Last night we watched the video.  Irene is so gracious.  What a special lady!

Take care .... we send our love and prayers to both of you.

Jamie, Lisa and Emily

Impressive!!!!!!!!!!!  We were so pleased when we saw the video at church .... Every day I whisper Irene’s name to God and cheer her on .... We love you guys!!!!

I just watched that video of my mom talking about the journey she (and of course our family) has been on (posted below). My first reaction was, “God, can’t you come back already? This illness stinks. The economy stinks. The world stinks. Can’t you come back??”

This was the response:
“God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.

The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. “
Psalm 46

He is faithful. He is coming. He is God. Thought maybe you would be encouraged too….

Our church recently did a series on weathering the storms of life and Irene’s story was used as an example of faithful perseverance.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Irene,

You are so loved!

You have been on my mind many times these last few weeks…and always in my prayers…always…

Blessings cover you from head to toe.

Home is where the HEART is ....

Today, Irene insistently and joyfully prepared a romantic, candlelight, delicious gourmet dinner and dessert which we relished at dusk, overlooking the stormy Monterey Bay.  She could definitely put Rachel Ray out of business!!!

Irene’s nausea remained at a low roar with fatigue being the most menacing factor of the day.

Shirley Churchill, once again, selflessly served Irene for about 2 hours this morning, working on physiology techniques designed to promote body function.  It never ceases to amaze us that Shirley and Ken trek to Aptos from their Menlo Park home, almost on a weekly basis, and have done so for more than a year!!!

On this Valentine’s Day, we hope that YOUR heart is warmed by HIS heart.  As the King of Courtship, God longs for a dynamic, fulfilling and joy filled relationship with the one reading this update.  He seeks every one of us with an incessant pursuit ....

We pray that you are comforted with the reality that He is preparing a place for us in His Heavenly House .... a house that doesn’t need maintenance, a house that isn’t subject to the elements, a house with many rooms and one that will endure forever.

Trust in God, trust also in me.  In my father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.  I am going to prepare a place for you.  I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
John 14:1b-3

From the HEART of our home .... to yours,

Dave

I have been joyfully rejoicing, worshiping and singing this song all day long ....

I can count a million times
People asking me how I
Can praise You with all that I’ve gone through
The question just amazes me
Can circumstances possibly
Change who I forever am in You
Maybe since my life was changed
Long before these rainy days
It’s never really ever crossed my mind
To turn my back on you, oh Lord
My only shelter from the storm
But instead I draw closer through these times
So I pray

Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings You glory
And I know there’ll be days
When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to praise You
Jesus, bring the rain

I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what’s a little rain
So I pray

Holy, holy, holy
Is the Lord God Almighty

 

Irene had a new experience today.

With the assistance of her technician, Pat, she inserted a needle into each of the respective dialysis “buttonholes” today.  There are two buttonholes in her right bicep region.

The purpose of this new adventure is for her to become familiar with how the insertion is done so that when she’s traveling and is dialyzed at another location she can insert the needles in the hope of avoiding a needle infiltration.  The angle of the needle insertion is critical to a successful process.

Irene is on meds for an upper respiratory infection; however, she’s making slow and sure progress.

Thanks for caring,

Dave

Imagine a living, loving, infinite, all knowing and powerful God, who has no beginning or end because he has always been and always “is”.

Muse on that thought for a moment ....

It’s a significant challenge for the finite to imagine the INFINITE, isn’t it?

God communicates to His created human race that he is an extraordinary God and that His plans are “exceedingly and abundantly more than all we can ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3).  That’s an audacious statement .... especially because many of us have very ambitious imaginations!!!  However, God proclaims that we cannot even begin to ask or imagine how exceedingly and abundantly He is able to work in and through our lives.

If you were God, what method would you employ to convey your love to people?  How would you go about imparting the infinite to finite human beings?

Perhaps God might demonstrate His love toward us using sympathy ....

Sympathy — connection to another’s feelings to parallel experiences

Or, perhaps He could demonstrate His love toward us using empathy ....

Empathy — a choice to enter the perspective of another

 

Or, what if God used a form of interpathy….?  Interpathy….?  What is interpathy, you ask?

Interpathy is an intentional cognitive envisioning and affective of experience of another’s thoughts and feelings, even though the thoughts rise from another process of knowing, the values grow from another frame of moral reasoning, and the feelings spring from another basis of assumptions.
David Augsberger (1986) Pastoral Counseling Across Cultures

I think the word interpathy is both intriguing and fascinating ....

God’s ways are certainly not our ways.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
Isaiah 55:8

God uses a form of “interpathy” to demonstrate the passion and love He has for the created order.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16

For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8

God became human through the person of Jesus to identify with every human emotion, intellectual thought and physical reality of that which we experience on this earth.  If we want to see and know God we do it through the astonishing Person of Jesus.

God chose his Son’s virgin birth, a brutal, ruthless death and a promising resurrection to demonstrate His infinite love toward the finite.

God also uses other methods to communicate his love toward us .... today, in real time.  Here are just a few ....

