Dan’s Victory

March 21, 2010

Another good week!
Doctor McCroskey says everything is going well - blood counts up. Zometa to build the bone once a month. Velcade every other week - chemo by infusion to get more of the multiple myeloma down. 10 mg. of Revlimid daily instead of 5 mg. to help more with getting rid of the myeloma. Also I am to go in weekly for blood draws, so they can keep a close look at the numbers. I see the doc now every three weeks.  The zometa does cause some rib and back bone pain for about three days - but it has always done that, so that is something I knew was probably going to happen. I am getting a little better again at naps! And sleeping well during the night also! Well, today I didn’t take a nap; does that count against me?

God sure is good isn’t He!!!

Dan

IS GOD DANCING ON YOUR POTATO CHIPS?

Not too long ago I had “one of those days.” I was feeling pressure from a writing deadline. I had company arriving in a couple of days and the toilet was clogged. I went to the bank, and the trainee-teller processing my deposit had to start over three times. I swung by the supermarket to pick up a few things and the lines were serpentine. By the time I got home, I was frazzled, sweaty and in a hurry to get something on the table for dinner.

Deciding on Campbell ’s Cream of Mushroom soup, I grabbed a can opener to crank open the can, then remembered I had forgotten to buy milk at the store.  Nix the soup idea.  Setting the can aside, I went to Plan B which was leftover baked beans. I grabbed the Tupperware container from the fridge, popped the seal, took a look and groaned. My husband isn’t a picky eater
but even he won’t eat baked beans that look like caterpillars.

Really frustrated now, I decided on a menu that promised to be as foolproof as it is nutrition-free: hot dogs and potato chips. Retrieving a brand new bag of chips from the cupboard, I grabbed the cellophane and gave a hearty
pull. The bag didn’t open. I tried again as nothing happened. I took a breath, doubled my muscle and gave the bag a hearty wrestle. With a loud pop, the cellophane suddenly gave way, ripping wide from top to bottom. Chips flew sky high . I was left holding the bag which now was empty.

It was the final straw. I let out a blood curdling scream. “I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!”

My husband heard my unorthodox cry for help. Within minutes he was standing at the doorway to the kitchen where he surveyed the damage: an opened can of soup, melting groceries, moldy baked beans and one quivering wife standing ankle-deep in potato chips. My husband did the most helpful thing he could think of at the moment. He took a flying leap, landing
flat-footed in the pile of chips. And then he began to stomp, dance and twirl ~~ grinding those chips into my linoleum in the process!

I stared and I fumed. Pretty soon I was working to stifle a smile. Eventually I had to laugh. And finally I decided to join him. I too took a leap onto the chips and then I danced.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that my husband’s response wasn’t the one I was looking for. But the truth is it was exactly what I needed.  I didn’t need a cleanup crew as much as I needed an attitude adjustment and the laughter from that rather funky moment provided just that.

Now I have a question for you and it’s simply this: Has God ever stomped on your chips? I know in my life, there have been plenty of times when I’ve gotten myself into frustrating situations and I’ve cried out for help, all the while hoping God would show up with a celestial broom and clean up the mess.

What often happens instead is that God dances on my chips, answering my prayer in a completely different manner than I had expected, but in the manner that is best for me after all. Sometimes I can see right away that God’s response was the best one after all. Sometimes I have to wait weeks or months before I begin to understand how and why God answered a particular
prayer the way he did. There are even some situations that, years later I’m still trying to understand. I figure God will fill me in sooner or later, either this side of Heaven or beyond.

Do I trust Him? Even when he’s answering my prayers in a way that is completely different from my expectations? Even when he’s dancing and stomping instead of sweeping and mopping? Can I embrace what He’s offering? Can I let His joy adjust my attitude? Am I going to stand on the sidelines and sulk or am I willing to learn the steps of the dance he’s dancin’ with my needs in mind? I’ll be honest with you: Sometimes I sulk. Sometimes I dance. I’m working on doing more of the latter than the former. I guess the older I get the more I realize that He really does know what He’s doing. He loves me and I can trust Him even when the chips are down.

– Author Unknown

All is going well. I little side effects from the dexamethasone I am taking again - but I get used to it. It slows me down because of the stomach - belching gas it give me - and rather suddenly. Looks like this coming week I will be going back to some zometa for my bones and some velcage - an additional kind of chemo I have had before maybe rather than going to the four day, four different chemos for four hours those four days.

Have been able to do more - have helped out supervising recess a couple days at Jane’s school as the usual people have had to be at meetings.

