I get this question a great deal. It’s a great question because the answer reveals a great deal of how I view God. In fact when you answer this question about any major issue in your life, you are revealing your view of scripture and your heavenly father. To get to my answer of this question, I have to step back and look at the bigger picture.
Now I don’t know when Jesus is coming back, but I do know that as of today, we are one day closer. When it comes to life after death, the Bible is very clear that there is an exclusive alternative. Either you go to heaven or you go to hell. It is one or the other. There are no other alternatives.
Once a person accepts Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior, the choice is made. They are bound for heaven.
According to the Bible there is a major event to take place in heaven.
“Praise the Lord! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and let us give honor to him. For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wear. For the fine linen represents the good deeds of God’s holy people.” (Rev. 19:6b-8)
This future event seems to be a “what it is all about” event. It’s called the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. It will be the eternal union of Jesus Christ and his Church, his bride. What that means is you and I, along with all believers, will become the eternal companion of the Lord Jesus Christ. We will have a queenly role serving alongside of Jesus. WOW!!! What an incredible privilege awaiting us.
With that in mind, for me the bottom line is this – God is preparing you and me for eternity. If you want to know the purpose of something, then look to the desired end result. God’s ultimate purpose for us is to be Christ-like. God’s ultimate purpose is for us to become the eternal companion of his son. God’s ultimate purpose for us is to be joint-heirs with his son.
If this is true, then this life is on-the-job training. God is using this life to prepare us for our eternal role.
This is why I am interpreting my current health issues as simply on-the-job training. God is teaching me. God is growing me.
Late last fall, I took a two-week break for the purpose of spiritual reflection. The first week I was alone at the beach. Mary joined me for the second week in the mountains. When I returned from the two weeks, I shared with the staff that God spoke two words to me. Prayer and Faith. God told me to focus on these two things. It was not what I was expecting. I was expecting God to reveal some crucial items concerning Gateway. I thought I would return with a clarified vision. That did not happen. God simply said, increase your prayer and increase your faith.
At the time I thought he was talking about Gateway. In a way he was, but he was speaking more to me personally.
This past spring, I did a forty-day fast. Again, I thought God lead me into the fast in terms of Gateway, but it seemed it was more about my personal walk with him.
When news came about the prostate cancer and then later the skin cancer, it all came together. God was preparing me for this period of my life. He was preparing me for the journey.
Because I interpret everything in my life in terms of eternity, I am confident that God has allowed the cancer in my body to teach me more about Jesus… to shape and mold me more into the image of Jesus. He is preparing me for my eternal role as a bride of Christ.
Are you going through a tough time right now? How would it change your attitude if you interpreted the tough things in your life in light of your eternal destination? We are destined for a throne, a queenly throne. We are destined to be the eternal companion of our precious Lord Jesus Christ.
For the time has come for the wedding feast of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. (Rev. 19:7)
What are you doing to prepare yourself?
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
For Men Only
I recently read an article by John Piper entitled Why I Don’t Have a Television and Rarely Go to Movies. After reading the article… well, I think I am going to take a break from television for a period of time. Here is an excerpt of the article:
“I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.
If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners.
There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.
I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity... that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.
I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).
Brothers, that is serious. Really serious. Jesus is violent about this. What we do with our eyes can damn us. One reason is that it is virtually impossible to transition from being entertained by nudity to an act of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” But this means the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.
All Christ-exalting transformation comes from “beholding the glory of Christ.” “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Whatever dulls the eyes of our mind from seeing Christ powerfully and purely is destroying us. There is not one man in a thousand whose spiritual eyes are more readily moved by the beauty of Christ because he has just seen a bare breast with his buddies.
But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.
One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.
TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it. I am jealous for my evenings. There are so many things in life I want to accomplish. I simply could not do what I do if I watched television. So we have never had a TV in 40 years of marriage (except in Germany, to help learn the language). I don’t regret it. “
--John Piper
“I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.
If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners.
There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.
I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity... that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.
I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).
Brothers, that is serious. Really serious. Jesus is violent about this. What we do with our eyes can damn us. One reason is that it is virtually impossible to transition from being entertained by nudity to an act of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” But this means the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.
All Christ-exalting transformation comes from “beholding the glory of Christ.” “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Whatever dulls the eyes of our mind from seeing Christ powerfully and purely is destroying us. There is not one man in a thousand whose spiritual eyes are more readily moved by the beauty of Christ because he has just seen a bare breast with his buddies.
