3 Little Puigs....

For those of you interested in getting funny little updates from our daughter Danielle during her pregnancy I'm making this link available for you. http://3littlepuigs.blogspot.com/ To get to this link via a shortcut just scroll across my blog and look at the blog link on the right hand side of my page. Click on Three Little Puigs and you will be taken instantly to the blog.

Danielle cracks me up and following her blog keeps me laughing. If you need a good laugh I highly suggest checking out her always "interesting" blog once in a while as she gets closer and closer to her July 30th due date. Her DAD!

We got the results from Brians surgery back already.........

No CANCER! I repeat NO CANCER!!!!! Much to the amazement of the medical team here in Charlotte my results came back showing NO SIGNS of CANCER! Needless to say, we are thrilled and rejoicing in the fact that we will not have to endure radiation and/or chemotherapy.

It was on March 2nd that the doctors were believing that all the symptoms I was showing and the large mass on my throat and unusually large lymph nodes pointed to cancer. Was it scimus carsinoma or one of the thirty five different types of lymphoma. More tests were completed and finally surgery took place to remove the HUGE nodes and biopsy the throat tissue directly. The conclusion was NO CANCER!

I am grateful for the literally thousands (examples: a church of 800 in Brazil, a couple hundred brothers and sisters in Christ living at the Community of Jesus, friends in India, several congregations and friends fasted and prayed in Ethiopia, staff in Nigeria and Thailand, SIM teammates around the world, hundreds of people in Charlotte, hundreds more in small groups, Sunday schools and supporting churches around the US) who interceeded on our behalf.

On Friday I will meet with doctors to determine our next steps. All tissues and lymph-nodes taken from the biopsy have been sent to a micro-biology testing facility and results from these tests could take up to 8 weeks to complete before they know something definitive. Man oh man what a blessing not to have to go through radiation or chemo in the coming weeks. Chris and I are celebrating and "jumping" up for joy. Africa here we come? We are listening to God to Hear and Know His plans for us in the coming months and years. God has been purposeful in slowing me down through physical challenges in the last 16 months. Therefore, I want to be sure to listen intently to His directions for our lives as we move forward with summer and fall plans. We desire to be in Africa for the summer but Our lives are not our own. We absolutely submit to serving the Kingdom of God however and where ever he calls us to serve.

To God be the Glory for shocking the doctors with these results! THANK YOU FOR WALKING WITH CHRIS AND I DURING THIS INTERESTING TIME IN OUR LIVES. SORRY IT'S BEEN SUCH A SAGA! GRATEFUL FOR YOUR PRAYERS AGAINST THIS NASTY DISEASE called CANCER.

BD

Great Drops of Blood.

March 23rd am Spurgeon Devotional: Great Drops of Blood.

Read at 6ish before going into surgery with my good friend Breck Bolton and Christine.

"His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Luke 22:44

The mental pressure from our Lord's agony forced the pores of His body to sweat great drops of blood. What a tremendous weight of sin crushed the Savior! What a demonstration of the mighty power of His love."

Isaac Ambrose observed that the sap which flows from the uncut tree is always the best. This precious tree yielded sweet spices when it was wounded by whips and pierced by nails. But it produced it's finest spices preceding that, when there was no whip, no nail, no physical wound.

Christ suffered willingly. Without being lanced His blood flowed freely. No need for a surgeon to use a scalpel; His blood flowed spontaneously. No need for Moses to cry, "Spring up, O well" (Numbers 21:17). Of itself His blood flows in crimson torrents.

When people suffer greatly, apparently the blood rushes to their heart. Their face becomes pale and frequently they faint. the blood has gone inward as if to nourish the inner being. but look at our Savior. He is so utterly oblivious of self, that instead of His agony driving His blood to His heart to nourish Himself, it flows outward to minister to us. the agony of Christ, as His blood is poured out on the ground, pictures the fullness of the offering He made for us.

Can you perceive the intensity of His suffering? will you hear its voice as it speaks? "You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin" (Hebrews 12:4). Let the great Apostle and High Priest be our example. Sweat blood if you have to, rather than yield to the great temper of you soul. "

I had to share a little of what came to my mind about Spurgeons words and my experience at the hospital today for this blog entry on March 23rd. So here goes: blood....hmmm.... I'm reminded of a couple of pre-op "happenings" today - 1.the nurse putting in my IV this morning missed numerous times leaving blood all over my left hand... 2. then the next nurse did get the IV in on the right hand and a couple of other medical procedures completed, but not without, in her words, "making a real big mess that had blood all over my right hand and arm." 3. of course during the surgery there was blood all over the doctors and nurses and the tools they were using to fix me up. 4. Tonight, the evening of the surgery, as I reread the devotional I have a bag of blood that hangs over my right shoulder right now collecting the blood which is connected to the tube that is located in the right side of my neck where the surgery took place earlier this morning. Blood is critical to sustaining life. When i got pricked and poked before the surgery the blood came out of my skin and made a mess. It didn't hurt, but if that bleeding had continued for a long time I would lose too much blood and death would follow. In my case the nurses easily took care of business and a small mess on my arms and gown was the only issue. In surgery, well that was quite the procedure. The cutting out of the very large lymph nodes in my neck caused lots of bleeding. But the doctors and nurses managed the blood loss well and my life was never in danger.

Jesus loved you and me so much he literally spilled his blood, without being numbed or knocked out with "sleep" medicine for the forgiveness of our sins. Not his sins but for our sins! Yours and mine! He suffered this blood loss so that we might have a personal relationship with our HOLY HOLY HOLY Heavenly Father. This in turns enables us to have eternal life, so that we could be participants in the the GREATEST Celebration (party) ever.....what an INCREDIBLE COST that was for Jesus to pay. My blood was spilled so that I would be made physically better. Jesus blood was spilled to for the sake of others. That's real love!

