Peace During Stress

 

[1]

 

John 11:25 Contemporary English Version

²⁵ Jesus then said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die.”

 

It has been 18 years since my prostate cancer was diagnosed. The cancer has subsided and then reared its ugly head several times over those years. Currently it is in remission, for which I am very thankful. If there is one thing the cancer has taught me, it is that when cancer goes into remission it will return. So, I don’t use the word “Cure.”

Throughout this period, I have had an almost strange calmness. I have told myself several times, Wil, you have lived a good life! You have many promises from God’s word that after you die you shall live again. I think this has been a continuing reassurance to me. However, I am fully aware that I shall die.

The Word has promised that before Christ comes, there will a time of trouble “such as never was since there was a nation”.[2] I invite you to look back over the times of trouble that have occurred. Millions have been driven from their homes and had their homes destroyed. They have suffered with no clothes in the severest of weather. They have had little or nothing to eat or drink. They have been totally homeless with no one who cares for them. Many times, their corpses have lain where they have fallen. Remember the killing fields in Cambodia and the gas chambers of Auschwitz.

Being an old man, I shall not endure the time of trouble for long, not long enough to see the coming of Christ. That is why I treasure Christ’s promise that he will raise me to life!

I invite you, dear Reader, to accept Christ’s offer of life and salvation that is offered to us free and without any merit of ours. You may ask, “Do you have any concrete evidence of the validity of his promise?” Yes, the evidence that He has stood by me for these long years and fulfilled my every need upon request. If you choose to remain skeptical, you not only lose out, but you also fulfill prophecy that there will be scoffers in the last days.[3]

 

Dear Lord, grant Your Peace to each person who reads this blog  knowing that they, too, are included in Your promise.

 

 

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[1] paradise images - Bing images

[2] Daniel 12:1

[3] 2 Peter 3: 3-4. But first you must realize that in the last days some people won't think about anything except their own selfish desires. They will make fun of you ⁴ and say, “Didn't your Lord promise to come back? Yet the first leaders have already died, and the world hasn't changed a bit.”

God Does Answer Prayer

[1]

2 Corinthians 9:2 Good News Translation

Your eagerness has stirred up most of them.

 

Have you ever attended a “high church?” I’m thinking of a Catholic, Episcopal, or Lutheran church that has a liturgy that the members and officiants follow reverently and slavishly. We have a liturgical church service in our church. It typically has about 20 members who show up faithfully every week. Twenty members is roughly the size of the Iowa City Church we attended for five years while I was in graduate school. We loved that little church and its members. Twenty members seems insignificant in our current church that must seat at least 2,000 people easily.

For the music parts, organists play the pipe organ.  I love to close my eyes and feel the chords flow through my body in grand style. We have an eight-page liturgy printed in large type on tranquil green paper. The type is in both normal and bold letters. Bold indicates that everyone should read in unison. It also contains four significant passages of scripture, one from the Old Testament, one from the Psalms read responsively, one from the New Testament epistles and one from the Gospels. At times they all have a unifying theme. At other times they seem to have been randomly chosen. The choices of what to read all tend to follow the Common Lectionary of the Episcopal Church.

Usually once a month I am given a liturgy to read. During the prayer portion of the liturgy, we include a list of prayer requests submitted to the church during the preceding week. Never have I heard mention of answered prayers. I have felt that, just to bolster our own faith, it would be well for us to mention how at least some of the prayers have been answered. So last Sabbath when the theme was Mountain Top Experiences, and I was liturgist, I included the following:

“We don’t often hear about answers to prayer. I started treatment for prostate cancer 17 years ago. At my oncologist’s insistence, I quit taking my cancer meds since my stroke last October but continued hydrotherapy. The last blood work my oncologist did the beginning of this month indicated that my PSA is undetectable—PSA is a measure of the amount of cancer in my body. Please join me in praising the Lord for answering your prayers and my prayers.

“I invite you to kneel as we pray.”

Many of the 20 in attendance thanked me personally for including my experience in the liturgy. I do indeed thank and praise God for keeping me alive for the 17 years since I was first diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Thank You, Lord, that You do hear and answer our prayers. Forgive us for not thanking and praising You more often.