But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.
One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.
TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it. I am jealous for my evenings. There are so many things in life I want to accomplish. I simply could not do what I do if I watched television. So we have never had a TV in 40 years of marriage (except in Germany, to help learn the language). I don’t regret it. “
--John Piper
Friday, June 18, 2010
Last Thursday was a busy day...
I spent the morning at my physician’s office going through a slew of tests in preparation for my surgery. I got a green light on every item. The results are being sent to Dr. Patel’s office in Orlando.
I left Dr. Fravel’s office to head to the airport for my flight to Texas to go to Corpus Christi to perform a wedding for a dear friend.
On the flight to Texas, I sat next to a Marine Lieutenant General (3 stars). We talked non-stop for the 2 ½ hour flight. It was fascinating. He invited me up to DC as his special guest for a VIP event at the Marines Barracks. I’m going to make it happen!
Now for a whole new twist in my life.
While waiting at the airport, my daughter Katie sent me a text with a passage of scripture. She said, “I thought of you when I came across this verse today.”
Joshua 1:9 in The Message Bible: “Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.”
Katie’s text came at 3:21 PM.
Fifteen minutes later at 3:36 PM, I was on the phone with Dr. Clemenz’s office, my dermatologist. Over the past several weeks I had developed a sore on my nose. I thought it was no big deal until it started bleeding. I knew I needed to see Dr. Clemenz. With Mary’s skin cancer issues from the past, we both faithfully go to Dr. Clemenz every six months to have our skin checked. Usually she can catch cells when they are very pre-mature and simply freeze them off. This one was different. In my spirit, I knew it wasn’t going to be good. She took a biopsy of my nose: you may have noticed the bandage this past Sunday.
Now back to the phone call. At 3:36 PM I was informed that the biopsy had come back positive for cancer. As I understand it, there are three basic types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma; squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma. I have the second level – squamous cell carcinoma. It is cancer, but it is treatable.
Katie was totally unaware of the nose biopsy. She was simply being faithful to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to encourage her Dad.
Later this month I will have surgery on my nose to remove the cancer cells. The procedure I will have by Dr. Chow is called Mohs Micrographic Surgery. Basically, Dr. Chow will give me a shot in the nose and remove a layer of skin. I will wait while he exams the skin tissue. If there are cancer cells on the edges of the removed tissue, he will give me another shot in the nose and remove more tissue. He will continue this process until he has “clean margins.” The Mohs surgery is the most exact and precise method of skin cancer removal. It minimizes the chance of re-growth and lessens the potential for scarring or disfigurement… which is very important to me since I have such a pretty nose.
Dr. Chow is trained in surgery, pathology, and reconstruction. The best option would be that the cancer is completely removed in the first step. If multiple steps have to be taken, as happened to Mary about 10 years ago, then I will go to a plastic surgeon. He will remove skin tissue from my neck and graft it onto my nose.
All of this will happen prior to my trip to Orlando for my prostate surgery.
I have to say… for someone who has never had a surgical procedure other than my wisdom teeth being removed and has never been sick with anything more than a bad cold… I am making up for it in 2010.
In my quiet time this week, God gave me these verses:
You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth. You will restore me to even greater honor and comfort me once again. (Ps. 71:20-21)
God has given me the privilege of facing these challenges. He has given me the blessing of growing in my faith so that I can please Him even more. He has given the joy of facing two unrelated cancers so that I might be able to teach you more effectively the truth of God’s word and the His glorious promises. I want you to see the truth of God’s word lived out in my life.
As for this moment, there is one thing I know for sure…
“Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so.”
That’s enough for me…
I left Dr. Fravel’s office to head to the airport for my flight to Texas to go to Corpus Christi to perform a wedding for a dear friend.
On the flight to Texas, I sat next to a Marine Lieutenant General (3 stars). We talked non-stop for the 2 ½ hour flight. It was fascinating. He invited me up to DC as his special guest for a VIP event at the Marines Barracks. I’m going to make it happen!
Now for a whole new twist in my life.
While waiting at the airport, my daughter Katie sent me a text with a passage of scripture. She said, “I thought of you when I came across this verse today.”
Joshua 1:9 in The Message Bible: “Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.”
Katie’s text came at 3:21 PM.
