Pressed but not crushed

Some of you have been “in the loop” so to speak, and many of you have not really.  I wanted to give you a brief synopsis of some medical/health challenges that have recently been a part of our life, so that you can join us in prayer more specifically. 

A couple of years ago Stephanie suggested that I go in for a routine physical.  The standard blood tests revealed a low white blood cell count, and so my physician asked me to have a second test run.  I eventually got around to that, and again, had a low white count.  Last March when I was getting a prescription for malaria meds for Haiti, my doctor and I talked about my results and set up another test and an appointment with a blood specialist etc.  Long story short, I ended up having some more blood tests and eventually a bone marrow draw!  That was intense, but not as painful as you might imagine.

A few weeks after that we had this really terrible Doctor visit where the doctor told us she was concerned that I might have a pre-leukemic disease called Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS). (google "leukemia and MDS and you'll find it.)  She explained that MDS always becomes leukemia and told us the facts about how relatively unsuccessful bone marrow transplants are.  That was a hard day.  Although she considered me a definitive 'rare case' because of my age etc. she was preparing us for the worst.  "By the numbers" she said I might only have 10 years to live.  WOW!

I am extremely grateful that I had read John Piper and David Paulison's article titled "Don't Waste your Cancer" years ago!  Seriously!  Everybody should really read that article, because statistically, everyone's gonna have a doctor appointment like that at some point!  

  

Our kids knew I'd been getting tests and we had been told that leukemia was an option even before that day.  We came home and shared with our children that the doctor thought I might be on a slightly faster track to heaven than most daddy’s my age.  We read some scripture and tried to convey to them some of the intensity in a way that let them into what was going on but also wasn’t completely alarming or anything.   Together, we spoke of the reality of God’s goodness, sovereignty and love for us. 

In July I went to Columbia University to what is arguably the best MDS lab in the world.  There, my new Doctor –Dr. Raza checked me out and determined that at this point, I do not technically  have MDS.  She cannot conclude at this point that I have it, but, given the blood and marrow readings, it’s quite possible I am headed that way –but not  for sure.  That day was actually quite encouraging because my blood levels were actually normal!  Yeah!  I truly consider it all an answer to prayer.  My white blood cell count was in the normal healthy range for once! Praise God. 

I’m scheduled to visit Dr. Raza in New York city every two months now.  After conducting an expensive genetic screen they’ve determined that I’m in a grouping that’s slightly less likely to end up with MDS – Leukemia!  (I DON'T have a certain genetic deformity which virtually ensures you'll end up with MDS.)  And that's awesome!  But again; it is still a very real possibility that what we are looking at now is the early stages of this thing called MDS.

I rest knowing that Jesus is the good shepherd and my life –which James reminds us is a “vapor” is truly in the HIS hands.  Every day is a gift from HIM, and I want to live it for his glory and his purposes.  We have joy in the midst of trial because of who God is.  We rejoice in the Hope of the Glory of God. 

Not only that (as Paul continues in Romans 5:3-5) but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  

Please pray for 1. Healing and Healthy blood!  2. Faith as we walk through the difficulty  3.  Wisdom. I want to know what the Lord has for me in all of this. 

How do I feel?  I feel perfectly normal.  I've never had any "symptoms."   I feel great.  There is literally nothing "physical" that seems noticeably compromised.  In fact, even though the White Blood Cell count is "low" the doctors have told me that my Immune System is technically healthy and fully functional.   

So what are we doing?  Praying.  Thanking Jesus for every day. Eating lots of Kale and all kinds of green stuff.   Trying to exercise more regularly and pretty much keepin on keepin on.   (Dr. Raza has given me a specific diet recommendation.)  

Read "Don't Waste Your Cancer" online here.  http://cdn.desiringgod.org/website_uploads/documents/books/dont-waste-your-cancer.pdf

Check out Dr. Raza on youtube here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndY6maI032M

Highlighted in the Huffington Post

   Last year, I wrote a post about our ministries work with Barry Segal and the the Community Faith Partners in Ithaca to end homelessness in Ithaca.  

We've continued to stay involved in a significant way throughout this year, providing an army of volunteers to work at the Second Wind Cottages.

I'll write more about that sometime soon, but I was encouraged to see this endeavor highlighted in the Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-horvath/could-a-tiny-house-moveme_b_4361724.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

Olympic Challenge

I posted this classic video clip back in 2010, but in light of the Olympics, I thought it would be a good one to re-post.  Francis Chan knows how to illustrate things in creative, compelling and challenging ways.  I love this guy!

Leadership, New Birth, and run-aways. (Seniors 2012)

I still remember meeting Nelson during our first fall semester at a kick-off event up on North Campus.