 

 

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[1] Looking through the field of poppies overlooking our home February 3, 2023

By Reason of Strength they be Fourscore

[1]

 

 Psalm 90:10 Contemporary English Version

¹⁰ We can expect seventy years,
or maybe eighty,
    if we are healthy,
but even our best years
    bring trouble and sorrow.
Suddenly our time is up,
    and we disappear

 

James gives a Christian commentary on that verse: “My friends, consider yourselves fortunate when all kinds of trials come your way, or you know that when your faith succeeds in facing such trials, the result is the ability to endure.”[2]

Today is my 81^st birthday. I have now surpassed the four-score point.  I must confess that as I look back over 81 years, I have had my trouble and sorrow.  On the other hand, I have enjoyed life even in the darkest times.  In the past year my prostate cancer has returned but not with a vengeance yet.  I suffered a stroke, and this prompted my oncologist to say, “Now you are no longer fighting cancer, you are fighting to stay alive. So, stop taking…” and he listed most of my cancer medications.

We had a car accident where a semi pushed us sideways down a freeway ramp at ever increasing speeds. When I took the car in to the body shop a few days later, I was told that my insurance would probably total my car because of the damages—even though I was able to drive it home from the accident. My wife and daughter were in the car, yet none of the three of us suffered any injuries. God has been very good!

Sylvia stated, “Our guardian angels were really looking after us!” To which some wag quipped, “If they were looking after you, why didn’t they prevent you from having an accident?”

We took a lovely trip back east this past summer. We escaped some of the relentless 100º (40ºC) weather and attended Sylvia’s family reunion in North Carolina. At each family reunion we noticed that some of our beloved family members have cashed in on “suddenly our time is up and we disappear.”

However, we are laying concrete plans for a trip to Africa this year and a trip to see a total solar eclipse next year. In the meantime, we may suddenly disappear.

At this point I can only say,

 Thank You, Lord, for a good life and many happy years!

[3]

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[1] https://biblepic.com/psalms/90-10.htm

[2] James 1: 2-3 GNT

[3] https://www.irish-folk-songs.com/three-score-and-ten-lyrics-chords-and-sheet-music.html

A Merry Heart Doeth Good Like A Medicine

[1]

Proverbs 17:22 The Message Bible

²² A cheerful disposition is good for your health;
    gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.

 

It was 6:30 in the morning. Chantal walked down the hallway chanting “Devotions—De-vo-tions.

Last summer Sylvia and I spent 17 days in The Lifestyle Center at Uchee Pines Institute in Alabama. My purpose for being there was to explore an alternate method to bring my cancer under control. Every morning Chantal would walk up and down the hallway at 6:30 a.m. chanting “Devotions—Devotions” with strong emphasis on the last syllable while ringing a handbell. She taught us to sing a cappella the King James inspired version of this song:

 

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine

      Like a medicine is a merry heart

But a broken spirit drieth the bones

      A merry heart doeth good,

Doeth good like a medicine.[2]

 

 

A piano sat in the worship room, but there seemed to be no one to play it. So, Sylvia went up to the keyboard and was soon playing that chorus purely by ear. It added fullness to the song.

Every morning Chantal brought us a message of faith and hope in our pursuit of health. Then we would sing this chorus, to Sylvia’s accompaniment, and go out for the day’s activities and our treatments.

I was somewhat surprised and greatly gratified that when we left Uchee Pines, my PSA had been cut in half, and I had lost close to 30 pounds. PSA is an indication of how much prostate cancer I have in my body. Since that time, I have maintained both improvements to the date of this writing.

Much of life at U.P. is one of discipline: “vitals” at 5:50 a.m., “devotions” at 6:30, three meals that are strictly vegan with practically no sugar and very little fat, lectures on avoiding the excesses of modern American life, nauseating herbal teas, and decidedly uncomfortable hydrotherapy treatments. The “Merry Heart” catchy tune, the gentle walks amongst the pines and other trees after meals, and prayers for each other allowed the healing to become a reality. Our group formed a camaraderie that has continued since that time.

