Yesterday was a fantastic day for a variety of reasons. The biggest reason is that I got my 3-month PSA results and it was down almost 2 points, dropping like a rock! That is an incredible reality because it shows the cancer cells are in fact dead and/or dying, that things are progressing exactly like they are supposed to with proton therapy. Praise God, and thank you so much for your prayers!
It's been an interesting journey to speak with so many who have either battled cancer themselves,or are struggling with it right now. In the case of those who have been "fighting the fight," they understand the approach/avoidance feelings you have as you approach the various benchmarks of testing. You're hopeful to see very positive results of your therapy, yet anxious that something might not be going right. Just knowing others have experienced exactly the same thing somehow makes it easier.
Betty and I pray daily for all those we know who are dealing not only with cancer, but with all sorts of other physical challenges as well. Our prayer is that they will be completely healed, and will experience the comfort, strength, and assurance of the Lord in the process.
The good news we received Monday is going to make an especially great Thanksgiving around our house. On behalf of Betty and me, we pray that yours will be warm and wonderful!
Blessings,
Bill
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Take a deep breath...
There is something very settling and peaceful about walking through a fall garden. I took a picture this afternoon of a "Golden Raindrops" Crab Apple tree in our yard. The little "golden raindrops," like miniature apples, stay through the Fall into the winter, providing beautiful and nutritious food for any enterprising bird.
It's a good thing to find something peaceful in a world that is in such disarray. Given the turmoil on every front, our new president certainly has his work cut out for him, and can use all the prayer he can get!
As I was thinking about our country, and the lack of inner peace and unrest felt by so many, I was reminded of a very wonderful truth about the Bible:
What is the shortest chapter in the Bible? Psalm 117.
What is the longest chapter in the Bible? Psalm 119.
What is the center chapter in the Bible? Psalm 118.
There are 594 chapters before Psalm 118, and 594 chapters after it.
Add those two together and you get 1188.
What is the central verse in the Bible? Psalm 118.8:
"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man."
Coincidence? I think not! Regardless of how we might think or feel, God is still on the throne, and has everything in control. All we need do is rest in him!
Blessings,
Bill
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Everything is beautiful in its own way...
Some of you are old enough to remember Ray Stevens singing the song, "Everything is beautiful in its own way." In fact I can hear his voice singing those words in my head as I type!
It's true, you know. I especially think that when I see the absolutely beautiful fall color. I took the pictures you see here a couple of days ago in our yard. There were so many intense, saturated colors, it was difficult to stop taking shots. It seems as though every angle gave me an even better view.
Why is it that each season, for one reason or another, is "the best"? If you're like me, you find wonderful things about Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. They all have highlights. So is it with life. It doesn't make any difference if you're young or old, in the sunrise or sunset of your life, God has wonderful things for you if you will simply stop and enjoy them. Like we read in Ecclesiastes, "To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under the sun."
Why do we miss the beauty of a season, or the good things God has for us where we are right now? Usually it's because we're consumed by the wrong thing. We allow ourselves to be held hostage by a past that is long gone, or become anxious about a future that is at best a fantasy, and in the process miss the moment we have with God right now. Could that be why God tells us in so many different ways, "Be still and know that I am God"?
There's something strong to be said about slowing down, centering down on what God is doing right now, and enjoying what he has for us. "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!"
May the Lord give you eyes to see the beauty of the season, whether it be in your yard or your life.
Blessings,
Bill
Friday, October 10, 2008
A quiet place...
These are troubled times. It seems like we have reasons to be anxious on all sides, be it political, economic, or social. That is one of many reasons why now is the best time of all to draw deeply on the resources of the Christian faith.
As I have been saying, my journey these days has been taking me deeper into prayer and meditation, truly quiet places where you can experience peace and stability, even when the world is shaking. Recently I have been reading a wonderful book taken from talks given by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the 1930's. Ultimately Bonhoeffer led the confessing church in Germany which stood against Hitler and the killing of the Jews, losing his life fighting that fight. For Bonhoeffer, prayer and meditation were at the core of his life. May these words be helpful for you, too, taken from his book, "Meditating on the Word."
