Mellow, but not tired – Night 26 (3:50am)

Tonight’s new approach to meds has only produced two hours of sleep (12:30-2:30). In spite of this I’m at peace, feeling (at least at the moment) somewhat and refreshed. I’m hoping this is not a “new normal.” Bilirubin is a real bugger. Lots of time to pray, reflect, scratch, and be thankful.

Tonight I share with you a passage (quoted above) that really ministered to me (shared with me by a dear sister in Christ who recently has walked this road of suffering herself). You know me and how I encourage reading Scripture in it’s proper context. Here we have The Lord speaking (in the OT, and hundreds of years before His incarnation) and making a beautiful declaration to his wayward and covenant breaking people. It reveals The Lord’s heart, character, and purpose. Words that He would again repeat in Luke chapter four (revealing His identity and mission). Ok, context tackled for the most part.

This evening’s glorious reminder: These things that are mentioned (the pouring out of the oil gladness, the proclamation of Good News to the poor, the setting free of captives, comforting those who mourn, binding up the broken, causing the blind to see and the lame to walk, and so much more), these are things that God is still doing…TODAY…RIGHT NOW…through and by His Son, Jesus…the messiah…and the restorer of the cosmos. He’s in pursuit of you, and me, and the healing of nations. He is fast at work putting all things right that are wrong according to His steadfast love and wisdom.

God wants us to know Him in this way. It’s why He put on flesh and bone and did the things He did in His ministry…so that people would make the connection (then…and now) that it was He who was making good on His Isaiah 61 promises in Christ, and that it is still He who lives, and moves, and breathes to accomplish these same aims. May we reflect today on who The Lord is, and what he wants in our lives.

In the moment, that’s where I rest…as I close my eyes for another wink.

Diary of a madman – Night 25 (1:35am)

The rambling thoughts of an insomniac (night 25) –

Yellowed flesh, orange eyes, weathered skin, muddled thinking…

Nausea, life-sapping fatigue, and special people that made my day worth living:

• Ron & Ann -my early morning chauffeurs and prayerful escorts to my hospital room
• Jonathan – miracle worker and constant encourager
• Nic – my daytime RN & dude-man, and quiet follower of our Lord
• Norman – a retired volunteer who whisked me down to my biopsy with such dignity, poise, and grace (also a lover of my Jesus)
• Dawn – my comforting ultrasound tech, and her budding protege Genesis (who did her best to calm a man in pain
• Dr. Russ – who performed the biopsy (that I laughingly call, “Drilling a hold in my body,” who shared his loss amidst the Waldo Canyon Fire, and his appreciation for Wilson Church)
• Daphney Joy – whose name just makes me smile
• Tracy – the love of my life and my source of encouragement and strength, and our time together praying Psalm 142
• To John and Joe who persisted and insisted with their stopping by (thanks for the love and hugs guys…they meant a lot)
• To Justin my bro and hero
• To Pam my precious twin and powerhouse pray-er ( and prayer gatherer)
• To Jack – his uncle’s pride
• And to my Mum & Dad who so faithfully cling to their Loving King and Savior
• And to a church…a people…God’s people…Your people Lord, who so selflessly allow themselves to be Christ’s hands and feet…so much so it brings me to tears.

And other random things:

• Late night alarm that signals someone’s distress, and which gather a team of dedicated healers
• Another prayer lifted up
• Jessica – my pm RN noticing the light below my door and stopping to check in on me
• More alarms further down the hall – more prayers lifted up
• More sleep-robbing-mind-bending itching
• Really bad late night TV
• Meditating on Psalm 115 – you should read it, it”s awesome
• Another day on the way (no matter how exhausted I am) chalk-full of people, circumstances well beyond my control, that I choose to bless, love, embrace, be thankful for, and pray for in the midst of this gut-wrenching Lenten wilderness struggle.

Won’t you join me?

Praying for Pastor Dave

Dear Blog followers.  I put this letter together for our congregation here in Colorado Springs, but thought you might want to read it.  It speaks to why Dave has not been able to post here on his blog.  We continue to ask you for prayers on his behalf.  We are thankful to God on many different levels through all of  this journey.  Dave was supposed to leave for Haiti last Sunday, and that is no place to be dealing with these kinds of issues.

Blessings to each of you this Lenten Season,

Tracy Hiester

 

Dear Church Family,

 

This is Tracy writing on behalf of Pastor Dave. As most of you know he has been dealing with health issues over the last three weeks. His letter last week let you know that he had his gallbladder out last Friday. Two days prior to that he had another procedure done to clear out the bile duct. We were hopeful these procedures would take care of what was going on, but that was not the case.