He was sporting a tasteful but truly ‘pimpn’ gold chain and a well matched outfit.  He came by our table and I got to connect with him just a little bit.  He was living in a “program House” here called the “LLC” or Latino Living Center and since I was planning to lead a  community group up there I invited him to check it out.

                                                                                                                                                         Throughout his freshman year Nelson was a pretty consistent part of our small  group and he plugged in to our ministry full on.  He got to know other freshman dudes like Owen. 

Owen is boisterous, fun and loud –traits we fully discovered the first time he showed up to one of our bonfires.  Taking hold of the 8 pound wood splitter, Owen lead the men passionately taking on the toughest logs and turning them into burnable sticks.

   

During the summer between his freshman and sophomore year here at Cornell, Owen was seriously considering transferring schools to attend a small Christian school down in Florida.  I personally thought that was a lame idea mostly because he was such 

a passionate leader and we had a lot of work to do here!   I was hoping and praying that he’d return to Cornell  (and thankfully so were his parents!)   I called him two weeks before classes started to ask him what his plan was.  Even at that point he was waffling back and forth and I was like “dude, classes are about to start!  You’ve gotta make a decision!”   Shortly after that, he told me he’d be back in the fall, and I made plans to co-lead a community group on West Campus with him.   I'm so glad he came back!  I can't imagine our movement here without him!

While at Cornell both Owen and Nelson were pre-med. 

  

They did well, but that path is definitely a challenge and carving out free time was always a chore.  I loved seeing Owen on the Big Break trips because he seemed so free from the day to day stresses of life on campus.  He’d absolutely come alive leading, revving everybody up and engaging the lost.  For my kids, Owen will always be a legend because it once took like 10 people to wrestle him into the ocean surf.   Throughout the afternoon he’d been mischievously  and methodically ushering his fellow students into the water against their will.   But to get him back required some extreme team work!

  

Although both Owen and Nelson grew up church, College was a time of significant growth in Christ.  And for Nelson, it really wasn’t until late in his junior year that he truly became born again. 

Throughout that year, Nelson had been wrestling with God about different things, all the while staying fairly plugged in. It was a season of struggling in many ways.   He and I didn’t meet up on a weekly basis, but we’d catch up whenever we could to talk about life and Jesus.

 

I remember well though the afternoon, we’d planned to meet up,  and then for some reason, I had to call him and cancel on him.  But, it was the Lord’s will for us to hang out and so a couple of hours later, while walking thru Sage hall, I saw Nelson studying.   He had some time free and so did I  so we grabbed some cokes and sat down. 

I asked him how things were going, and his answer completely blew me away!   

“I think I just became a Christian last night.”   

“Are you serious?”  I responded.  “Tell me what happened.” 

Nelson proceeded to tell me the incredible story of God meeting him in a transforming and personal way.  Sin had been working him over and yet he felt compelled to seek after God.  He ended up reading through the copy of “For Your Joy” that we often give away.   He read through the whole thing and he told me that “everything just made sense.”  The familiar content of the gospel came alive to him in a new and clear way.  The scriptural truths regarding life in Christ were becoming real to him in a way that they really hadn’t before.  He sensed he needed to respond somehow.  Grabbing a copy of our Knowing God Personally booklet sitting nearby, he read it through as well.  At the end, he felt the Holy Spirit prompting him to get off of his bed, kneel down and pray to Jesus.  He surrendered his life and put real faith in God. 

I had assumed that Nelson was a believer already.  In addition to professing belief in Jesus, he had demonstrated a commitment to the body of Christ, he had participated in mission and had exhibited zeal and fruitfulness.  And yet, he realized that in his heart, he had not yet fully come alive and submitted to Christ as Lord. 

And so, sitting in the Sage Hall snack bar I rejoiced with him and thanked God for mercifully pursuing and revealing himself. 

There was one other student who was constantly hanging out with Owen, Nelson and those guys throughout college.    Joey is a gifted, charismatic, incredibly social party animal who actually had an encounter with God during his freshman year.    When I first met him, he was trying to seek after God.  He was also studying engineering which I felt was a terrible fit in light of his personality and giftings.  I told him he should look into the hotel school which he did and shortly after that he became changed his major. 

That next summer, he plunged deeper into a life of partying and recklessness abandoning the call of God.  I don’t think there is a single other non-Christian student at Cornell who I have prayed for more than Joey.    Since the first day I met him, I have sensed that God has a plan for him and I’ve dreamed of how God could use him, if he would stop living for his own glory and recognize God’s.   And yet up to this point, the world’s idols have continued to captivate his heart.   For me, Joey serves serves as a tragic example –a literal poster child of what it looks like to waste Cornell.  He graduated.  And, he is set for worldly success in all kinds of ways.  But he is missing the thing that matters most. 

I continue to pray for Joey in hopes that some day he will experience the transformation of the Gospel.  