We are grateful to You, Lord, for using the simple things to improve our lives.

 

 

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[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPXhFQvEuso

[2]For the tune, see  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLfFQl6zKD0

Sufficient unto the Day is the Evil Thereof

 

[1]

Matthew 6:33-34 American Standard Version

³³ But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. ³⁴ Be not therefore anxious for the morrow: for the morrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

 

Ours has often been a life where we had enough of life’s necessities to get through each day but no cushion for emergencies. Of course, emergencies arose—they always do. When my cancer recurred, I went to an oncologist whose office was on the 10^th floor of magnificent medical building in Century City on the upscale side of Beverly Hills.

He showed me how he owns his own blood lab equipment and luxury patient treatment facilities. He spent several hours talking to me about my situation. It dawned more and more on me how much all of this must cost.

“I’m really impressed at what you will do for me. How am I going to pay for all this?” I queried.

He said simply, “You have Medicare, don’t you?”

He employs a full-time pharmacist who has gotten me a number of grants to help cover the expenses of outrageously expensive drugs I’ve needed. Some medical places around here have a policy that if you are over 15 minutes late to an appointment, you pay for the appointment, but they won’t see you or do anything to help you. Of course, insurance doesn’t pay if you miss an appointment.

With big city traffic, it’s very easy to be delayed much more than 15 minutes! My oncologist’s office is all the way across Los Angeles. It’s easy to get delayed an hour or more in the traffic. They have the same policy, but they tell me, “Just call us and let us know what’s happening.” They’ve never penalized me for being late.

As a retiree, I sometimes worry that my money will run out before both Sylvia and I have passed on. Then my thoughts return to the last sixty years and the fact that although at times we have been very short of funds, we have never gone hungry, nor have we ever been without a roof over our heads.

God will always take care of us!

Thank You, Lord, for Your constant care over us, in spite of some of the scrapes we get ourselves into!

 

__________________

[1] https://ccmpla.com/about/ 

 

Beating Cancer

 

[1]

Deuteronomy 10:21
Good News Translation
²¹ Praise him—he is your God, and you have seen with your own eyes the great and astounding things that he has done for you.

 

Great and marvelous are Your works, O God.

Sylvia and I drove over 8,700 miles or 14,000 kilometers through nineteen states during the months of June, July and August this year—without mishap. Closer to home, twice Sylvia was driving when each of our vehicles was totaled, yet she walked away from each accident. Last year she fell approximately 30 feet down a nearly vertical rock face and survived well enough so that, although she broke six or seven bones and gashed her head wide open, she is now living principally without pain.

Cancer struck me some 16 years ago. I am still fighting it and keeping it at bay, so far. The major reason for our trip this summer was to gain a new weapon in that battle at Uchee Pines Institute. My latest weapon against cancer is whole body hyperthermia, or a fever bath. Here at home, I have a steam tent to raise my body temperature above 102º F (39º C) for 20 minutes. Since I started the fever bath in July, my cancer indicator PSA has dropped by fully 50%. I appreciate your prayers on my behalf. For more details send me an email, or comment on this blog.

Since the cancer started, I have overcome West Nile Virus only through the intervention of God. I have had COVID-19 and survived it well due to my being vaccinated and God’s protection. For me, taking advantage of the skills and knowledge God has given humans through modern medicine, far from denying our faith, instead acknowledges His ultimate control over all things here on earth. Today, I am seeing because of modern medicine and traditional Adventist hydrotherapy, even though painful blindness struck me a year ago.

Indeed, I praise You, O God, for the great and astounding things You have done for me!

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 [1] A picture of me in my steam tent. The steam generator is on the floor to the right of the tent.

Great Things God Has Done

[1]

Deuteronomy 10:21

Good News Translation

²¹ Praise him—he is your God, and you have seen with your own eyes the great and astounding things that he has done for you.

Great and marvelous are Your works, O God.