Fifteen minutes later at 3:36 PM, I was on the phone with Dr. Clemenz’s office, my dermatologist. Over the past several weeks I had developed a sore on my nose. I thought it was no big deal until it started bleeding. I knew I needed to see Dr. Clemenz. With Mary’s skin cancer issues from the past, we both faithfully go to Dr. Clemenz every six months to have our skin checked. Usually she can catch cells when they are very pre-mature and simply freeze them off. This one was different. In my spirit, I knew it wasn’t going to be good. She took a biopsy of my nose: you may have noticed the bandage this past Sunday.
Now back to the phone call. At 3:36 PM I was informed that the biopsy had come back positive for cancer. As I understand it, there are three basic types of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma; squamous cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma. I have the second level – squamous cell carcinoma. It is cancer, but it is treatable.
Katie was totally unaware of the nose biopsy. She was simply being faithful to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to encourage her Dad.
Later this month I will have surgery on my nose to remove the cancer cells. The procedure I will have by Dr. Chow is called Mohs Micrographic Surgery. Basically, Dr. Chow will give me a shot in the nose and remove a layer of skin. I will wait while he exams the skin tissue. If there are cancer cells on the edges of the removed tissue, he will give me another shot in the nose and remove more tissue. He will continue this process until he has “clean margins.” The Mohs surgery is the most exact and precise method of skin cancer removal. It minimizes the chance of re-growth and lessens the potential for scarring or disfigurement… which is very important to me since I have such a pretty nose.
Dr. Chow is trained in surgery, pathology, and reconstruction. The best option would be that the cancer is completely removed in the first step. If multiple steps have to be taken, as happened to Mary about 10 years ago, then I will go to a plastic surgeon. He will remove skin tissue from my neck and graft it onto my nose.
All of this will happen prior to my trip to Orlando for my prostate surgery.
I have to say… for someone who has never had a surgical procedure other than my wisdom teeth being removed and has never been sick with anything more than a bad cold… I am making up for it in 2010.
In my quiet time this week, God gave me these verses:
You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again and lift me up from the depths of the earth. You will restore me to even greater honor and comfort me once again. (Ps. 71:20-21)
God has given me the privilege of facing these challenges. He has given me the blessing of growing in my faith so that I can please Him even more. He has given the joy of facing two unrelated cancers so that I might be able to teach you more effectively the truth of God’s word and the His glorious promises. I want you to see the truth of God’s word lived out in my life.
As for this moment, there is one thing I know for sure…
“Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so.”
That’s enough for me…
Friday, June 4, 2010
Medical Update
Over the past few weeks Mary and I have talked to multiple surgeons, medical centers, radiation oncologists, prostate cancer patients and friends who are physicians. Mary has read every medical book she has gotten her hands on dealing with this issue. After much research and prayer, Mary and I have determined that God is leading us toward surgery, with prayer, as the plan of attack for the prostate cancer. The two go hand in hand. I believe God can completely heal me without a physician. But I also believe He may choose to heal me through a physician. I will be praying for the Lord to guide the hands of the one who is doing the cutting. Also that God will guide his eyes to not miss anything.
Of the three options of surgery, we have chosen robotic surgery. My urologist recommended Dr. Patel in Orlando, FL, stating that he is the best in the country. In fact, Dr. Petel was voted the top Urologist in America last year. Here is his link:
http://globalroboticsinstitute.com/en/urology-robotic-prostatectomy/why-dr-patel
Because of his reputation it was not surprising that the earliest appointment available was the end of June. But the Lord knew that the end of June would be too long of a wait for me. He never puts more on you than you can handle. On Tuesday of this week, I felt I should call Dr. Patel’s office to ask if there had been a cancellation. The receptionist told me, “I just now had a cancellation. Can you come in the morning?” Mary and I were out the door. It took us seven hours to make it to Orlando.
One side note: I went online to book a hotel. I thought I would try Travelocity’s new section called “Top Secret Hotel.” It is their answer to Priceline. Basically you book a hotel knowing only its rating and general location. I was able to book a 3 star hotel for $35 that was less than 5 minutes from Dr. Patel’s office. On top of that, Travelocity gave me a $30 rebate for using their new site for the first time! OK… this is starting out to be a great trip.
We were at Dr. Patel’s office the next morning at 8:45. I spent an hour filling out paper work. Then we spent the next six hours meeting with five different medical associates. They were thorough. In the waiting room, we met people from all over. We met one couple who were in our church in North Augusta when I was a youth minister… small world.
