this is all there is and this is as good as it gets. We should expect no better and therefore desire no better. Kill your desires for a perfect life and make the best of this one. Keep a stiff upper lip and trudge on with all the dignity, grit and contentment that you can muster so as not to make a spectacle of yourself.
Jesus says, Mt 5:4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
In other words, keep your desire for a perfect life intact and invest that desire in waiting for a perfect eternity. You will grieve its seeming tardiness until you receive it, but you will receive it and you will be comforted.
Those who kill their desires, kill their motivation for hope. They may gain strength from their philosophy, but it is only enough strength to keep them away from Christ for all eternity. They will see heaven from afar and have no choice but to mourn with no hope.
Lu 16:26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
Blessed, happy are those who mourn now.
*saints note* One thing I find interesting in the time of mourning, is that the hope becomes even more real, even more tangible, than in times of harmony. In times of mourning, there is something to hope for, but in times of happiness, there is nothing motivating us to hope for heaven, because we have it “all worked out” here in this life. Therefore, to truly appreciate the magnitude of the perfection of heaven, even to a small extent, times of mourning and loss are vital to us in this life.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The Fight at Night
3:30 a.m. seems to be when I am at my weakest in my fight for joy. It is then that I regularly wake to a jolt of adrenalin, fear mixing readily with grief to create a cocktail that robs me of sleep and strength as the new day begins.
Our enemy is death and his weapon is fear, but God is for me and I am armed with his word and I am beginning to learn to fight back. This morning I looked to…
1Jn 4:18 Perfect love drives out fear…
I boldly “challenged” God to display his perfect love by using it fill my heart and drive out the fear. I asked him to allow me to return to sleep until the alarm went off which is set for 5:30 a.m.
The next thing I knew the alarm was ringing. God hears and answers.
My reading this morning included…
Luke 12:32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
Add to that…
Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in God’s love…
And you have a biblical battle strategy for fighting for hope and joy that can mingle with grief and expel all fear.
It is up to us to get under the flow of his life-giving word. It is up to us to choose not to be afraid as we look to his provision and promise and allow his expression of love to fill our cups full to overflowing, expelling that which is displeasing to him and to us.
Our enemy is death and his weapon is fear, but God is for me and I am armed with his word and I am beginning to learn to fight back. This morning I looked to…
1Jn 4:18 Perfect love drives out fear…
I boldly “challenged” God to display his perfect love by using it fill my heart and drive out the fear. I asked him to allow me to return to sleep until the alarm went off which is set for 5:30 a.m.
The next thing I knew the alarm was ringing. God hears and answers.
My reading this morning included…
Luke 12:32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
Add to that…
Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in God’s love…
And you have a biblical battle strategy for fighting for hope and joy that can mingle with grief and expel all fear.
It is up to us to get under the flow of his life-giving word. It is up to us to choose not to be afraid as we look to his provision and promise and allow his expression of love to fill our cups full to overflowing, expelling that which is displeasing to him and to us.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Like a Tree Planted by Streams of Water
After watching Theresa spiral downward for three days and then getting her to Emergency Wednesday night, admitting her and then narrowly missing death with emergency surgery Sunday night – having said our goodbyes before her surgery in case she did not live through it… the wind had gone from my sails.
Yet I have found joy this morning in stepping back from praying for and anticipating… outcomes. My prayer now is that Tee and I would BE (present tense prayer) like two “Psalm 1” trees whose fruit and vitality give evidence of an underground river.
We are praying that God would grant courage and strength and faith and joy that he may be seen in us while we go through what he has determined for his glory.
May he be seen in us.
2Corinthians 4
13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Yet I have found joy this morning in stepping back from praying for and anticipating… outcomes. My prayer now is that Tee and I would BE (present tense prayer) like two “Psalm 1” trees whose fruit and vitality give evidence of an underground river.
We are praying that God would grant courage and strength and faith and joy that he may be seen in us while we go through what he has determined for his glory.
May he be seen in us.
2Corinthians 4
13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
How Distressed I Am
Hebrews 12:3 Consider him who endured… so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!
The aspect of Jesus’ suffering, that is perhaps most neglected in our consideration, is the natural, physical sense of alarm that human beings experience as they contemplate death.
Jesus’ ministry, his concern for others’ eternal well-being, would always have been accompanied by occasional, but ever increasing waves of self-preserving adrenalin, that come night and day and present themselves by means of a burning knot in the stomach or a dizzy spell, or chest pains or tingling in the arms.
All of body’s physical signals that are meant to warn us that something is very wrong, were present as Jesus served us. Jesus, ministry was undertaken while he was distressed.
When I consider that fact and realize that for all of us perfect ministry conditions will never exist, I feel stronger in my weakness and anxiety as I watch my wife struggle and suffer. We will never know undiluted joy and success as we serve God in this place, but then neither did Jesus.
Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!
The aspect of Jesus’ suffering, that is perhaps most neglected in our consideration, is the natural, physical sense of alarm that human beings experience as they contemplate death.
Jesus’ ministry, his concern for others’ eternal well-being, would always have been accompanied by occasional, but ever increasing waves of self-preserving adrenalin, that come night and day and present themselves by means of a burning knot in the stomach or a dizzy spell, or chest pains or tingling in the arms.
All of body’s physical signals that are meant to warn us that something is very wrong, were present as Jesus served us. Jesus, ministry was undertaken while he was distressed.
When I consider that fact and realize that for all of us perfect ministry conditions will never exist, I feel stronger in my weakness and anxiety as I watch my wife struggle and suffer. We will never know undiluted joy and success as we serve God in this place, but then neither did Jesus.
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