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Our first newsletter for 2008 is now available online. Click here to go immediately to this newsletter. You can also find this and all our previous newsletters on our website at http://YourWorldMissionaries.org/.
You can also access our first video update on our YouTube site at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egTj-BWjww0.
Have you ever been tired? I don't mean that end of the day, following lots of mental or physical work, where you are ready to curl up on the couch and take a nap kind of tired. I mean where you are so tired that you can't focus on doing the things you love. Things like reading, watching a favorite TV show with your daughter, taking a walk around the block with your wife. And then having to deal with that kind of tiredness day in and day out. That is my definition of fatigue. And that is the most significant side effect of my chemotherapy.
There are lots of side effects from the chemo. Many of them of a nature that I will not share in a blog. But the one that is having the greatest impact on my life is fatigue. I can't really tell you when it first hit. It just seems to have crept into my life and taken root. There are nights when I can sleep for ten or twelve hours, wake up and start my daily routine, and within a few hours be sitting in a chair or on the sofa with no energy or drive to do anything.
I've been blessed in that God has allowed me to stay focused through the workday at Book of Hope. However, where I used to spend two hours or more each evening reading or studying, now I can hardly focus on that task for 15 minutes. And on most evenings, staying up past 9:00 is a real challenge. It is kind of sad in that I'm in bed well before my teenage daughter.
I'm sharing this so that you can join with me in prayer for release from fatigue. Pray for energy to work a ten-hour day and still be a participant with my family in the evening. Pray that I will have the focus to continue my studies. Those studies are critical if I ever what to reach ordained minister status with the Assemblies. And pray that fatigue does not disrupt my international travels and the tasks that I perform as I travel around the world. My next trip will be to India from March 28 through April 14. Pray for the strength and stamina to be effective day and night during these weeks.
Yes, I know it's been some time since I posted an update on ministry or health issues. Sorry about that. This post is to let you know that I'm doing well. I am nearing the end of my third cycle of oral chemotherapy and will start the fourth cycle on Thursday. There is a pattern that is starting to develop. There are two different pills that I take during my six-week chemo cycle. One involves four pills each morning for four weeks. The other is two pills in the morning and two in the evening for six weeks. Based on my first three cycles, things start out easy, build up to mild complications in the later part of the second week, then get harder by the end of the third week and continuing that way until the end of the fifth week. From that point to the end of the cycle things get much easier.
Okay, you say, so what does it mean to be easy, mild, or hard. Well, there has really been no consistency with those definitions. The first cycle was devastating to me. There were times during the hard days that I could hardly move and I was so tired that I didn't even want to get out of bed. However, since then, God has bless me. The hard periods of cycle two and three were both better than the mild period of cycle one. My nurse tells me that it is normal for patients to develop resistance to the toxicity that causes the side effects. However, it is also normal for side effects that seemed to be behind a patient to suddenly flare up in a future cycle.
My prayers for this period of my life remain consistent. I am asking the Lord to give me the courage to walk down this path He is taking me down and to help me to have the strength to overcome any physical issues that may arise. I've also been praying for my hair, but it does not appear that my hair is on the top of God's issues list for me. But that's for another posting.
Thank you for praying with me and my family. We feel your prayers and I know that God is listening. I am getting stronger with each cycle of chemo and I fully believe it is the hand of the Lord that is making that happen.
One more note: I'm losing weight like crazy. I don't recommend cancer or chemo as a traditional weight loss plan. However, it feels good to be 30 pounds lighter than I was before the ruptured appendix that started all this one year ago.
I've added new pictures from my travels in Southeast Asia, including: Thailand, Cambodia, Philippines, and Indonesia to our site on Flickr. You can find them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourworldmissionaries. Enjoy and feel free to leave comments.
I've added some new pictures from my travels in Thailand to our site on Flickr. You can find them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourworldmissionaries. Enjoy and feel free to leave comments.