 Sylvia and I drove over 8,700 miles or 14,000 kilometers through nineteen states during the months of June, July and August this year—without mishap. Closer to home, Sylvia was driving when each of our preceding two vehicles were totaled, yet she walked away from each accident. Last year she fell approximately 30 feet down a nearly vertical rock face and survived well enough so that, although she broke six or seven bones and gashed her head wide open, she is now living principally without pain.

 Cancer struck me some 16 years ago. I am still fighting it and keeping it at bay. The major reason for our trip this summer was to gain a new weapon in that battle. Since the cancer started, I have overcome West Nile Virus and have had COVID-19 and survived it well through the intervention of God and my being vaccinated. (I believe that God has given humans the wisdom and skill to develop the vast medical knowledge and skill we see in modern medicine today. He did this for our, your, and my comfort. Aren’t we denying Him if we choose to not avail ourselves of these God-given benefits?) I am also seeing, even though painful blindness struck me a year ago.

Indeed, I praise You, O God, for the great and astounding things You have done for me!

  

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[1] Sylvia in helicopter after her fall while Wil and our daughter Julia look on.

A Fruitful Old Age

 

[1]

Psalm 92:14
King James Version
[The righteous] shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;

 

I wrote this letter to a friend of mine who suffered a hemorrhagic stroke recently:

Dear John,

    Your stroke both stunned and dismayed me. And this hit you before you even had a chance to retire. However, I don’t believe God is finished with you, I do believe that He is trying to communicate something to you. Dad used to say that in order for God to get things through to him, He sometimes had to hit him across the head with a two-by-four. God waited for three years after I retired to hit me with west Nile virus and recurrent cancer. He wanted me to get my act together and use my retirement to “bring forth fruit” in my old age.

    Now is the time to claim this beautiful promise from Psalm 92: the righteous “shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.” In fact, read the whole psalm, and while you’re about it, read Psalm 91. Our God is strong to save and heal!

Before Christ left His disciples, He reassured them: “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” John included this in his gospel for us. 

Christ knew we would go through really trying times, but He is never going to forget any one of us. He promised us in Luke 11: “I say unto you, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.’”

You may remember that my friend, Bob, had a nasty stroke some thirty-odd years ago. It left him with a limp, but he recovered well. We are praying that God will heal you, too; and restore you to full health!

Thank You Father, that You never do forget us and promise us a fruitful old age.

 

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[1] https://www.app.com/story/life/home-garden/luxury/mansions/2016/12/29/5-most-incredible-mansions-shore/95870234/

Content Whether Full or Hungry

[1]

Philippians 4:12-13

Good News Translation

¹² I know what it is to be in need and what it is to have more than enough. I have learned this secret, so that anywhere, at any time, I am content, whether I am full or hungry, whether I have too much or too little. ¹³ I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me.

 

In 1986 we moved to California. The sale of our home in Massachusetts had fallen through, so we were still making house payments on it, and we were paying exorbitant rent on the house we were living in. We now had three kids in church school. I remember lamenting to the Lord, “Not again, Lord, please!” Then our house back east sold for approximately what we paid for our home in California.

A year after we were first married, I was as grad student, and Sylvia had a good job, but it fell through. We were able to borrow enough for me to finish school and move to Africa. Then our second year in Tanzania, the TAD made a big mistake in our salary, and we were with no money for six months. Things eased gradually until I went back to grad school with two kids. Then we had to go on food stamps for a couple years, but the Lord blessed, and we lived very well towards the end. In fact, we were living better than we had previously throughout our married life. Back in Africa double digit inflation and another bigger mistake by the TAD (Trans African Division that employed us) thrust us back into a hand-to-mouth existence. In spite of this, we have always had a roof over our heads and have never gone hungry.

We moved to Massachusetts, and I took a second job so we could afford to buy a house. In spite of my two jobs, our bank balance would drop to less than $10 at the end of most months. Still the Lord was good to us, and we were able to grow at least half of the food we ate for seven years. The old clunkers we drove kept right on clunking. Then in California I again took on a second job. God heard my lament, and things did improve—slowly but steadily until my retirement in 2013. I remember walking in the hills and praising God for the prosperity he had granted us. I also remember having a premonition that things would change. … Again.

