March 2 - "SURROUNDED BY LOVE"
Over the past few weeks Jan and I have felt surrounded by the arms of love
as God has extended His love through so many
people near and far. We
continually get words of encouragement, assurance of people praying, and
financial assistance for our
trip to Denver from a growing number of people on
a daily basis. It really blows our minds to think that so many people really
care about us. As we assess the situation, we know it’s God working through
you to assure us that He cares, even though the
way may seem dark now, He is
providing His comfort in many ways.
As I have thought of the way I might express this feeling being "surrounded by love," I came across this verse in Isaiah:
Isaiah 26:1 (New Living Translation) In that day,
everyone in the land of Judah will sing this song: Our city is now strong!
We
are surrounded by the walls of God's salvation.
There is such a great sense of God’s protection and love as we pass
through this valley experience that we are counting our
blessing as our hope
is renewed.
Dr. Feibelman was encouraged to see some progress when I saw him on Monday.
My breathing (peek flow) level has been up
along with my blood oxygen
saturation level which is an encouraging sign. He said my chest is sounding
much better and
although we are not where we want to be we are making
progress. This is a reason to thank the Lord. We are also thankful
that the
course of my I-V antibiotic regimen will conclude on Sunday evening (3/6). I
think we’ll celebrate.
It’s impossible for Jan and me to go anywhere, open up our emails, or our
USPS mail but find words of encouragement and
assurance of people praying for
which we are grateful – grateful to you for standing with us and grateful to
God for loving on us
through you.
God is good – ALL THE TIME and we feel it as He has us surrounded by love.
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March 5 - "HOLDING ON"
There has not been the improvement in my breathing that we were
hoping to have through the antibiotic infusions and other
treatments
that I have been taking. Yesterday, Dr. Feibelman said that I was
"HOLDING ON" but I wasn’t making the
progress in fighting
the infections we are hoping to see. However, my breathing was sounding
better and a chest X-Ray assured
us the bronchial infection has not
moved to pneumonia in my lungs. Both are good points upon which to hold
some more hope
of clearing things before we head to Denver on March 15th.
Although this seems like no news, the fact that I am "holding
on" is good news, as Jan and me look forward to the current
round
of I-V antibiotics concluding on Sunday evening (3/6). I think we should
celebrate. I know my arms will celebrate after
all the poking for I-V
infusion ports and blood draws. We were thankful the last two attempt at
both were successful after
just the second try.
2 Corinthians 4:7-10 (New Living Translation) But
this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us—is
held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone
can see that our glorious power is from God and is not
our own. [8] We
are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed and
broken. We are perplexed, but we don't
give up and quit. [9] We are
hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get
up again and keep
going. [10] Through suffering, these bodies of ours
constantly share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may
also be
seen in our bodies.
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March 8 - Celebrating In ALL Things
The Bible is clear in the admonition to celebrate God’s working in our lives everyday – the little things and the big things.
Philippians 4:4 (The Message) Celebrate God all day, every day. I mean, revel in him!
This is an area of my life in which God is teaching me, along with
the help of my faithful wife, Jan – to recognize reasons to
celebrate
and to celebrate. Looking back over the past few days, God has given me
some good reasons to celebrate.
At the encouragement Dr. Feibelman, I ran six miles on Saturday –
well I completed six miles. It took me 90 minutes to
cover the distance;
running some, coughing a lot, walking a little, and running some more.
But it was a victory. Nothing
compared to completing an Ironman
triathlon but reason to celebrate nevertheless. Thankfully, with a
little help from
Jan and Dr. Feibelman, I celebrated this first little
victory of comeback.
Jan and I found reason to celebrate again on Sunday. It was a good
day of worship and fellowship with Winter
Park Church,
from whom we have received such great encouragement
from within the church family and others from around the country
who
have given through the church toward our Denver trip and sent
encouragement. Later, we had a good reason to celebrate
after the last two infusions of I-V
antibiotics on Sunday evening which meant we were able to take the port
out of my arm.
Whoo-ahh!! After 18
days of feeling tethered, I celebrated a new freedom as Jan celebrated
the release of responsibility for
administering the infusions twice a
day. I am thankful for a faithful wife who has never complained or even
acted like any of this
was a chore in the least. (Another reason for me
to celebrate.)
God gave us more reasons to celebrate on Monday in another completion
of my six mile loop. It felt good to complete it and
even though it was
not at a pace for which I could be proud, I celebrated having completing
the course and feeling better than I
had felt in weeks, which Dr.
Feibelman reminded me was also a good reason to celebrate. Of course,
Jan added to the time
of celebration with a birthday meal since we’ll
both be "on the go" as we usually are on my birthday.
So today, March 8, is a day of celebration. Several weeks ago, we
were concerned about how many more days I’d be around
as it looked
like the infection in my bronchial tubes had the upper hand on all
antibiotics as well as on my ability to fight it. God,
is in control,
not the infection, however, as today marks my 52nd birthday,
God has given me hope of and more. He has kept
me going, given Dr.
Feibelman some more tools in fighting the infection along with the
bronchiectasis, He has opened the door
in Denver for me to see a world
renown doctor and be treated at the nations foremost facility in
respiratory care, and along the
way, He is teaching me to find things to
celebrate His working in my life everyday.
