My Health Journey

On Monday, August 4, 2014, I will be going into Banner Good Samaritan Hospital to have major surgery. This has been a long time coming. First of all I want you to know I do not have cancer. And for that I am extremely grateful. But let me take a moment to tell you how I arrived here.

I have struggled with intestinal issues from my early teens. I have had many polyps throughout my life. Finally in 1998 I had to have my colon removed. The surgeon made a pouch out of my small intestine and hooked that up so I could go to the bathroom as normal, just 10-15 times per day. That worked well for the next 15 1/2 years. That is, until I went on my second trip to India.

Half way through that trip this past January, my internal pouch stopped working properly. Instead of going to the bathroom 10-15 times per day, I had to go every 20 minutes to an hour. I thought it would get better but it didn't. Now 7 months later I have to have all that previous work removed and have an ileostomy installed. That is an external bag. If you are unfamiliar with what I'm referring to just Google "Ileostomy" and you will get a pretty good idea what I will be dealing with the rest of my life.

I want to thank you for praying for me. It will be a very painful surgery and I will not only be recovering physically but I will be learning to deal with life with an ostomy bag. The good news is this will free me from being tethered to a bathroom.

I will have the freedom to do things I have not been able to do for the past 16 years. I will be able to go fishing with my dad. I will be able to sleep on an airplane. I will be able to go to the villages in India without having to worry about bathroom facilities. I will be able to go hunting.

These are all things I currently cannot do.

Thank you again for all your prayers. I should be healed up and on my feet in time for my daughter's wedding in late September. I was fearful that I would have to leave during the ceremony to go find a bathroom. I will be able to stay through the service and bawl my eyes out.

Let me know if you have any questions. I am more than happy to answer them. Not much embarrasses me anymore. Oh, and no, it has nothing to do with my diet. This is a genetic problem I have been dealing with for almost 40 years now.

The Witch Doctor And The Missionary

The other day I met a woman who is an indigenous missionary from one part of India to a very rural tribal village in another part of India. She grew up in the city but God called her and her husband to take the good news of Jesus Christ to a remote, rural village. I will not use her name or where they are ministering to protect them from from increased persecution in India.

She told us of the hardships of ministering in remote villages. Things we take for granted were not available, e.g., TV, internet, cell phone coverage, medical treatment, running water, showers, and electricity, just to name a few.

Then she told us a story that has not only kept her going through the years but has also captured and broke my heart.

While sharing the gospel in a village a man came to her husband and said he needed to come to his home. The man's home was a two hour walk from the village. When they arrived the man told the young missionary he was the witch doctor for his village. He came from a long line of witch doctors and he was taught the black arts from his parents. The problem he was having was the demons were now tormenting him. They were demanding blood. He started making blood sacrifices. He was using all his resources to buy chicken and pigs. The demons lust for blood could not be satiated, they continually demanded more blood. He couldn't sleep at night because of the demonic activity all around him.

This young missionary told him whenever the demons tried to disturb him to say the phrase, "The Blood of Jesus." The witch doctor didn't know what to do but he thought he would try it. That night a very large demon came to attack the witch doctor with an axe. He knew his life was in danger at this point so he did as the missionary told him. He shouted aloud the phrase, "The Blood of Jesus!"

With this the demon turned and ran.

That morning the witch doctor found the missionary and told him what had happened. The missionary shared the gospel with him and he gladly received God's gracious offer.

This new believer then said the words that will be burned in my mind and my heart. He asked, "Why didn't you come 15 years back? My parent needed to hear about this Jesus too!"

I am haunted by those words! "Why didn't you come 15 years back?" Even as I write my eyes fill with tears and my heart breaks anew. My ears ring with the Macedonian Call:

           Acts 16:9–10 A vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing and appealing to him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” When he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

We, here in America, may read this post and go back to our $5 Foo Foo coffee drink and say, "Thank God, He didn't call me to do THAT!" But I beg to differ. What does the Bible demand of each one of us?

Matthew 28:19–20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Matthew 9:36–38 Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

You may be thinking, "But I can't go!" Here is what you CAN do! Some are called to GO. Some are called to SEND. Everyone is called to PRAY!


Go and do your part. One day, maybe in heaven, a man may come up to you and say, "I was once a witch doctor. Bound to sin by demonic forces. But you gave...you sent...you came...you prayed, and I heard the gospel because of you. Now I am alive forever more because you were obedient to the call of the Father. Thank you!"

Do Real Men Weep?

Recently I had the honor of siting beside the bed of a man who may see Jesus face to face before I am able to visit with him again. The most difficult part of my job is the best part of my job. I get paid to love people. I'm a pastor, that's what I do.

I held this precious man's hand as we talked. His cancer has progressed rapidly as of late and his body has deteriorated quite a bit since visited him two weeks ago. I had prayed the Lord would not take him home before I returned from India and He was gracious to me in allowing me to spend a little more time with my friend before he draws his final breath here on the earth.

Tears were welling up in my eyes as he said, "Don't cry." Don't cry...I could not not cry. But why was I weeping? Although we are friends, it is not like we are the best of buds. He is a man in our church that I have become very fond of. I know he is going to heaven to see Jesus. That is not why I wept.

I know the kind of pain to lose a loved one and yet that was not the reason I wept. His wife, adult daughters, sons-in-law, and grand-children are hurting and will soon have the most bitter tears that have ever burned their cheeks. But I was not weeping for them.

Why was I weeping?

I thought about that question as I drove back to the church office. Why was I weeping? That is when the Lord spoke to my heart. He reminded me of the story of Jesus as He delayed when called to go help His friend Lazarus. He then received word that Lazarus had died. His disciples wanted to turn back as they feared persecution from the Jewish leaders if they returned to Bethany which was near Jerusalem.

Jesus said to them, "Come on guys. Let's go back to Bethany and I will show you something really cool!" OK, that is my paraphrase version. Jesus was going to Bethany, not to heal Lazarus, but to raise Lazarus from the dead.

When Jesus met Mary and Martha, Lazarus' sisters, His emotions welled up in His eyes. We all know the verse because it is the shortest verse in the Bible. John 11:35 - Jesus wept.

Although it is the shortest verse it is one of the most moving verses in all scripture. Jesus wept. Jesus knew He was going to raise Lazarus from the dead so I don't believe He was sorrowing over the loss of a friend or the pain his sisters were going through. I believe Jesus wept for the same reason I wept as I held the hand of a dieing friend...This is not the way things are supposed to be.

Death is never a friend. Death is a result of the Fall. This is not the way things are supposed to be and our souls know it very well. My soul longs for the day when Jesus returns and makes everything right. My soul longs for the day when there is no more sin, no more pain, no more death. We were made for something so much more that this mere earthly existence. We were made for, and long for, a close, intimate relationship with the triune God.

I weep because this is not the way things are supposed to be, but this is not the way things will always be. If real men don't weep then Jesus and I are not real men.



1 Corinthians 15:51–58 (New Living Translation)

⁵¹ But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! ⁵² It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. ⁵³ For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

⁵⁴ Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.

⁵⁵ O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

⁵⁶ For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. ⁵⁷ But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸ So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.