I am not positive what is going on with me either emotionally or physically but as a special favor I would request that you pray for me. I have, for the most part, been extremely "up beat" about my prognosis over the last two plus years, with the Lymphoma and other difficulties that go along with it. And now I am experiencing some difficulties that seem to interfere with my everyday life and thought process. I've always felt that there is a "low level" depression that hangs around, even in people like me who accept and are happy with their fate (about God, that is). So there have been days lately that I have not been feeling like a "champion" as I usually do. Possibly more thinking about going into this phase of the cancer may have triggered some emotional uneasiness within my mind. I don't know but I recognize that it is there.
From a Biblical aspect, which is what I always try to achieve, I see Paul in the New Testament pleading with God on at least 3 different occasions to "remove the Thorn from his flesh". Few, if any of us has really grasped the true "Thorn" in Paul's flesh, but we know from reading the account that it is real and his pain is a "high priority" burden, and so we know his only place to discuss its possible future is with God. So after he has pleaded his case before God, then God's response is always "My grace is sufficient for you". Never does God say, I will consider it or perhaps "Look for the suffering to go away in 10 days" or anything like that. God simply leaves Paul with His best option "My grace is sufficient for your needs".
Now, in December I will undergo my final "Maintenance" chemotherapy treatment and after that we'll be in what the doctor refers to as a "wait and see" mode. In other words, there will be no aggressive action taken for my treatment when this chemo session ends but rather they will wait to hear from me when I become symptomatic once again. And naturally, my body doesn't want to go through that again so I say to God, Please God, take this burden from me. Lately my body has felt heavy, and very agitated, trouble with my legs remaining still so I can sleep through the night. That agitation is beginning to affect other parts of the body to the extent that I appear to be having severe agitation throughout my body, especially during the night time hours, when laying down trying to sleep. And quite honestly, all I can hear from God at this point is, "My grace is sufficient for your needs". I am very strong on faith and an extremely weak person when it comes to my physical needs. So tonight, I just want to ask you to pray. Pray sincerely that (because I already know God's answer) my physical strength and ability will "step up to the plate" and help me endure this difficulty with as little "blubbering" as possible. Pray that as I recognize the physical weariness from the disease, at that moment God will place someone Else's need in my mind and cause me to lift them up in prayer so that I am not thinking of my self. I am no hero here on this earth. I have never saved a child from a burning building or rescued a drowning victim just in the nick of time. I'm just the kind of Christian Man who wants to be called "A Man After God's Own Heart"
You see, from the beginning of my diagnosis, I have been aware that I cannot get through this on my own. I require faithful people like yourselves in serious prayer for my challenge (and BTW, anyone who does not realize this, these challenges take there toll on our relationships at home as well so please pray for my wife Barb). And by the way, there are others out there that need you just as bad.
God's Best Tonight,
Crazy Papa
I'll make 'um an offer
Monday, October 29, 2007
Thursday, October 25, 2007
What Have We Come Here For?
Tonight, for the FIRST TIME EVER in my life, we shared a fellowship with ALL of our children (3) and All of our grandchildren (4), all in the same house, in the same room (since Leo was born), gathered around on the couch and chairs, on the love seat and floors, just enjoying the company and fellowship of one another. There in a crowded living room, in my son's home, we all sat together talking and sharing love for each other. My son and two daughters, my two granddaughters and two grandsons all together for the first time ever in our lives. I didn't think much about the emotional impact until just a few minutes ago as I was laying in bed listening to worship music on my iPod.
I was reminded of a story in the Gospel of John when Jesus stooped down to the ground to write something in the dirt. There were a few "troublemakers" there taking issue with a young woman and making accusations about her and another man. Jesus simply stooped to the ground and starting writing in the dirt. The implication here is that some of the people there began to recognize their sin. Some, perhaps even recognizing their need for a savior. And without further argument they began to disburse from the scene starting with the oldest and working down to the youngest in the group. And this made me think, for even as "sweet" as the fellowship was, as historical as the gathering of our family was, did we recognize, in that small group, our sin? Did we acknowledge our need for a savior tonight as a family. I cannot honestly confess that we did, at least not me. Totally consumed in the event of my entire family all in one place for the first time ever, all I could think of was the joy in my heart for those that I love so much. I didn't take the time to spiritually rationalize our collective need for a savior, I just enjoyed the peace of the moment.