 

He has been severely fatigued, jaundiced and has had non-stop itching for two and a half weeks now. Dave has been unable to sleep through all of this. He has been very incapacitated and unable to function. The surgery and procedure went fine, and his healing from those has been the easiest part of this whole ordeal. We now believe the problems are coming from the liver. We may never know for sure, but it is most likely caused from some antibiotics that were taken a few weeks back. He was tested for the Hepatitis A, B and C strains and those all came back negative. For you medical types his bilirubin numbers have been very high. Last week they were a 9.2 and this week they are 14.3. The normal range is 0.1 to 1.2. This is the cause for the severe jaundice and the constant itching. We have tried any and all remedies for the itching and none have helped him. We did get some good news yesterday, and that was the liver enzyme levels are beginning to drop. The doctors expect the bilirubin levels to begin dropping soon.

 

For now basically we have to wait for the liver to heal itself. Dave will go in for more blood work next week, and as long as the numbers continue to drop no further test will be needed. If the doctors don’t like the numbers they are seeing, the next step would be a liver biopsy, but at this point we do not expect that to be needed. Unfortunately, the doctors cannot say for sure when Dave will be feeling better. They are hopeful that by the end of next week, he should have more energy and be able to do a little bit more. We appreciate all the love, care, cards, meals and prayers you have shared with Dave and our family through this time. We will try to keep everyone up to speed as we can.

 

Much love in Christ,

 

Tracy Hiester for the Hiester Family

Please Pray

In an earlier post (Do Not Worry) I mentioned my friend’s  recent cancer diagnosis. Ironically, the two of us are having surgery tomorrow, he to have his cancer ridden kidney removed, and I to have my Gall Bladder removed. I ask that you pray tomorrow for my good friend Bert. He needs your prayers, and the Lord’s healing power, far more than I. Pray also for his wife Bonnie, that the Lord might strengthen and encourage her. And, pray for the children they have and extended family.

Pray prayers of thanks to our Lord…prayers of gratitude for his mercy that he extends each and every day. Pray prayers of confidence, knowing that whatever the circumstances, God’s resurrection power reigns victorious over it all. Pray prayers for those you know that do not yet know our Lord, and ask him to show you how you fit into his saving work for them. Prayer prayers of certainty, knowing that our God, who is indeed our Good Shepherd, looks after and seeks out those who are sick and in need of binding up. For our God is indeed good, and he is indeed worthy of our praise. Amen

Bummer – Surgery

The dude on the right – that’s me.

Many of you know that I have been struggling with frustrating and fatiguing health issues these last two weeks. Well, today my doctors were finally able to determine that my Gall Bladder and Gall Duct are littered with stones. I will be operated on Friday to remove my Gall Bladder.

As you also know, I was a part of the mission team that was scheduled to depart for Haiti on Sunday. Given my surgery it will be impossible for me to be a part of this effort and I will sadly have to remain at home. I want to thank those of you who helped contribute financially to the Haiti mission effort. The way things stand I will still have a plane ticket with Delta Airlines for the next 365 days. My hope is that I’ll be able to apply that to the next trip that we put together.

My heart is heavy. I was so looking forward to returning to Haiti, having been in 2010. Even more, I was eager to see and experience Respire Haiti’s ministry for myself. And yet, I am also thankful that all of this surfaced here at home and not in a foreign country (especially given the speed at which my doctors are demanding things be done!). While disappointed, I marvel at God’s timing. For I’ve got coverage in the pulpit for the next two weeks, and I will be able to spend time with my family during spring break. God is so very good.

Please join me in prayer for our Haiti mission team while they’re out, and please pray for my speedy recovery.

Pastor Dave

Out Sick Darn It

I’ve been a bit under the weather these last several days. I will write as soon as possible. Please pray for me if you will.

Pastor Dave

Saint Patrick – Heroic man of God

OK…so I’m breaking from the format. But I do so because so few people know of Patrick’s history and his legacy within the church. So here are a few facts.

Saint?

Technically, Saint Patrick wasn’t a saint, as he was never canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. Additionally, Patrick was not even Irish. Rather, he was a Roman-Britain who spoke Latin and a bit of Welsh. Patrick was born around 390 A.D. When he was roughly 16 years of age he was captured by pirates and taken to Ireland on a ship where he was sold into slavery. He spent the next six years alone in the wilderness as a shepherd for his masters’ cattle and sheep.