This has been an interesting journey in seeing how God is working to
provide for us and bless us in many ways – through
countless people
who have helped us, encouraged us , and are praying for us and through
the many things God is teaching us
along the way. I hope to be able to
relate "my story" on this page, as well as through other
things I hope to publish as we
press through this challenge.
As I celebrate today, I hope you will celebrate with us – the
little things God is doing as well as our anticipation of the big
things.
No wonder the Bible tells us to celebrate God everyday, He is
doing much more that we often recognize and for a person like
me – it
has taken this challenge to recognize reasons to celebrate.
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March 9 – REASON FOR ENCOURAGEMENT - "The First Signs Of A
Miracle"
It’s amazing how God works. There are times in the Bible when God worked a miracle and everyone stood in amazement. There were other times when God seemed to work the miracle in stages like when Jesus healed a blind man.
Mark 8:22-25 (New Living Translation) When they arrived at Bethsaida, some people brought a blind man to Jesus, and they begged him to touch and heal the man. [23] Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man's eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, "Can you see anything now?" [24] The man looked around. "Yes," he said, "I see people, but I can't see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around." [25] Then Jesus placed his hands over the man's eyes again. As the man stared intently, his sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly.
Today Dr. Feibelman called with some good news or as He called it the first signs of a God miracle in healing my body. Last week in the midst of my I-V antibiotic infusions, he ordered a sputum culture test to see if we were making any progress. He was elated with the results in the new culture tests showed the bacterial infection in my bronchial tubes is dropping it’s guard and has become less resistant to a number of antibiotics, including one that I was taking at the time of the test. As Dr. Feibelman said, "This is God working because it does not normally happen this way that a bacteria becomes less resistant while taking antibiotics." He went on to explain the encouragement that we have more options to fight the infection but my body is also responding and helping to break down the bacteria’s defense – but it’s a sign of God working things out.
So today, feeling better than I had in while, I was thankful for God’s working in my life and the encouragement of the first signs of the miracle of healing for which we are praying.
Thank you for joining with us prayer – please thank God with us for this first sign of a miracle.
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March 12 - A LITTLE HELP FROM FRIENDS
Throughout this Challenge 2005, it’s been so rewarding to be on the receiving end of encouragement from so many people. This morning, I went to the Winter Park Road Race (10K) to cheer on the great people from my training group that I have coached the past ten weeks through the Track Shack Foundation. This group has been such a great group of people, always working hard, appreciating my coaching, and even put together the ZIM – "BOB" WAY relays to raise some financial support toward our Denver trip to the National Jewish Medical Center.
I went to the race to encourage "my group" and "my
doctor," Dr. Richard Feibelman who was running his first 10K race.
As it turned out I got caught up in being "coach" and enjoyed
the feedback from all my runners setting personal records,
but missed my
doctor coming down the home stretch to the finish line.
I called his cell phone to see how he did and really was encouraged by the joy of another runner setting a personal record. It was a special moment to hear his elation in his performance and the "getting hooked" on running. What a great moment to celebrate together – even over the phone! Then the conversation turned to my condition as I am soon to be off to Denver. After describing the past few days of being short of breath, and a low blood oxygen saturation level, Dr. Feibelman suggested we schedule another bronchoscopy for Monday morning. This will be the fourth one and he said I’ll probably have another one in Denver but he felt it best to clear things out of my breathing passages so I will be getting the most air possible as I travel. It made sense to me as I know Dr. Feibelman has my best interest in mind so I’ll be having another bronchoscopy on Monday.
It was a great morning as I went to the race to "give" and ended up "receiving" encouragement, and additional help and care from my doctor. Just like the Bible says…
Proverbs 11:25 (New Living Translation) The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
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March 14 – Another Bronchoscopy
I am thankful Dr. Feibelman was sensitive to my downward slide in breathing last week and recommended another bronchoscopy to clear my airways in preparation for our flight to Denver tomorrow. It was another peculiar position in which to find myself as "well known" by the staff of the endoscopy department of South Seminole hospital but Jan and I made the most of the hospital moments this morning and some very nice people who, as always were very helpful. Dr. Feibelman cleared my airways one more time and I have been enjoying some "better breathing," although not perfect, the rest of the day.
I knew I was not well when Dr. Feibelman suggested another bronchoscopy on Saturday, and was glad I had that procedure in front of me when I preached yesterday because I was out breathe most of the service. By the way, we had a great day wrapping up the Power Tools For Marriage series, concluding with couples making a commitment to action to ‘rekindle the fire in their romance’ – the topic of yesterday’s message. Details and recordings are available via the church website: www.winterparkchurch.com. Jan and I were also quite touched again on the "send off" we have received from the church, along with countless others who have called, send cards and letters, and emails. – Thank you very much.
The time has come. We’ll be traveling "ALL DAY" on Tuesday, March 15th – and I do mean "ALL DAY." Thank you for praying for our safety. My doctor has given me orders to sit near the front of the plane where the cleanest air exists and to wear a surgical mask because as he put it, "my insides are like a petrie dish waiting to be attacked." So I’ll be a real sight but we are thankful for this opportunity to go to National Jewish Medical Center. God has opened this door and we are looking forward to what He will do.
Thanks for praying. We’ll have more from Denver.