Of course, later on this evening, while listening to the worship music, I was reminded of what we are all here for. A beautiful song by Selah called "Wonderful, Merciful, Savior" was playing in my headphones and I closed my eyes to see the wonder of its message...
"You are the hope in our heart, Lord.
You are the one that we praise,
You are the one we adore,
You give the healing and grace, Lord,
that's all we've come here for!"
Almighty Omnipotent Father...here in our weakness,
You find us, falling before Your throne,
You are the one that we praise,
You are the one we adore,
You give us healing and grace,
that's all we've come here for."
These are a couple of the verses of the song but how strong it was tonight.
My thoughts drifted back to the story of the woman caught in adultery, and the men who stood around her. Those men knew from the beginning what they had come there for, but I can't help wonder if their thoughts on that subject changed as the event progressed. As they recognized their sin is it possible that some of them gave new wonder to what they were there for?
I am a fortunate man. My son and both of my daughters know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they guide, and I am sure will continue to guide their children (my grandchildren) toward the same knowledge of Jesus Christ in their lives.
So what did we come there for? Of course, we all wanted to wish Mom/Grandma well on her birthday celebration, and for the first time, we all gathered around and welcomed our new grandson into the fold and I am sure tonight, even though there was no exhaustive talk about spiritual matters, the entire family knew exactly "what we came there for"
Thank you, Selah, for the reminder.
I was reminded of a story in the Gospel of John when Jesus stooped down to the ground to write something in the dirt. There were a few "troublemakers" there taking issue with a young woman and making accusations about her and another man. Jesus simply stooped to the ground and starting writing in the dirt. The implication here is that some of the people there began to recognize their sin. Some, perhaps even recognizing their need for a savior. And without further argument they began to disburse from the scene starting with the oldest and working down to the youngest in the group. And this made me think, for even as "sweet" as the fellowship was, as historical as the gathering of our family was, did we recognize, in that small group, our sin? Did we acknowledge our need for a savior tonight as a family. I cannot honestly confess that we did, at least not me. Totally consumed in the event of my entire family all in one place for the first time ever, all I could think of was the joy in my heart for those that I love so much. I didn't take the time to spiritually rationalize our collective need for a savior, I just enjoyed the peace of the moment.
Of course, later on this evening, while listening to the worship music, I was reminded of what we are all here for. A beautiful song by Selah called "Wonderful, Merciful, Savior" was playing in my headphones and I closed my eyes to see the wonder of its message...
"You are the hope in our heart, Lord.
You are the one that we praise,
You are the one we adore,
You give the healing and grace, Lord,
that's all we've come here for!"
Almighty Omnipotent Father...here in our weakness,
You find us, falling before Your throne,
You are the one that we praise,
You are the one we adore,
You give us healing and grace,
that's all we've come here for."
These are a couple of the verses of the song but how strong it was tonight.
My thoughts drifted back to the story of the woman caught in adultery, and the men who stood around her. Those men knew from the beginning what they had come there for, but I can't help wonder if their thoughts on that subject changed as the event progressed. As they recognized their sin is it possible that some of them gave new wonder to what they were there for?
I am a fortunate man. My son and both of my daughters know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they guide, and I am sure will continue to guide their children (my grandchildren) toward the same knowledge of Jesus Christ in their lives.
So what did we come there for? Of course, we all wanted to wish Mom/Grandma well on her birthday celebration, and for the first time, we all gathered around and welcomed our new grandson into the fold and I am sure tonight, even though there was no exhaustive talk about spiritual matters, the entire family knew exactly "what we came there for"
Thank you, Selah, for the reminder.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
I am so very thankful!