Isolation

Patrick was a rebellious non-Christian teenager who had come from a Christian family. His grandfather was a pastor, and his father was a deacon. However, during his extended periods of isolation without any human contact, Patrick began praying and was eventually born again into a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ. Patrick endured the years of isolation in rain and snow by praying up to 100 prayers each day and another 100 each night. In his early twenties God spoke to Patrick in a dream, telling him to flee from his master for a ship that was waiting for him. Amazingly, Patrick made the 200-mile journey on foot without being caught or harmed to find a ship setting sail for his home, just as God had promised. The sailors were out of food for the journey, and after Patrick prayed a herd of pigs miraculously ran toward the ship, providing a bountiful feast for the long voyage home.

God Speaks to Patrick

Upon returning home, Patrick enrolled in seminary and was eventually commissioned as a pastor. Some years later God spoke to Patrick in a dream, commanding him to return to Ireland to preach the gospel and plant churches for the pagans who lived there. The Roman Catholic Church had given up on converting such “barbarians” deemed beyond hope. The Celtic peoples, of which the Irish were part, were an illiterate bunch of drunken, fighting, perverted pagans who basically had sex with anyone and worshiped anything. They were such a violent and lawless people, numbering anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000, that they had no city centers or national government and were spread out among some 150 warring clans. Their enemies were terrified of them because they were known to show up for battles and partake in wild orgies before running into battle naked and drunk while screaming as if they were demon-possessed.

Unique Missionary Strategy

In faith, the forty-something year-old Patrick sold all of his possessions, including the land he had inherited from his father, to fund his missionary journey to Ireland. He worked as an itinerant preacher and paid large sums of money to various tribal chiefs to ensure he could travel safely through their lands and preach the gospel. His strategy was completely unique, and he functioned like a missionary trying to relate to the Irish people and communicate the gospel in their culture by using such things as three-leaf clovers to explain the gospel.

Upon entering a pagan clan, Patrick would seek to first convert the tribal leaders and other people of influence. He would then pray for the sick, cast demons out of the possessed, preach the Bible, and use both musical and visual arts to compel people to put their faith in Jesus. If enough converts were present he would build a simple church that did not resemble ornate Roman architecture, baptize the converts, and hand over the church to a convert he had trained to be the pastor so that he could move on to repeat the process with another clan. Patrick gave his life to the people who had enslaved him until he died at 77 years of age. He had seen untold thousands of people convert as between 30-40 of the 150 tribes had become substantially Christian. He had trained 1000 pastors, planted 700 churches, and was the first noted person in history to take a strong public stand against slavery.

Psalm 121 – Our Shepherd

This psalm is identified as a ‘Song of Ascents’ because it was sung by pilgrims as they made their way to Jerusalem which was located in a mountainous area. It is possible that this psalm, and other psalms similarly named, were written to describe what the pilgrims themselves experienced as they made their trek. As they ascended to Jerusalem to attend its annual festivals, their hearts ascended within them.

If this was indeed the case, these psalms speak very pointedly to us about how we might regard public worship. Can we say that our hearts ‘ascend’ within us as we anticipate worship in the house of God? Do we long for, and anticipate, encountering God? Is it precious to us?

One more thought (especially given that we’re to talk about Jesus as “the Gate” tomorrow in worship) about final two verses:

⁷ The Lord will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
⁸ the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

I doubt that the former shepherd boy, David, had in mind that our Lord stalks us daily as we come and go. However, drawing from his experience as a shepherd and his experiences with God, I believe he confidently penned these word knowing that the Lord our God is very much like a watchful shepherd that cares for his flock. Throughout this psalm of praise are words that hint at God’s guiding, loving, and protecting presence.

My help, David says, comes from the One who descends from the high places (mountains), the one who leads me to places where I will not slip. In the evenings when I sleep in the field, he’s awake and watching over me. When the day is hot and the sun threatens to sap me of my life and energy, he finds us places of shade and rest. Everyday…under his care…as I come and go…he is there caring for me and the flock.

No wonder this psalm was sung as the Lord’s people approached the Temple to worship! From the throngs that made their way up to Jerusalem arose the sweet smell of loving trust and humble gratitude. For these people, like a flock well tended, had much to sing about.

As we Lent together, may similar worship, praise, and celebration flow from our hearts as we rejoice in our Lord’s steadfast goodness.

Matthew 17:1-9 – Naked and Unafraid

As I read this familiar passage I was struck by the disciple’s response to God’s voice, ‘When they heard this, they fell face down to the ground, terrified.’  Terrified. At this, Jesus ‘touched them’ and told them to get up, and to not be afraid.