ADDED LATER
I found this old picture of the guys trying to get Owen into the water

Jack Critiques Alan Jackson

On our way out to Wildwood, NJ the other day (for our summer project) we were listening to the radio; Country music as usual.  The Alan Jackson song "Where I come From" came on and Stephanie and I were talking.  I like the song and I've heard it often, but I wasn't listening intently to it when my son Jack yelled from the back seat -"Is this song based on lies?"  


I wasn't too sure in the moment what he was talking about.   Thinking about verse two I said "Well, I think he's just talking about some good food bud."  
But then the Chorus came on again, I turned it up and I knew exactly what he was referring to.  Here's how it goes:


I said where I come from
It's cornbread and chicken
Where I come from a lotta front porch sittin'
Where I come from tryin' to make a livin'
And workin' hard to get to heaven
Where I come from


I asked leadingly "What was the lie that you heard in there bud?"  And Jack proceeded to expound the theological truth that we don't work hard to get to heaven.  Salvation is free -a gift from God because he loves us.  "God doesn't love you because you work hard" he said.  And then I asked my boys "So why does God love us?"  And Joe shouted with passion and authority "For no apparent reason."  


Amen my sons.  Sorry Alan Jackson -bad theology! 
We've been talking about Grace a lot in our home and how God saves us not because we are "good" or because we "earn it" or because we are "better than anybody else" or because we are religious, or because of anything that we do, but simply because of his loving kindness -which we totally don't deserve. 


Ephesians 2:8,9 ⁸ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast.


Titus 3:3-7 ³ At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life. 

Boston Day of Outreach

Two days ahead of time, I intentionally asked for a specific outreach assignment so that our group would have an experience that was well organized and hopefully unambiguous. During the Boston Winter Conference we spend one afternoon spreading out around the city partnering with local churches and ministries with one very simple goal: bless the city with the love of Christ. There is no bad assignment, but the reality is, some churches are more prepared and organized than others. Depending which neighborhood you end up in and which ministry or community organization you end up volunteering with the time can feel very productive or extremely haphazard and random. (God uses both of course!)

I was hoping to be able to hang out in the low income housing projects distributing commodities. I've done that before in Boston and even when you aren't handing out the boxes of food, it's a great place to hang out and meet people and talk about Jesus. We were given the green light, but at some point the deck was re-shuffled and Cornell was placed in another group. We were supposed to meet up with a local pastor, but something came up and at the last minute he informed us that he wouldn't be able to connect with us after all. So, essentially we had no assignment. Complete ambiguity; exactly what I had tried to avoid!
They told us to simply take some spiritual interest surveys down to a subway station sort of near the church and hang out and try to engage people in gospel conversations. We didn't feel like that was the best idea -mostly because people don't usually hang out too long in subway stations. They pass thru and they don't have much time to talk. Plus, it's usually cold there, people are standing around so there are many factors that inhibit too much serious impromptu dialog. We took some time to pray together before we headed out. I think we were all kind of bummed, but we decided to trust God and go for it. We had no idea what to expect, but we were just going to step out together in faith. Plain and simple. We told our group to keep their eyes open. If the Lord opened any doors or presented any opportunities for us before the we got to that T-station we didn't want to miss them.

Walking down the road a ways, we came upon Northeastern University. That was awesome! School wasn't in session but when we walked inside one of the admin buildings it was clear there were students on campus -mostly international students. Rather than head on to some random t-stop, most of us decided to take this as an answer to prayer and find the student union building and meet some people and talk about God. The union had a Taco Bell, but unfortunately it wasn't open. Can't have it all i guess, but the Wendy's was open and people were hanging out.

Our afternoon there was great! We initiated conversations using a couple of creative spiritual engagement tools. Soularium is a stack of postcard sized images of all kinds of different stuff. You lay out all the pictures and then ask people to pick different images in response to certain questions. For example, you would direct people to "choose 3 images that represent your life right now." They pick three images, and you can do it too. Then you talk about why you chose those pics and what's going on in your life right now. You continue to questions like "Which image would you choose to illustrate your spiritual journey." It can be pretty cool in the right place. Another tool is called Perspectives. It's a deck of cards and it functions in a similar way, but things are a little more concrete. I like the perspective cards because they really foster discussion.
Everyone got to have some great conversations with people and we all felt very encouraged!
Our friend and fellow staff member Oscar Avolos met some guys from another country and actually invited them to the conference! They came out the next night to hear an awesome message by Bret Ogburn. Bret is our friend, he was our campus director when we were in college, and he is responsible in many ways for our being up here in the northeast.

Our day of outreach was certainly redeemed and the Lord had lead us into a great situation. His plans are always good!

Challenge from Pastor Francis Chan

I came across this video the other day from Pastor and teacher Francis Chan. He's a great preacher, and his theatrics can be pretty unique! Chan pastors out in California. His message is usually both compelling and convicting!