Last week we completed our 3rd Annual "Light The Night" fundraiser and walk for Lymphoma and Leukemia and as always, it was a great success. Our family has raised at least $1000 each year for research and awareness. All of my local family was there and participated and donated to my cause. From the stage over the last three years now I have heard the phrase "Every 5 minutes someone is diagnosed with Lymphoma or some type of blood cancer, and every 10 minutes someone loses their battle". That is a hard statistic to stare at especially when the disease is within your own body, however, with the support I have received from my family and so many people who love me, my attitude has gotten stronger and stronger. This was the first year that I personally was not able to complete the walk, but it was because of the problems with my back and not the Lymphoma that kept me from the task.
I know that God has a wonderful plan for my life and some very WONDERFUL moments have ushered their way into my life after my initial diagnosis. What do I think this means for me? Well, I am very optimistic about the future as far as this disease is concerned. In fact, I feel more confident that I can win this battle than I do in seeing our world survive the chaos it now finds itself in. At any rate, my prayer to our Heavenly Father is always "Maranatha" (Come Quickly, Lord Jesus). The sooner Jesus returns for His Church, the less difficulties we all encounter each and every day while we are here. So, does this make you think within yourself, "Do I have my heavenly reservation?" If not, it may be a good time to do some research and discover that God really loves you and has a tremendous plan for your life also. The Bible says in Romans 10:9 "If we confess with our mouths Jesus as Lord, and believe in our hearts that God raised Him from the dead, we SHALL be saved." This is naturally a promise that only God can make. Do you live your life in sin and deciept continually. If so, a seed has just been planted in your heart and it will begin to grow and help convict you of your sin, and when that happens, you next step will be to stand and confess that as sin and ask God for forgiveness for that sin and invite him to move into the recesses of your heart and allow the Holy Spirit to take over the control of your life. Time to surrender to someone; might as well be the God of glory.
Once you have confessed and surrendered your life to God's control, you need do nothing more than follow His spirit as He guides your life each and every day. Listen close and the Spirit of God will continually direct you straight to God and he will help you "shed" the pounds and pounds of guilt and shame as you approach Our Lord Jesus Christ. And don't be surprised that when you complete this journey you find yourself right in front of a "Bible Believing" "Bible Teaching Church. Just pledge to confess you sin and follow His leadership and you will see some pretty amazing things transpire in your life. Get yourself a good bible translation (I'm partial to the New American Standard Open Bible, mine put together by a group from Campus Crusade For Christ many many years ago. Find whatever is easy to understand and grow from there.
And so to close, if you prayed to receive Jesus within this blog, you can have the assurance of knowing that you are as "SAVED" and Billy Graham, the Evangelist. Take your new found freedom to the streets and highways of life and be sure to share it with others.
Finally the God of the Bible says; "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life."
Believe in your heart and dwell on it constantly. God will come close to you and soon you will be communing with God. Please let me know how it goes.
Do you have this disease? Call me and I will talk to you about it. Call 623-512-5842 or email me at dstallings2@qwest.net
I love you all,
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Better is a poor man.....! Proverbs 19
Proverbs 19 tells us that "Better is a poor man who walks in his integrity, than he who is perverse in speech and is a fool. Also it is not good for a person to be without knowledge, and he who makes haste with his feet errs." What is the wise Proverbial person attempting to teach us in these first two verses? Well one thing that is very plain is that you don't have to own ALL the donkeys in the field to have some dignity and integrity in your daily life. Being poor doesn't mean, "I stand in line all day waiting for someone to help me out, because I have no ability of my own". Having no wealth doesn't automatically make a person stupid or unable to achieve accomplishments in life. God is looking for Man's integrity to show through his smile. The smile says, "I may be down, but I'm not out, not by a long shot". God is still in control with my life and I don't see him carrying around a big satchel of money so He must be working on my integrity. I'm going to continue to direct you toward God and He will be the "keeper of my fate". What a tremendous lesson in just two verses.
Later in the chapter he says "He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed. Discipline your son while there is hope and do not desire his death. A man of great anger shall bear the penalty, For if you rescue him, you will only have to do it again. Listen to counsel and accept discipline. That you my be wise the rest of your days" Here we see Our Great God "repaying" good for good. And where have we heard that word "enable" before. So many Fathers, so many Mothers, reaching out to rescue their children from a nasty lesson that they must learn to live a more dignified life. Parents be slow to anger and allow your children to go through life's experiences without rescuing them and never giving them a chance to "figure it out".