"Each morning is a new beginning of our life. Each day is a finished whole. The present day marks the boundary of our care and concerns. It is long enough to find God or to lose him, to keep faith or fall into disgrace. God created day and night for us so we need not wander without boundaries, but may be able to see every morning the goal of the evening ahead. Just as the ancient sun rises anew every day, so the eternal mercy of God is new every morning. Every morning God gives us the gift of comprehending anew his faithfulness of old; thus, in the midst of our life with God, we may daily begin a new life with him.
In Holy Scripture, morning is a time full of wonder. It is the time of God's help for his church, the time of joy after a night of weeping, the time of the proclamation of the diving Word, the daily distribution of the sacred manna. Before daybreak Jesus went away to pray, in the early hours the women go to the tomb, and the disciples find the risen Jesus on the shore of the Lake of Tiberius. The people of faith wake early because of their expectations of God's marvelous acts. Sleep no longer holds them. They rush to greet the early grace of God.
When we awake, we drive away the dark shapes and confused dreams of the night as we speak the morning blessing and commend ourselves for the this day to the triune God. The evil moods, uncontrollable emotions, and desires that we cannot get rid of during the day are often enough simply ghosts of the night that were not driven off in the morning and now want to spoil the day for us. The first moments of the new day are not the time for our own plans and worries, not even for our zeal to accomplish our own work, but for God's liberating grace, God's sanctifying presence. To anyone who is wakened early by care, Scripture says: 'It is vain that you rise so early and go to bed so late; vain, too, to eat the bread of toil.' (Ps. 127.3) it is not my anxiety about the coming day, not the burden of my work that I have before me, but it is the Lord who wakes me every morning; 'he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.' (Is. 50.4) Before the heart unlocks itself for the world, God wants to open it for himself; before the ear takes in the countless voices of the day, it should hear in the early hours the voice of the Creator and Redeemer. God prepared the stillness of the first morning for himself. It should remain his."
Blessings,
Bill
As I have been saying, my journey these days has been taking me deeper into prayer and meditation, truly quiet places where you can experience peace and stability, even when the world is shaking. Recently I have been reading a wonderful book taken from talks given by Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the 1930's. Ultimately Bonhoeffer led the confessing church in Germany which stood against Hitler and the killing of the Jews, losing his life fighting that fight. For Bonhoeffer, prayer and meditation were at the core of his life. May these words be helpful for you, too, taken from his book, "Meditating on the Word."
"Each morning is a new beginning of our life. Each day is a finished whole. The present day marks the boundary of our care and concerns. It is long enough to find God or to lose him, to keep faith or fall into disgrace. God created day and night for us so we need not wander without boundaries, but may be able to see every morning the goal of the evening ahead. Just as the ancient sun rises anew every day, so the eternal mercy of God is new every morning. Every morning God gives us the gift of comprehending anew his faithfulness of old; thus, in the midst of our life with God, we may daily begin a new life with him.
In Holy Scripture, morning is a time full of wonder. It is the time of God's help for his church, the time of joy after a night of weeping, the time of the proclamation of the diving Word, the daily distribution of the sacred manna. Before daybreak Jesus went away to pray, in the early hours the women go to the tomb, and the disciples find the risen Jesus on the shore of the Lake of Tiberius. The people of faith wake early because of their expectations of God's marvelous acts. Sleep no longer holds them. They rush to greet the early grace of God.
When we awake, we drive away the dark shapes and confused dreams of the night as we speak the morning blessing and commend ourselves for the this day to the triune God. The evil moods, uncontrollable emotions, and desires that we cannot get rid of during the day are often enough simply ghosts of the night that were not driven off in the morning and now want to spoil the day for us. The first moments of the new day are not the time for our own plans and worries, not even for our zeal to accomplish our own work, but for God's liberating grace, God's sanctifying presence. To anyone who is wakened early by care, Scripture says: 'It is vain that you rise so early and go to bed so late; vain, too, to eat the bread of toil.' (Ps. 127.3) it is not my anxiety about the coming day, not the burden of my work that I have before me, but it is the Lord who wakes me every morning; 'he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.' (Is. 50.4) Before the heart unlocks itself for the world, God wants to open it for himself; before the ear takes in the countless voices of the day, it should hear in the early hours the voice of the Creator and Redeemer. God prepared the stillness of the first morning for himself. It should remain his."
Blessings,
Bill
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
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
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
Friday, September 26, 2008
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
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
Thursday, September 4, 2008
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
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)