The word “touched” means ‘to ignite, to kindle, to set ablaze, to start a fire, to light a lamp.’ Here at the tail end of this amazing theophany, where heaven had indeed come to earth, Jesus lights a fire of assurance in his friend’s hearts – a fire that promised that one day being in the presence of God would no longer terrify them.

Jesus knew that his saving work would free humanity from their fear of God and cause within them, as it was in The Garden,  a more appropriate disposition – that of being naked and unashamed (unafraid) once again.

If you go back and look at this account in Genesis (Gen 2:19-25) you’ll find that this is a description of how Adam’s perfect counterpart was created, and why. There you find God fashioning and forming animals from the stuff of the earth (as he had with Adam), as well as Adam’s perfectly distinct, and yet complimentary, partner. One of the things that will set these two a part from the rest of God’s creation is the unique relationship they were to experience with one another (and, God). Here the pinnacle of God’s creation stood, naked and unashamed. I don’t think I’m stretching the text too far to say that not only were they standing before one another in this way, but they also stood this way before God as well. A few verses later (Gen 3:8) we’re given the impression that these two regularly met and walked, talked, and enjoyed God’s presence and company. Therefore, it seems, part of God’s original design for humanity was that they experience a close, intimate, shameless, and fearless relationship with one another and himself.

If we can just move past the ‘naked’ thing just long enough to consider such a pure and wonderful state, where no-thing at all might stand between us or another person, let alone God, we just might begin to imagine one of the dynamics that God, in Jesus, was rectifying through his saving work. I believe the bible bears out that kingdom Jesus so frequently spoke about – the kingdom he was ushering in – would be one of not only a transformed people, but a transformed world. Certainly one where men and women might once again enjoy his presence and be able to stand before him ‘naked and unashamed (unafraid).’

What Jesus accomplished on the cross was far more than appeasement for sin (the standard answer most Christians give for Jesus’ sacrifice). Instead, God was setting all things right and putting all things, once again, in order. Through his saving work, Jesus makes possible that we might be refashioned in his image that we might stand before him, and one another, fearlessly.

Perhaps you might lift up a few prayers of thanks for God having begun that work in you. Thank him for the intimate relationship that he desires, and the fact that you have nothing to fear in a relationship with him. What an amazing reality that is…never again to fear the creator of the cosmos.

Matthew 9 – “Resurrection” Before the Resurrection

What do Peter’s sick mother-in-law, a paralyzed man brought to Jesus by his friends, a tax collector named Matthew, and a dead girl have in common? Resurrection!

Today I stumbled across some language that I’m sure Matthew wanted his readers to take note of – resurrection language. In each of the miracles listed above, Matthew intentionally uses the word that will spill from an angel’s lips at the empty tomb, “He is not here; he has risen…” (Matt 28:6). Matthew intentionally uses language that would remind his readers of the language they were used to hearing in connection to Jesus’ resurrection.

Peter’s mother ‘got up’ (8:15). The paralyzed man was told to ‘get up’ twice, after which we are told he ‘got up.’ Matthew, after being beckoned by Jesus to ‘follow me,’ ‘got up’ and began following him. And the young girl whom had died ‘got up’ when Jesus took her by her hand. The word in the Greek is egeiro, which mean to: raise up, cause to wake up; to cause to exist; be raised to new life. In each of these circumstances those who chose to believe in Jesus’ healing power and authority were literally raised to new life. Think about the scene with Matthew. Here he is a lair, cheat, and a traitor to his own country, and Jesus invites him to new life. I can only imagine the emotion (and tears) that accompanied Matthew’s penning these words, completely aware that his ‘getting up’ was nothing short of resurrection from the dead.

What’s more, this isn’t the only resurrection language that Matthew uses in this chapter. The story of the girl who has died, and Jesus’ journey to go see her, is dramatically interrupted by another miraculous encounter – a woman who had been subject to twelve years of bleeding. Trusting that all she needed to do was to touch the edge of Jesus’ cloak to ‘be healed,’ Jesus turns to her and says, “Your faith has healed you.” This Greek word means to: be rescued; be saved.

Here in these early chapters, Matthew makes it clear what Jesus was doing – beginning the work of rescuing, saving, and raising the world from everything that held it captive. Those who believed, were raised. Those who trusted rose. Those with faith, were resurrected.

As we Lent together, where have you, and how have you, been raised to new life? From what were you asked to ‘get up’ to follow Jesus? Where in this life is Jesus looking for you to trust him…where his resurrection power might be poured out?