• The Living, Holy, inspired Word of God
• His indwelling Holy Spirit
• Godly people who speak into our lives
• Circumstances that direct our lives

For all things work together for good, for those who love God, for those who are called to His eternal purposes
Romans 8:28

Even on Irene’s Journey of Faith, where we know not what the future holds, we hold on to Him, for He held on to us .... first.  Jesus demonstrates His love for us by dying on the cross but he didn’t remain there .... he lives in Heaven and He lives in each heart that possesses Him.

Caminando con Fé

Dave

Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16b

Irene joyfully perseveres on the journey with her signature smile.  I am convinced, yet again, that only through an intimate, dynamic and growing relationship with Jesus is she able to do so.  Daily, Irene’s inner spirit is renewed through her practice of worship, adoration and praise of her Heavenly Father.

Her nausea persists but now an additional challenge .... that being the burden of confronting chronic fatigue.  The colossal 24/7 nausea and dialysis since June of 2007 have certainly been challenge enough, but the fatigue factor now emerges as the new daily grind. 

But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”
John 12:32

Our physical bodies will someday betray us .... whether sooner or later .... and I am convinced that Jesus uses the aging process as yet another means of drawing all humanity to Himself.

And, unless we’re in denial, we see the reality of our mortality every time we look in the mirror.

Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:16b

Caminando con Fé

Dave

Thanks for checking in...!!!

I have been in Washington DC for several days and the outpouring of love and affection expressed toward Irene has been humbling...!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU...!!!!!!!!!

Irene’s sister Jane is staying with her while I have been traveling...but, as Paul Harvey would say, here is the REST OF THE STORY…

Irene certainly has been at dialysis...and still battles the raging nausea and fatigue...

However...she's had more meetings at Starbucks, more lunches, more dinners, more telephone calls and more social interaction than she's had in months...

Her spirits are about as high as I've seen them in a very LONG TIME...!!!! She feels fully engaged and is energized by the outpouring.......... THANK YOU, AGAIN...!!!!!

Irene also got THE CALL from UCSF today. Her kidney transplant consultation date has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 17, 2009.

This evening Irene has the twinkees and Jane has the popcorn...they're partying away..... and will probably share with each other...isnt' that sweet....?????????

Thanks for caring.
Dave

Irene ventured to Southern California with me and experienced dialysis in Covina, CA on Friday.  Unfortunately she experienced a needle infiltration (the needle penetrated through the fistula wall) causing significant pain and discomfort.  Saturday was better and she’s glad that tomorrow’s dialysis session will be at Satellite Dialysis Center where the technicians are more familiar with her.

The Lord is our Light and Salvation.

Dave

“Is it a car? Is it a plane? Actually it’s both. The first flying automobile, equally at home in the sky or on the road, is scheduled to take to the air next month.” Read more from the Sunday Times.

It’s been a monotonous week for Irene but she endures with a great attitude and smile on her face.  She’s upbeat but the daily grind is certainly a challenge.  Dialysis treatment, nausea and fatigue shadow her routine.

Is it a car? Is it a plane? Actually it’s both. The first flying automobile, equally at home in the sky or on the road, is scheduled to take to the air next month.

So, what does a FLYING CAR have to do with Irene’s journey of faith?

Simply this: FLYING implies a sense of LIBERTY and Irene longs for freedom from the shackles of dialysis and this colossal, debilitating disease.  We are still awaiting “the call” from the UCSF Transplant Center so a consultation date can be scheduled.

With exponential breakthroughs in what God is allowing man to discover, invent, and employ in aviation technology perhaps a bio tech discovery for Primary Amyloidosis is right around the corner .... or, in aviation terms, just ahead and on the horizon.

Caminando con Fé

Dave

 

 

Dr. Hendricks is a household name in Christianity, and in his 50-plus years of ministry, he has directly or indirectly touched millions of lives. A faculty member of Dallas Theological Seminary since 1951, Dr. Hendricks sees the adult children of former students now attending his classes.

Born in 1924, and, despite his current challenge with cancer, today he still maintains a rigorous travel schedule and has ministered in over 80 countries through speaking engagements, radio, books, tapes, and films. He is also the former Bible teacher and chaplain for the Dallas Cowboys football team.

We have been mentored from afar by Howard Hendricks for at least two decades.  We would long for his teaching when we would vacation at Mount Hermon Christian Conference each summer when our daughters were growing up.  I had the privilege of serving on the board of directors of a non profit organization with Dr. Hendricks.

This morning Irene caught just a few minutes of Howard and Jeanne Hendricks’ story (they’ve been married for 60 years) captured on the “Day of Discovery” television program.  Jeanne was asked why people suffer.  Her response was very astute.  She responded that “as we age our suffering is intended to better prepare us to meet Jesus in eternity”.

Wow ....

It was a profound statement that deeply moved Irene.

Think about Jeanne’s perspective.  My humble adaptation ....?  As we grow older, if we know Jesus, our spirit is alive but our body decays.  Therefore, the suffering we experience is actually a planned event by God and, as a result of aging we are better prepared to meet God.  It is as though the aging process is yet another means that God uses to draw us unto Himself.

How do YOU view suffering?

Jeanne Hendricks’ comment is certainly worth a meditation.

Caminando con Fé

Dave

The three Amigas .... Irene, Carmen & Jane

Enjoying the weekend together ....