Since then, West Nile virus, threatening blindness, and cancer take their toll. This miserable pandemic has cramped our style. It appears that we, as a nation, are facing serious inflation and possible national financial collapse. In spite of all this, I have a solid confidence to say with Paul, “I have the strength to face all conditions by the power that Christ gives me!”

Thank You, Lord, that everyone reading this blog has the very same promise that God will continue to look after them, too.

 

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[1] https://line.17qq.com/articles/oohncpdov.html

God's Hidden Code of Life

[i]

Ecclesiastes 11:5 

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁵ Just as you do not know the path of the wind and how bones are formed in the womb of the pregnant woman, so you do not know the activity of God who makes all things.

 

We know that when a human fetus forms, it starts out as one cell. This cell divides into two identical cells. In turn each of these cells divide into identical cells. As this division occurs over and over again, eventually the cells differentiate and form the various parts of our bodies. Some of the cells become the hard bones that give us structure and make our blood. Some form our organs that make us viable and human.

We know that the key to this variation in cell structure is a giant molecule that is in the very nucleus of every cell. This DNA molecule is identical in every cell. It is composed of only four building blocks, called nucleotides. There are over three billion nucleotides in each DNA molecule.

Humans have performed enough experiments to know the position of a set of nucleotides in the DNA molecule determines the entire structure of the human. It tells each cell what its function is. Cellular division continues throughout the life of the person. Built into this division is an instruction that determines when a cell dies.

What is amazing is how the cell interprets the appropriate tiny substring of the DNA to determine which one of the seemingly infinite possible forms it must assume. This results in a recognizably different human being from all others. But they are all equally human beings.

When the cell loses the instruction that determines when it dies, it then goes on living and dividing, forming too many of the same cell. We call this aberration cancer, and it normally kills the person who gets it. So death, cell death, is essential for human life. How thankful we can be that God intended us for life, not death.

Thank You, Lord, for letting us begin to understand the building code You have used to make us. We see in this structure the extreme complexity yet basic simplicity of Your creation.

 

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[i] https://www.zmescience.com/medicine/genetic/human-genome-write-project/

Cancer Recovery

[i]

Isaiah 40:31 

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

³¹ but those who trust in the Lord
will renew their strength;
they will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not faint.

This week I completed my last chemo infusion. I started the chemo five months ago in January. At that time I had made remarkable recovery after the West Nile Virus bout I contracted a year and a half before. Our dog Katie and I would walk over the La Sierra Hills in front of and behind our home. Katie would come home dragging her tail behind her and trying to duck into the shade of every desert plant that looked like it might offer a bit of cool respite.

Then I started the chemo. Within a scant fortnight I was winded just walking up to the Pumpkin Rock nestled on a low point on the ridge to the west of our home. Since then I have only once or twice made it up to the saddle point—an even lower destination. Otherwise I have restricted my goings to the almost level area in our valley. I walk with uncertain steps and brace myself for any slight slip on the dirt. I feel this constant headache that decries my actually being upright. Sylvia walks next to me gently pushing the middle of my back on the uphill stretches.

Meanwhile Katie runs joyfully around and digs energetically in every gopher burrow and rabbit hole she can find. I have pushed myself to walking about 2,000 steps according to a pedometer program I have on my smart phone. Then I return home and sit in the recliner and allow my heart and lungs to catch up with my body. Usually I am too tired to even sleep, but if I do, it will often be an hour and a half before I awaken. That is unless Katie suddenly explodes into a barking session.

Now that I am no longer being infused with the chemo poison that is supposed to zap the cancer I’m carrying, I eagerly await the renewal of my strength in a very literal sense. The Lord brought me back from a much closer brush with death during my West Nile episode. I fully trust that he will again fulfill this promise in Isaiah.

I thank You, Lord, that I can trust in Your promises and that You have seen fit to preserve me a second time. Let’s go for it, Lord!

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[i] https://www.google.com/search?q=pumpkin+rock+hike+norco&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS744US744&source=lnms&tbm=i