Finally, "What is desirable in a man is his kindness, and it is better to be a poor man than a liar. The fear of the Lord leads to life, so that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil".
You know, I don't really know a lot of rich people. In fact, I don't know a lot of poor people either. Most of the people I know are sort of "middle of the road" and that is what is so impressive about them. There is something about a family that realizes that they could be "one paycheck" away from living in the street, and yet they live their lives, carry on their activities and support their families like they don't know the possibility exists. They live life like God intended for them to. They walk with the "integrity" given to them by the Lord Himself.
To all that fall into that category, myself included, as long as we "lock arms" with God, we will keep the boat afloat. You want to know how I know? I've read more of the book and I really am impressed with HIS promises. Don't be afraid or embarrassed to ask God to "pick you up" when needed! Don't be too proud to accept help from a friend who is just developing his own integrity! You may have to help him somewhere down the road.
God's love,
Later in the chapter he says "He who is gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord, and He will repay him for his good deed. Discipline your son while there is hope and do not desire his death. A man of great anger shall bear the penalty, For if you rescue him, you will only have to do it again. Listen to counsel and accept discipline. That you my be wise the rest of your days" Here we see Our Great God "repaying" good for good. And where have we heard that word "enable" before. So many Fathers, so many Mothers, reaching out to rescue their children from a nasty lesson that they must learn to live a more dignified life. Parents be slow to anger and allow your children to go through life's experiences without rescuing them and never giving them a chance to "figure it out".
Finally, "What is desirable in a man is his kindness, and it is better to be a poor man than a liar. The fear of the Lord leads to life, so that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil".
You know, I don't really know a lot of rich people. In fact, I don't know a lot of poor people either. Most of the people I know are sort of "middle of the road" and that is what is so impressive about them. There is something about a family that realizes that they could be "one paycheck" away from living in the street, and yet they live their lives, carry on their activities and support their families like they don't know the possibility exists. They live life like God intended for them to. They walk with the "integrity" given to them by the Lord Himself.
To all that fall into that category, myself included, as long as we "lock arms" with God, we will keep the boat afloat. You want to know how I know? I've read more of the book and I really am impressed with HIS promises. Don't be afraid or embarrassed to ask God to "pick you up" when needed! Don't be too proud to accept help from a friend who is just developing his own integrity! You may have to help him somewhere down the road.
God's love,
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Turn Your Eyes Toward Heaven
For those of us who consider the work of the Lord to be important and uninterrupted work, take heart. Turn your eyes toward heaven and see the glory of the Lord in these days, weeks, months, and possibly years to come. The Lord warned us centuries ago in 1 Thess 4: 16,17 that "...the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord".
His warning echoes as we see a world in chaos, countries battling countries, with leaders making remarks that are deadly, infection spreading like wildfire in the United States and beyond, and 11-year-old little girls getting ready to accept birth control pills without the knowledge or consent of their parents. There is so much more going on that we are not even aware of, but enough to give us pause to pray and ask God to "Come Quickly" (Maranatha) and place us in our mansions in glory.
The world is getting "heavy" and hopefully, those of you who will read this blog, place NONE of your hopes in this world but rather in Our Lord Jesus Christ as our Provider and Protector for eternity.
If you do not have that assurance, I will be happy to discuss it with you and I know of many others who are willing to do the same. You can reach me via email at dstallings2@qwest.net or you can respond directly to this post.
God loves you!
His warning echoes as we see a world in chaos, countries battling countries, with leaders making remarks that are deadly, infection spreading like wildfire in the United States and beyond, and 11-year-old little girls getting ready to accept birth control pills without the knowledge or consent of their parents. There is so much more going on that we are not even aware of, but enough to give us pause to pray and ask God to "Come Quickly" (Maranatha) and place us in our mansions in glory.
The world is getting "heavy" and hopefully, those of you who will read this blog, place NONE of your hopes in this world but rather in Our Lord Jesus Christ as our Provider and Protector for eternity.
If you do not have that assurance, I will be happy to discuss it with you and I know of many others who are willing to do the same. You can reach me via email at dstallings2@qwest.net or you can respond directly to this post.
God loves you!
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