Love you all,

DAN

The following is self explanitory:

Michael L. Brown Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus

Being of Jewish heritage his father tried to show him by taking him to a community of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn that he was wrong turning to Christianity. He had done some deep study and confirmed that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel. His need for understanding Hebrew and to understand and test the messianic promises led him to years of education leading him to a master’s and doctorate in Near East Languages and Literature. In the last 30 years he had debated and dialogued with rabbis and leaders in the Jewish community on radio, television, college campuses, and even in synagogues. He has taught at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Fuller Theological Seminary, Regent University and in twenty-five countries; authored eighteen books, written a commentary on the book of Jeremiah and much more. In an interview with Lee Srobel in the book The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investgates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ, Brown was asked by Lee “And what about for you, personally?…Who’s the real Jesus to you?” Here was his answer!

“Yeshua is the right continuation of my Jewish roots,” Brown said. “He’s the Messiah of Israel and the savior of the world. He’s the one to whom I owe my life, and through him I’ve come to know God. He is the one who provided me complete forgiveness of sins, who loved me when I was a miserable, ungrateful, rebellious, proud wretch. He put a new heart and a new spirit within me; he has turned my life around and given it meaning. He’s the fullness of God in bodily form. He’s the very expression and image of the Father — in seeing him, I see the know God.

“And he’s the only hope of the world. Outside of him, all we see is darkness. He’s the hope of Israel. Israel. Israel will run out of options and finally in the end recognize that the one that it thought was the source of all its pain and suffering through the years actually is its only hope.

“He’s the beginning and end the all in all. I cannot imagine existence outside of him. I cannot imagine truth outside of him. I can’t imagine purpose in life outside of him. so really his is the ultimate expression of God to the human race. That’s why I’m spending my life talking to Jewish people — as compassionately and accurately as I can — about the reality of Jesus the Messiah.

“I just can’t withhold God’s very best from those he dearly loves.”

I HOPE THIS TOUCHED YOUR HEART AS IT DID MINE!

March 9, 2010, Tuesday

What wonderful news! Although the red blood count is a little down from the last time (carrying oxygen), the white blood cell count (immunity) was in the normal range, and the platelets (What do platelets do?) was also in the normal range!!!

I also got the result of the bone marrow biopsy. The previous one I had was in August in Seattle which showed that the plasma in the bone marrow was 20% multiple myeloma cancer; this one in March was 7%!!!!!!!!!!

Doctor is talking about having the stem cell transplant from my brother, Dick, after the count gets below 5% - whenever that happens.

Have been feeling pretty good. A little tired but that would be the red blood cell count being down. Have been able to mow the lawn (riding the mower is not a problem) and I am wearing a mask (Randy gave me - my oldest brother) that filters out gases even. I had raked up fir cones and put them in the wheel barrow - three loads, before that. Also put down moss killer. Last week I put some moss killer on the roof and then was told that Tide with bleach will kill the moss. So I did that also - last week - and it appears to have worked. Am learning, most of the time, to take a nap sometime during the day. Continue to make dinners Monday - Thursdays so Jane doesn’t have to.

Looks like on occasion I will go to Jane’s school to help out with recess - parents aren’t volunteering and sometimes the teachers don’t get any break at all because administrator who usually help have to be at meetings. I know I have to be careful with children - but this is outside and that should help! Don’t know how often this will happen - am trying it out tomorrow.

God is good!

Dan

It’s the one complaint guaranteed to raise my hackles:
“But I can’t . . . “
“I can’t draw.”
“I can’t sing.”
“I can’t do math.”
Whether it comes from adult or child, I bristle when I hear it. And I hate to have to say it! I was raised to be a “can do” kind of person. Deep down, I’m convinced I can do anything if I put my mind to it. Having to say “I can’t” smells like failure to me. It feels humiliating.
And it is true that “I can’t” easily becomes a self-fulfilling , self-limiting prophecy. (As my grandfather used to say, why would you want to prove yourself wrong?) I’ve seen people robbed of joy in whole categories of life because they told themselves “I can’t.” Sometimes “I can’t” really means “I’m afraid to try,” and it gets in the way of growth.
But I’m gradually learning (the hard way) that “can do” can be as damaging as “I can’t.” Maybe I really can do anything if I”m willing to make the tradeoffs. But the tradeoffs are significant, and in many cases the payoffs are just not worth it. I am a human being — subject to the limitations of talent and time and choices made. That means that in many situations, learning to say an honest “I can’t” is not a form of self-sabotage but a necessary lesson in humility. Very often when I accept that I can’t, I find that God can use my limitations to reveal His power through those circumstances.
To rephrase the famous Serenity Prayer: Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t . . . The courage to do the things I can . . . And the wisdom to know the difference.
DEVOTIONS FROM BESIDE STILL WATERS A DEVOTIONAL