Those who make peace

As I have written before, I'm doing lots of reading these days in things related to prayer and meditation. Those disciplines, not unrelated, are what God has given us all to enable us to experience the, "peace that passes all understanding."

We all know that we live in a society that mitigates against peace. Turn on the radio or television talk shows and you will be instantly in a combat zone. Indeed, even the afternoon shows designed especially for women have become more and more contentious. That kind of attitude and approach to people isn't lost on any of us. Insidiously, we find ourselves driven to act like what we see. Though we say we aren't descended from monkeys, we behave as if we are: monkey see, monkey do.

James makes a most profound statement when he says, "Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." (James 3.18) This is in line with what Paul says repeatedly in his epistles, like he says to the church at Colossae: "And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." (Col. 3.16)

The only way this will ever happen is when we truly have lives that issue forth from the Spirit as opposed to the flesh. The flesh will always be at war. Approaching others from the flesh, we will find ourselves overlaying on others our own fears, feelings, struggles and hang-ups, feeling quite self-righteous about attacking in others that which we despise in ourselves. How much better to do it God's way, to let his peace rule in our hearts AND our relationships, to produce the fruit of righteousness God's way, by making peace. Interesting that in his very first sermon Jesus said, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God."
(Mt. 5.9)

The more we live in the pocket of God's peace, the less stress we experience in our lives. The less stress we experience, the healthier we will be. Amazing what happens when we live life God's way!

Blessings,

Bill

Back in the saddle

It's been way too long since I've put something on here. While I have been home for about 4 weeks now, it's taken a bit of time to settle into a groove that has a sense of normalcy to it. I hope to be able to write regularly now

A little over a week ago, one of the fellows at church gave me a copy of a new book that is out:
"Anticancer," by David Servan-Schreiber. I began to read it when I got home, and was absolutely blown away by the insights of the author. As a young PhD/MD (neuroscience/psychiatry), Servan-Schreiber found himself with a brain tumor which he had to have removed, and followed that with chemo. Six years later he had a recurrence, and followed the same protocol. That led him to ask himself why he got cancer in the first place, and what he could do to make certain it didn't return. His formidable research is the heart of this book. The end-notes themselves are worth the price of the book, but much more, the application is unbelievably helpful. If you read this book and don't find yourself changing some basic habits, I will be surprised.

As for me, I'm doing whatever I can to enable my treatment to be fully effective. At the same time, I want to do my best to help others ward off the same kind of issue. I don't want to sound like a broken record on eating right/exercising/destressing your life/and prayer, but that's pretty much the way life needs to happen. Personally, I am looking more deeply into the prayer piece at the moment. The quantifiable physical effects that result from meditation/prayer are amazing. It's no wonder Jesus spent so many nights in prayer!

Last night, Betty and I enjoyed dinner with some friends we got to know while at a Florida Proton. Steve and Nycke were on their way to Seattle for a little vacation, and decided to fly into Portland so we could get together. They are becoming quite involved in the development of the new proton center that will be opening next year in their town, Oklahoma City. They will be a tremendous blessing to the folks at that center, with Steve knowing how they work from the perspective of the patient.

God is good all the time, all the time God is good!

Be blessed, my friends,

Bill

Settling back in

It's been a little over a week since our return. The last several days in Jacksonville were a flurry of activity. During that last week, we had to do a variety of medical things like getting records copied and sent, etc., as well as avoid Tropical Storm Fay. When we finally boarded the plane for home on Tuesday afternoon, we found the Atlanta airport was closed due to a huge FAA glitch. Finally all that worked itself out, but instead of getting home about 9:30, it was somewhat after midnight.

It was great to see everybody including Shadow! We simply could not believe how wonderfully everybody had worked to keep everything sp beautiful. To all those who came to our house and weeded, one more time, thank you!! And what can we say about the work Jeff and Lisa did. Amazing!

It was fantastic to be back in church at least for a few minutes on Wednesday night, then on Sunday morning. I am still dealing with a bit of fatigue and some minor side affects of the treatment, but those should go away over the next several weeks. Now what is important is settling in to getting healthy again!

I have decided to continue the blog for a bit because so many people have expressed interest in it. We'll just go with the flow and see where the Lord takes this. At least for a season, it will focus on health issues, because that is front and center. But you can rest assured we will be talking about the things God is teaching us on this journey as well.

One more time - it's great to be home!

Blessings,

Bill