Do You Ever Say...

Do you ever say to yourself, "What could happen next?” In the business we are in, the business of battling the enemy on his ground, we have to always be ready for what could happen next. That is true if you are serving like us as missionaries, but is also true for church workers, lay workers, and active believers of all types. When we take the battle to the devil's back yard, it will be just that, a battle, and there will be injuries. I say all this to set the stage for our latest prayer request. While I was in the operating room having my right kidney removed (see our earlier blog entries for more information on the cancer), Tammy took a walk out to the parking lot to get something out of the van. All it took was one bad foot placement as she stepped into the van and, BAM; she was down on the floor of the van with an inner edge tear of the medial meniscus (aka, a torn meniscus). So, about as soon as I have recovered from my surgery, Tammy will be going under the knife for her own surgery. Until then, she is hobbling around the house with a knee brace and a cane, but she is mobile. Please keep her in your prayers. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the Lord were to touch her and heal her without any need for surgery? That is exactly what we are believing for and praying for.

As for me, I am healing up nicely. I can put a few minutes at a time into sitting at my desk and reading emails, responding to a few. It does look like it will take the full three weeks to complete the recovery process, but I should be back at full strength when I do return to the ministry in mid-September. I sometimes have pain, frequently have significant discomfort, and still cannot sleep for more than two hours at a time. Keep praying for a quick and complete recovery, and a good night sleep.

Rebecca is doing great. Continue to pray for the Lord's protection over her. Also, the pain from Tammy's back injury is completely gone. The treatment she had last week worked perfectly. Praise the Lord!!!

My Cancer Has A Name

I went to visit Dr. Leveillee today. He is the surgeon who took out my right kidney. He is a very well respected surgeon and medical researcher out of the University of Miami. The purpose for seeing him was to allow him to check out my wounds for progress on healing and to review the pathology report. When he came in he asked me to stand up, to sit down, to stand up, and then he laughed. "It's amazing how much power I have over people after surgery." It was a funny moment, but I had to remind him that comedy made me laugh and laughing right now made me cry due to the wounds. At which point I began to laugh and oh, it hurt, but was still lots of fun. He is a very good doctor.

With the laughing over, we then sat down and reviewed the pathology report. Yes, it was cancer and my cancer has a name. It is called Chromophobe Renal Carcinoma. I just like to call it that big ugly thing that ate my kidney. According to the American Cancer Society, Chromophobe Renal Carcinoma is the third most common type of kidney cancer. It accounts for about 5% of all kidney cancer cases. The cells of Chromophobe Renal Carcinomas are pale, similar to clear cells, but are much larger and have certain other features that can be recognized by the experts. The report went on to state that the cancer is a stage 2 and a grade 2, both of which are assessed on a 0 to 4 scale.

So what is next? I've been asked to consider participating in a clinical trial of a preventative program for kidney cancer survivors. While reoccurrence is rare, especially for scores of 1 or 2, it does sometimes happen. The two companies that make drugs to address reoccurrence are testing those drugs as a preventative measure instead of as a treatment after reoccurrence. This is something I would love to do, but I don't want to have to take months off from our ministry work at Book of Hope Being a clinical trial, there is no assurance that the treatment I receive will be actual cancer treatment and not simply a dummy treatment as part of the double blind study. Please pray with me for wisdom to know God's will for me in this study. A decision about applying to be a part of the study will need to be made in the next week or two.

Pain Is Always Easier In Your Own Bed

I'm home! I was only gone for two and a half days, but it seemed like forever. Pain and recovery are always easier to deal with when you are home. Thank you for your prayers. Continue to remember us as you pray into the new week. Me, for a quick healing; and Tammy for healing from a twisted knee. She was actually in the ER when I was coming out of surgery. Life is never dull for the Brown family. Rebecca is all smiles and was chatting away yesterday when I got home. She went on for over a hour. I'm sure she was sharing about all the fun she had with our friend from Lakeland and her sister being here to help her. I wish I could understand this girl when she gets excited and starts her chatter.

Update On Our Prayer Needs

Here is the latest on our prayer needs:

1. Tammy continues to be in extreme pain due to the two herniated disks. She will be in the hospital in the morning (8/22/2007) to have a procedure done on her back that hopefully will bring relief from this pain. Pray that the procedure will be successful and that there will be no negative side effects.
2. The time for my kidney surgery on Thursday morning (8/23/2007) has shifted forward an hour to 8:00am. Pray that the doctor will be able to follow the laparoscopic approach, resulting in a quicker recovery time. Also pray that the surgery will successfully remove all the cancer and there will be no need for any additional treatments or surgery.
3. This is a new prayer request: Pray for wisdom for Tammy and I as we evaluate a new option for dealing with Rebecca's spastic reflexes. We have found a procedure that should give her complete relief but that will require surgically implanting a computer controlled medicine pump into her body.

And a praise report:

1. Rebecca went to the doctor and her latest x-ray shows that the pneumonia is completely gone. This is a significant answer to prayer. Praise the Lord!!!

Call to Prayer from The Brown Family

In place of our August 2007 newsletter, we have posted a call to action for prayer warriors around the world. The attacks from the enemy that started in March have continued and expanded to include Tammy and Rebecca. We need you to join us in prayer now. Click here to go immediately to this call to prayer. You can also find this and all our previous newsletters on our website at http://www.YourWorldMissionaries.org/.
Please forward these prayer needs to anyone you know who will petition the Lord on our behalf.
In Christ,
Wayne

Shiny Objects

Tammy has been attending a minister's training program at Winston Park Church of nearly a year. This is a classroom based study program that leverages curriculum developed by Global University for their correspondence education program at Berean School of the Bible. Tammy started this program in September 2006 and completed it in July 2007. Her graduation service was yesterday. In spite of a slow start, she graduated at the top of her class with the highest overall GPA. As the top graduate in her class, she was asked to make a speech to the congregation of the church. Here is the text of her speech.

Have you ever had a deadline at work or at school and even though it was approaching fast, you could suddenly find so many other things of no importance to do instead?

Some people call them distractions or diversions. I call them shiny objects. Do you know that the phrase shiny objects cannot be found in the Bible? At least that is what I thought, but an example of it is found in Matthew 16:23, when Jesus said, “Get behind me Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Satan is the biggest shiny object; he does not want us to succeed in what God has called us to do.

Because of shiny objects, I almost failed to finish the school year. You see, it took me failing the first three tests to recognize a shiny object. For me the shiny objects were things like taking a nap after only studying for ten minutes, or cleaning a closet after reading the first essay question. Therefore, to help me recognize shiny objects I started to state out loud the phrase “Shiny Object.” My husband, Wayne, even starting helping me do this. Whenever he saw me feeding the ducks in our back yard or watching TV when my books would be sitting on the study desk, opened, but not being used, he would cry out “Shiny Object.”

One of the biggest shiny objects for me was when I started to think that I could not do this program and wanted to give up. The shiny objects of “I don’t really need this program. It’s not as if I’m ever going to pastor a church one day. I’m already where God wants me. I’m a missionary.” Or, the shiny object of “I’m too old to be in school now, why should I be bothered at my age with test and essays?”

However, when I learned to call out the distraction I was able to study better and pass all the other tests. I was even able to retake the three tests I had failed and pass them as well. Yes, the shiny objects were still there, but I did not let them
stop me from the task.

What about you? Are there any shiny objects in your life that stop you from doing what God has called you to do? If so, just state out loud “Shiny Object” and get started, do not let anything be a stumbling block.