Better Than Great!

This Indian church has fasted and prayed for me.

Friday, we heard the word “great” describing my two-year post stem cell transplant test results. That was good. However, today, I met with Dr. Keaton, my local oncologist, and after all the tests, the good folks at Emory could find nothing (keyword) that indicated the presence of Multiple Myeloma. Now, this cancer can hide, and so my maintenance chemotherapy will continue, but this is really great news.

For the first time, we can use the word, “remission.”

Before, I had a VGPR — a very good partial response.
Now, I have a CR — complete response.
Why? The doctors, drugs, nurses, and others all deserve credit, but the greatest thanks goes to God and to all of you pray-ers who continually bring my case before Him. Please keep it up! Your prayers are still the chief ingredient in my treatment.

Praise the Lord.
Tom

Avoidance Maneuver

Jonah 1:3

Jonah chose to run away from his assignment. His only effective avoidance maneuver was to get away “from the presence of the Lord.” This phrase is used twice in this one little verse. Jonah knew what he was doing. It was cold-blooded disobedience to God.

There is a presence-removing nature to disobedience. Isaiah said it. Our sins separate us from our God. (Isaiah 59:2) For most of us, God is not calling us to go to a cruel, sadistic, blood-thirsty group of people. But He has commanded us to go... to someone.

You don’t have to go to Ninevite-like people to experience God’s presence (unless that is where He told you to go). You do have to be where He wants you to be, doing what you are supposed to be doing.

There have been lots of “God moments” in my life—times when God showed up in a way that can only be understood in spiritual terms. Most of them have been on this side of the pond. Yet, some of the most vivid are times I have experienced overseas.

How many of us have ever really asked God where He would want us to go, or to give Him the freedom to place us and our families in another part of the world for His glory.

Note that Jonah’s call was not to move and stay in Nineveh. His was a short-term mission trip.

What About The Ninevites?

Jonah 1:1-3

My pastor is kicking off a series from the book of Jonah this week, so I have been reading ahead. (Similarities in what I write here and what he says would be a God-thing, since I am writing this before I hear his message.)

The first few verses of the book, and thus the story, imply the question, “What will happen to the Ninevites?” Think about that with me.

Nineveh was a great city, located in what is modern day Iraq, about 220 miles north of Baghdad. In Jonah’s day, it was a great city, the capitol of Assyria. Now, the Assyrians had earned a terrible reputation. They were arrogant, prideful, sinful and brutal. They didn’t just conquer. They slaughtered. An Assyrian, who was king before Jonah’s time spoke about his cruelty.

“Many of the captives I burned in a fire. Many of them I took alive. From some I cut off their hands from the wrist. From others, I cut off the noses, ears, and fingers. I put out the eyes of many of the soldiers. I burnt their young men and women to death.”*

Israel would later experience the barbarism of Tiglath-pileser (745-727 B.C.) and Shalmaneser V (727-722 B.C.), but the reputation of the Assyrians preceded them. They were disdained of in Israel. Probably most Israelites thought it a good idea for God to simply annihilate the Assyrians. God had another plan.

To get an idea of Jonah’s mindset, what if God called you to go give a similar message to the Taliban?
    Al-Qaeda?
        The leaders of Iran?
How about somewhere in the mountains of Peru?
    A remote area in South Asia?
        A struggling Eastern European country?
It would be scary, but to follow God’s call is to remain in God’s presence. God is so compassionate toward those outside the faith, even those opposed to Him, that he sends people to tell them the truth.

Most of the two billion who have never heard are not as mean and nasty as the Ninevites. They simply have never heard. Who will tell them?



*From a sermon by David Platt, Senior Pastor of the Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, AL., entitled “Fish Food and the Fourth of July.”

Seven Billion... And Counting

This morning, October 31, 2011, I heard the news that the United Nations believes that today is the day that our world crossed over the 7 Billion mark in population. In fact, a newborn in the Philippines was celebrated with gifts as that little one that pushed us over. How many is a billion? If you started counting, “1, 2. 3, 4…” and counted one per second, it would take you 37 years to count to a billion. That is a lot of folks.

This reminds me again that about half of the world’s people have little to no access to the good news of Jesus Christ. About one-forth are on course to never hear the name of Jesus through the course of their life.

Christ-followers everywhere need to ponder these facts. Jesus told us to go and make disciples of all peoples. (Matthew 28:19-20) Paul reminds us that faith comes by hearing  the word of God, and no one hears unless proclaimers are sent. (Romans 10:13-17)

What does that mean for Christ followers? I could suggest some things for you, but the best thing for any believer to do is to ask God what He wants you to do, then do it.

Special Days

A brief time off from Mission Project planning at Cumberland Falls State Park, KY,  It is the only place in the world, I am told, where, when the full moon is just right, you can see a "Moonbow." We have a team going from our fellowship in July to serve with Cornerstone Community Church.

It has been quite a while since my last post. Yes, I know, once every three months is really not very “I-have-a-blog” like. I will try to do better. Since my last post, there have been several special days.

In the days just before my first “Stem Cell Birthday,” March 19, I celebrated with numerous tests including the ever popular bone marrow aspiration. I’ll spare you the details, but I will say that an adequate amount of anesthesia makes it far more tolerable. A couple of weeks later I somewhat anxiously returned for the report and got a great one. Anxiety relieved. Things were good. I was able to reduce some of my medication. I could travel beyond our borders again! According to the doctors, I am neither cured nor in remission, but I do feel good. I greatly appreciate my team of physicians, PAs, NPs, RNs, and Technicians, but I credit your prayers more than anything.

A couple of other days of note, at least for me, are birthday number sixty-one in May, and the completion of my thirty-third year at the fellowship I serve. Birthdays are more significant now. Serving in one place for this long is amazing; and possible I think only because of God’s grace the grace of those whom I serve.

Most days I am positive, planning into the future and staying busy. Some days, though,  I have a deep sense of foreboding. I know there is  something—nearly imperceptible—lurking in my body that would kill me. These are reality-check days. I hope these times help me to “number my days that I may have a heart of wisdom.” (See Psalm 90:12) There are days when I echo Paul’s question in Romans 7, “Who will separate me from this body of death?” Now, Paul’s context was spiritual, whereas mine is physical.  But the Answer is the same, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” He is my hope.

Keep praying. Thanks.