If you don't know Jesus as your personal Savior today recognize the cost of GREAT DROPS of BLOOD spilled for you so that you might find the forgiveness of ALL your sins, true joy, life abundantly and genuine purpose to real life living today. Secondly, if you have such a relationship with Christ, think of having a bag of Christ blood slung over your right shoulder everyday as a reminder of Christ blood spilled for our well being. Let's remember the cost Jesus paid for our sins, for our lives, by living our lives in such a way that in everything we do and everywhere we go we will live as His wittness to what He has done for us.

A reality of the greatest truth from the Word of God..we are WASHED in the BLOOD Of JESUS..the redemption of mankind is found in the GREAT Drops of Blood spilled from Jesus Christ body for the atonement of our sins so that we might live out His righteousness and share this good news with others so that EVERYONE (regardless of past sins committed, race, gender, age, physical or mental state, or position in this world) who embraces this truth might have life everlasting. If you love Jesus, think of these GREAT Drops of blood daily so that you will be reminded of the cost that took place for our Spiritual freedom.....then..... with a grateful heart that pounds with passion, zeal, and compassion for HIS Kingdom purposes serve others. Serve those who are hopeless, lonely, and searching for fulfillment and significance in this life. Tell them in all humility and gentleness of spirit, of Jesus who spilled his blood for them so that they may live a purposeful life with great meaning & fulfillment.

To God and God alone be the Glory. I count it a PRIVIlege unlike any other to serve the Kingdom of God and His purposes on this earth. Thank You Jesus for all that you have done for me...it's simply amazing. I'm so GRATEFUL for the GREAT DROPS OF BLOOD you spilled on my behalf.

the Glory of the Impossible.

brian

"You never Walk alone" - Surgery is at 6:45am now.

As a believer and follower of Jesus Christ I know that I never walk alone in times of uncertainty. I laugh in the face of fear because my God extolls me to "fear not." I am a child of God, heir to the King of Kings and nothing but nothing can happen to me that God doesn't permit or allow. I ask for protection from the evil one and peace for Chris & the kids as they wait for me to come out of surgery. We ask for patience and courage for the news of the biopsy results expected to come by early next week.

""Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me....." Psalm 23:4

"I will never leave you nor forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: REJOICE! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:4-9.

John 14:27 and John 16:33 are two more great verses when we come up against troubles and challenges that this world throws at us. Thanks brother Aidan for these two awesome truths for times such as these. Be strong and courageous my friend. Thanks to you and so many others for not allowing me to walk alone through this challenging time. Pray I can be an advocate for Jesus to those I meet at the hospital tomorrow. Love sharing the old old story that is timeless in it's truth for everyone everywhere today, tomorrow and to the end of time. WHAT A GREAT GOD WE WORSHIP!

Liberty Team is Heading back to Lynchburg.

Danielle and John were heading to the teams final dinner in Ethiopia at one of Nells favorite places in Addis called Zebra grill. Nell said she just didn't want to leave Ethiopia, it felt so much like home to her. Pray for their traveling mercies as they are due to arrive in Washington at 4:45pm on Sunday. Then they all have to be ready for classes on Monday and Nell has to be ready for work. She and John will be writing up a summary of their experience with lots and lots of pictures. If your interested in viewing some of the pics (she took 2000) and reading about their experience I will provide for you a link to do so when she is completes the task. Thanks for covering this ministry initiative in prayer. Lets she how God uses in the lives of all those who took part in another GREAT ADVENTURE to Ethiopia to experience the GLORY OF THE IMPOSSIBLE.

***Note: They arrived back in the USofA as scheduled, safe and sound. I will have the opportunity to go to Liberty to meet with the students and to hear their stories sometime in April. I really look forward to that time.

Quietness in God our TRUE RESOURCE by Fenelon

"When it comes to accomplishing things for God, you will find that aspirations, enthusiastic feelings, careful planning and being able to express yourself well are not worth very much. The important thing is absolute surrender to God. You can do anything He wants you to do if you are walking in the light of full surrender. Living in this blessed way involves a continual death which is known to very few, but it is in this position that you can be really effective for God. A single word spoken to another person from this restful, abandoned position will do more to change circumstances than all our most eager and carefully planned schemes. You see, when you speak from this position of abandonment to God, it is the Spirit of God who is then speaking, and the word you speak out of context loses none of its force and authority. Only one word perhaps-but it enlightens, persuades, blesses, and moves to action. We have accomplished everything and have scarcely said anything. "

A truth worth living out for all followers of Christ and especially those like myself serving in full time ministry. Fenelon's book entitled "Let Go" has influenced my perspective towards ministry every since I read it for the first time years ago. In America we define "ministry success" in terms of numbers, results, what we do, our short term personal mission experiences and "accomplishments" and what we build. Moreover, we often minister out of our own woundedness of heart and our need to be approved by these terms and what others say. But God demands we be absolutely surrendered to Him and His approval only. This only comes from our love for our Heavenly Father which is manifested in the following virtues of Christ- true humility, obedience, faithfulness, forgiveness, integrity, compassion, selflessness and sacrifice. Success from God's viewpoint is found in living out the righteousness of these virtues towards our Heavenly Fathers purposes, plans and His People. Being quiet before God is our true resource that will lead us to speak and live more in accordance to the ways and will of God.

New Surgery Time

Tuesday, March 23rd I will be at the hospital by 6 am and the surgery will begin at 7:30am. Looking forward to taking this next step in the process towards getting healthy again. Thanks again friends for your encouragement and prayers over the last couple of weeks.