Wow, it is hard to believe that January is almost over. This has been an incredibly exciting month. I have been traveling throughout southeast Asia for most of the month. Those travels have taken me to Thailand, Cambodia, and the Philippines. Tomorrow morning I leave for a few days in Indonesia before starting the long trek home. Lord willing, I will be back home with Tammy and Rebecca on Saturday evening. Be in prayer about that as one of my international connections only allows for an 80 minute layover in Korea. It sometimes take longer than that to get through the security checkpoint at the transfer desk.
I have been amazed by the courage and commitment of our ministry partners in each country we have visited. With one exception, all of these partners are nationals who work with little or no pay to reach children and youth in their communities with the gospel. Why would they work so hard for so little? They measure their compensation differently than most in the USA. They see their compensation in more eternal terms and not just in how much money they will have at the end of the month. These men and women are truly living a life of service and sacrifice in order to take the good news to a people who are not always receptive or understanding.
The southeast Asian region is culturally, economically, and religiously diverse. There are areas that are heavily Buddhist, Christian, and Muslim. In some places, two or three of these groups peacefully coexist. However, in other areas there is extreme hostility toward anyone bringing a Christian message. Nevertheless, the young men and women who make up our national distribution teams work tirelessly to take the gospel to every child and every young person in their area. Please pray for their safety and for provision of every need as they continue to minister.
Most striking for me was the cry of pastors and lay ministry leaders in one area we visited. They are desperate for laborers. The pastors have vision, but lack the resources to see those visions become reality. The political and religious situation is open in a way that it has never been open before, yet there are few workers ready to respond to go through these open doors. This is truly a modern and living example of the harvest fields being white for the harvest but the laborers being few. This openness may last for many years. However, it is just as likely that it will close at any time. Pray with us for the Lord of the Harvest to call out laborers. And pray that those who are called with not delay one minute in responding to that call.
While I am excited to be coming home at the end of the week, I am going to miss this area of the world. There are many places in this world where the people have touched my heart. However, few of them have touched me in the same way as those here in southeast Asia. I haven't even left yet and already my heart longs to return.
Pastor Rodel, the worship leader at International Charismatic Service in Metro Manila sings a solo in Tagalog that encourages everyone to worship, without regard to their singing quality. Today was the 32nd anniversary for ICS.
Our final newsletter for 2007 is now available online. Click here to go immediately to this newsletter. You can also find this and all our previous newsletters on our website at http://YourWorldMissionaries.org/.
Thank you for your prayer support in 2007. Please continue to pray for good health for us all, for financial provision, and for effectiveness in our ministry.
Lots of things in my life have changed since I was diagnosed with cancer. First, I had to cut back or shuffle around my 2007 travel plans with Book of Hope. Then there was the truly restricting concept of surgical recovery that left me home bound for three weeks following each surgery. That is no easy task for a type-A never been sick worker such as myself. But one area of impact is something I had not expected. My prayers have changed.
No, it's not that I didn't expect aspects of my prayer life to change. The fact is, when you hear the word cancer mentioned by any doctor and the fear and uncertainty that comes with that word starts to overwhelm you, your prayer life will change. I've met those who never really had a prayer life for whom their diagnosis of cancer was the catalyst to start praying. I know others who have been mighty prayer warriors who nevertheless saw a dramatic change in how they prayed when the word cancer hung over them like a dark cloud. That happens and I expected those changes.
No, the change I'm alluding to is different. It is the the simple change in the simplest prayer that nearly all believers will pray. It is the new conclusion to my mealtime prayer. I've been driven by necessity to add an appendix to my prayer. "And Lord, please don't let this meal make me sick." Each time I sit down at the table, the question of impact runs through my mind. My question is not will this meal be good, but is more like will this meal be good to me? Will I be able to go through the day and night without getting sick off of what I'm about to eat? This is my current challenge. And this is my current prayer need; Lord, please don't let this meal make me sick.
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