I discovered that people were coming from all over the world to have Dr. Patel perform their prostate surgery. He told me that he has personally preformed over 4,000 robotic procedures. I like that kind of experience.
During our meeting with Dr. Patel he told me some great news and some challenging news. First: I have most likely had prostate cancer for 5 years, maybe longer. The only symptom was a slight elevation of my PSA blood test in year five. My PSA has been perfect prior to this year. Second: the tumor is large which will make the surgery more difficult. (Now I know why God sent me to the best.) Third: My cancer is aggressive. Fourth: I have a 90% chance that the cancer is all contained within the prostate. That was awesome news. The research data at John Hopkins Medical Center suggested that I had only a 47% chance it was contained.
Because the surgery is going to be difficult he said it is best to wait twelve weeks from the date of the biopsy. This gives my prostate time to completely recover from the biopsy so that he will have clear vision of the nerves which will increase his chances of saving the nerve bundles. I found it humorous that he wants my prostate to get better before he kills it…
My surgery is scheduled for August 16th. I will spend one night in the hospital after the surgery. We will need to stay a total of ten days in Orlando for all of the post-surgery test and check-ups. (Another blessing: Mary’s sister has a time-share condo in Orlando and is in the process of setting it up for us to use.) Once I am home, I will need one more week of recovery. By the end of August I should be back in my normal routine.
I want you to meet my Da Vinci Robot who will be putting 4 small holes in my abdomen to cut out my prostate. I’ve named him Eddie after the movie icon Edward Scissorhands.
Edward Scissorhands is the one with the hair.
Of the three options of surgery, we have chosen robotic surgery. My urologist recommended Dr. Patel in Orlando, FL, stating that he is the best in the country. In fact, Dr. Petel was voted the top Urologist in America last year. Here is his link:
http://globalroboticsinstitute.com/en/urology-robotic-prostatectomy/why-dr-patel
Because of his reputation it was not surprising that the earliest appointment available was the end of June. But the Lord knew that the end of June would be too long of a wait for me. He never puts more on you than you can handle. On Tuesday of this week, I felt I should call Dr. Patel’s office to ask if there had been a cancellation. The receptionist told me, “I just now had a cancellation. Can you come in the morning?” Mary and I were out the door. It took us seven hours to make it to Orlando.
One side note: I went online to book a hotel. I thought I would try Travelocity’s new section called “Top Secret Hotel.” It is their answer to Priceline. Basically you book a hotel knowing only its rating and general location. I was able to book a 3 star hotel for $35 that was less than 5 minutes from Dr. Patel’s office. On top of that, Travelocity gave me a $30 rebate for using their new site for the first time! OK… this is starting out to be a great trip.
We were at Dr. Patel’s office the next morning at 8:45. I spent an hour filling out paper work. Then we spent the next six hours meeting with five different medical associates. They were thorough. In the waiting room, we met people from all over. We met one couple who were in our church in North Augusta when I was a youth minister… small world.
I discovered that people were coming from all over the world to have Dr. Patel perform their prostate surgery. He told me that he has personally preformed over 4,000 robotic procedures. I like that kind of experience.
During our meeting with Dr. Patel he told me some great news and some challenging news. First: I have most likely had prostate cancer for 5 years, maybe longer. The only symptom was a slight elevation of my PSA blood test in year five. My PSA has been perfect prior to this year. Second: the tumor is large which will make the surgery more difficult. (Now I know why God sent me to the best.) Third: My cancer is aggressive. Fourth: I have a 90% chance that the cancer is all contained within the prostate. That was awesome news. The research data at John Hopkins Medical Center suggested that I had only a 47% chance it was contained.
Because the surgery is going to be difficult he said it is best to wait twelve weeks from the date of the biopsy. This gives my prostate time to completely recover from the biopsy so that he will have clear vision of the nerves which will increase his chances of saving the nerve bundles. I found it humorous that he wants my prostate to get better before he kills it…
My surgery is scheduled for August 16th. I will spend one night in the hospital after the surgery. We will need to stay a total of ten days in Orlando for all of the post-surgery test and check-ups. (Another blessing: Mary’s sister has a time-share condo in Orlando and is in the process of setting it up for us to use.) Once I am home, I will need one more week of recovery. By the end of August I should be back in my normal routine.
I want you to meet my Da Vinci Robot who will be putting 4 small holes in my abdomen to cut out my prostate. I’ve named him Eddie after the movie icon Edward Scissorhands.
Edward Scissorhands is the one with the hair.
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