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.”

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

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.

Attempt to Discouragement

 

[1]

Colossians 3:2-3

Revised English Bible

Think about the things that are above, not the things that are on the earth, for you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God,

 

In 2016 I survived West Nile Virus. It is generally fatal in people over 60, apparently more so than Coronavirus-19. It caused brain fever in me, and there are five weeks of which I remember nothing, except for a few very vivid hallucinations. I had friends whom it killed in fairly short order. There were many people around the world who were praying for my survival. To this day I don’t know why the Lord chose to let me live.

My urologist visited me twice while I was in hospital with WNV. I don’t remember the first visit. On the second visit I was very lucid. He told me, “When you are well, and up and about, you need to stop in and see me. We need to start treating you for recurrent prostate cancer.”

After he left me, I looked up and prayed, “Why Lord? Why didn’t you let me die while I was so sick with WNV? Why preserve me for chemo and other nasty treatments?” This is one prayer, “Why?” that the Lord has never stooped to answer, at least not for me! His answer to Paul, when he prayed for relief from his “thorn in the flesh,” was “My grace is sufficient for you.”[2] That has to suffice for me, too.

Sometimes I mention my experience to people who express interest. They almost invariably respond with something like, “Well, He must have something more He wants you to do!” Since He hasn’t spelled it out clearly enough for me to read it yet, it’s up to me to follow the preacher: “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, or planning, or knowledge, or wisdom, in Sheol, where you are going.”[3]

In October during a Deep Calling project at my church, I decided to return to this blog series and published my blog of October 26. In November I started really working on my memoirs of our time at Ikizu in Tanzania in the late 1960s and early 1970s. About the same time I came down with very painful eye problems so bad I couldn’t even read the big “E” on the eye chart. It just might be that the enemy of all mankind was trying to discourage me. My eye sight is returning to normal, so I’ll pursue both the memoirs and this blog until I learn differently.

Thank You, Lord, for sparing me, and thank You for encouraging me to continue with my might until You do lay me in Sheol.

 

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[1] https://earnestwords.com/2011/03/01/glasses/

[2] 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 REB

[3] Ecclesiastes 9:10 REB

Created for Good Works

[i]

Ephesians 2:10 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

¹⁰ For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Earlier in January I went uptown to a stamp show. With all of my cancer fight and what that has entailed, I hadn’t been to one for well over a year. One of the dealers whom I count as a personal friend told me he has been seeing blood in his urine. He is, of course, running scared. He pointed out that we are both well into our seventies and both born under Aquarius—not that I attach any meaning to Zodiacal signs.

His father was a conservative Christian pastor, and my friend had attended a conservative Christian university where he took a theology major. But the years have jaded some of his Christian zeal. His Christian world view, however, still affects his life. I encouraged him to get some immediate medical attention. Between dozens of interruptions by visitors to his booth, we also spent some very meaningful time reviewing the marvelous hope we have in Christ Jesus.

A couple days ago there was another stamp show uptown. I told my wife that I felt I needed to go to this one, too, in order to see my dealer friend. He was there, and I spent several more hours at his booth. He, his wife, and I were able to chat some more. Things had not gotten any better. In fact not only was there still blood in his urine, his wife mentioned that his bowels had also been totally shut down for over a month now.

He had looked gaunt last time and appeared even more so this time. At least he now had several appointments this week for various medical checkups, lab work, x-rays, and other tests. I have fears that things may not go well with him, but at least he seems to have a blessed hope in Christ and his future. I pray for his well being and wisdom on his part and the medical people who help him.

The very next day I had an appointment with a doctor whom I have known for many years. I sat in the waiting room and in an examination room for over two hours. When the doctor came into my room, he closed the door behind him. He sat down and told how a mutual friend of 50 plus years is now on life-support in intensive care. He told me further that he had been chosen as the chair of his church’s finance committee. The experience has been a real eye-opener to him as to how church policies are actually implemented—or simply ignored.

I told him about our experience when my wife and I first went to Africa as full time employees of the church as missionaries. Over the first two years we were shocked at what happened, how policies were ignored, how lies were told, etc. It became a real crisis in our Christian experience: After all, we were working for an organization that we considered to be God’s organization on earth most closely connected with our hope of salvation. After discussing and praying about it, we decided that we were still working for Jesus Christ but were being paid by a human organization. Furthermore, we chose not to fault our Savior for this weak, imperfect, and at times corrupt big business—the church.

Lord Jesus, we thank You for the privilege of working for You for our entire career. We pray not only for our own salvation but also for those devoted, but often confused, humans who do things in Your name and for Your sake.

#Stamps, #Stampshows, #stampdealers, #prostatecancer, #IE, #SoCal, #California, Christiancrisis, #corruptchurch, #Savior, #salvation, #hope, #Doctor, #WaitingRoom, #Africa, #ChristLove

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[i] https://www.tsdastamps.com/

Cancer and Hope

[i]

Joshua 1:9

Good News Translation (GNT)

⁹ Remember that I have commanded you to be determined and confident! Do not be afraid or discouraged, for I, the Lord your God, am with you wherever you go.”

On Friday afternoon I spoke with my cardiologist. I had looked for my report from Parkview Hospital of my 3 weeks there during the first stage of my West Nile Virus (WNV) treatments. I had gotten them from the hospital on a CD, and I took a copy to him back in June last year. I hoped he might be able to lay his hand on it.

Of course he asked me why I needed it, and I told him I was planning to see an oncologist in Los Angeles about my prostate cancer (PC) growth. The oncologist wanted any lab reports, etc. that I had gotten recently. He asked me what I am doing currently, and I told him I was taking two hormone treatments. I told him that the oncologist in LA had an alternative treatment system that I wanted to investigate.

My cardiologist pointed out how well I am improving and healing from my WNV encounter. He insisted that I am in a lot less dangerous position now with PC than I was under the WNV. He pointed out how well I am currently. He urged me to follow the standard treatments used in medicine today and not to get lulled into some promises of alternative medicine. In his own optimistic way he urged me to “be determined and confident”, and not to “be afraid or discouraged”. He went on to tell me that he would see me in 10 years and then in 15 more years (then I would be 100).

Thank You, Lord, for Your encouragement and Your promise to be with me wherever I go! I am confident that You will do exactly that.

#CALIFORNIA, #SOCAL, #IE, #HEALTH, #CANCER, #PROSTATE, #PROSTATECANCER, #WNV, #WESTNILEVIRUS, #HOPE, #HORMONETREATMENT, #MEDICINE

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[i] https://www.24hrcares.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/this-picture-says-there-is-hope-for-prostate-cancer-because-of-the-blue-ribbon.jpg