DownshoreDrift

Here's Caelan, buckled up in his car seat, heading to Birmingham today for his third dose of chemotherapy (3 down, 45 more to go!).  He's doing great!  He is eating well, has not thrown up even once, is happy all the time, and has been adequately increasing the weight of his diaper with solid substances of varying degrees of stink! So, in other words, all systems are working well.  Also, from his chemo trip today, Erika called and told me that his white blood cell counts were high, so he is in good shape to fight off any potential infections!  We know that this is an answer to prayer and God is so faithful.  One of my greatest prayers in all of this is, "If we have to go through this, Lord, please don't let him suffer too much."  I am more convinced than ever that God is delivering a healing to my son through His providential care and through medicine.  I thank God for every person who has prayed for us and has helped us in tangible ways. You are all incredible.  I have no idea how we would be handling this if not for the power of the Holy Spirit and the body of Christ.  From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

I am not naive of the tough times that await us.  He could get sick tomorrow.  We've already had two unscheduled hospital/emergency room trips the past two weeks. I hear that radiation is a real bear and it is every day in August and September for 4-6 weeks.  But, I DO want to be faithful to praise God for answered prayers and for getting us this far.  I KNOW in my heart that He will carry us through, and we continue to look to Him.  Our God is faithful!  We'll continue to take this one day at a time, choosing to rejoice in the Lord each day.

Marty Duren has a post at SBC Outpost that got me thinking. I actually almost laughed out loud when I saw the first image and thought it was a joke.  But, then I realized that if we say that anything we do is for "missions and minstry," we can get away with it.  I wonder, with all our technology, support, staff, and strategy if we aren't seriously missing the point.  Well, I've actually thought that for years, but the juxtaposition of these images really brings it home:

Here's the USA Version of a Missions and Ministry Center

And, here's what it looks like in Africa:

Now, I know that is not a fair comparison, and that it would be impossible to have our staff offices and conference rooms in a thatch hut, but the point is, do we really need everything that we purchase for ourselves? Or, could we, as really wealthy Christians in America get by with a lot less? I think the answer is obvious.  I, for one, am really getting weary of funding multi-million dollar "missions and ministry buildings" while a large majority of the world's population gets by on less than a dollar a day.  At some point, we will be held accountable. 

What do you think?

Today I preached a message on how we all need one another.  We are starting a summer book study on Philippians, and I felt compelled to really call us to recognize that we belong to one another as the body of Christ (Rom. 12:5) as we start the summer. With such a young church, it is easy to get in the mindset that, summer is here, it is time to just take a break, go our separate ways, and not be connected to others the way we normally are.  But, as I was thinking, I realized that we have that attitude for at least 5 months of the year (Nov-Dec because of Christmas, and May-July because of summer).  Wow.  It is really hard to keep growing in the Lord and in relationships if we are constantly on a college schedule. Maybe it's time to continue on with our close relationships even when the weather gets warm!

When we lived in Marin County, just north of San Francisco, we lived just a couple of miles from Muir Woods,  where they have the giant redwoods.  The really interesting thing about redwoods, among many other things, is that they grow to about 35 stories tall, but they have really shallow root systems. So, if you took one of these giant trees and stuck it out by itself in a field, it would topple over with the first strong wind!  But, in a redwood forest, the roots of the trees interconnect and they help each other stand up. Fascinating, eh?

Caelan is still doing great and is playing at my feet right now. We had birthdays this weekend for two of my children (they are only 3 days apart - 4 years and 3 days, actually!), so it has been a pretty busy weekend. Right now, I am relaxing, perusing the blogs (mostly SBC stuff in preparation for the convention in June), and am enjoying a HOT, lazy Sunday afternoon.

Today, after worship, we had a dinner for a couple in our church who just got married named Rob and Sherry. After we ate, we were encouraging them and sharing things that we were praying for in their lives. Rob said something that really had me thinking. He said that one of the main things that God has taught him over the past couple of years is to look fully to Christ for all of His needs and then take what he has received from Christ and spread it around to others, because there are a lot of hurting, needy people out there.  Well, that pretty much summed up about 2000 years of practical Christian theology.  Rob has walked through a lot of pretty terrible stuff the past couple of years, and it is awesome to hear that kind of simple, yet powerful testimony from a brother who has experienced God in the midst of trials, has seen Him restore, and is praising the Lord! Way to go, Rob - may your marriage and home be blessed with the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ!

WARNING:  THIS POST IS PRIMARILY FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN WORLD MISSIONS AND MINISTRY. I DO NOT want to spend much time on this, except to use it as a segue, but there are all kinds of problems continuing to brew in my denomination's world missions agency, the International Mission Board.  While great things are happening overseas, it seems that trustees here at home can't stop arguing about whether one person's view is going to prevail over another's. If you want to look into it more, you can follow it at my friend Marty Duren's blog, SBC Outpost.  I also had a previous couple of posts detailing the whole issue here, here, and here.

So, anyway, with all of these problems with denominational power structures, missions agencies, and people far away making decisions that many do not agree with (sounds like the government, doesn't it), why do we fool with all of this? I mean, why don't Christians in churches just network together and do the work that Christ has given us through missional networks and relationships instead of relying solely on a denomination? Why do we worry so much about what our denomination does or doesn't do? What keeps us from being obedient and just doing it, without waiting for others to get their act together? When we can work with the larger group, great, but otherwise, let's do what God has called us to do!

I have written a paper on how this can happen through Emerging Network Theory.  The basic point is that we all have relationships and networks.  What if we used them for the glory of God and we all started working together with people we already know, trust, and are in relationship with to be more effective in Kingdom work instead of depending primarily on a large denomination?  This is how we are reaching and serving hundreds of people on the Gulf Coast without help from our denomination at this point - through relational networks.  It is how any small group of people can begin working to change the world, without waiting for others to get their act together and do it for them.  Just some thoughts on this fair night . . .

This week I went down to Waveland/Bay St. Louis, MS to check on a couple from our church, Charlie and Martie Elgin, who have left everything of their life here, sold their house, and are living in a trailer to help people devastated by Hurricane Katrina.  It was a quick trip to work through some ministry plan stuff, see the camp/mission we are now starting called Pathfinder Mission, and have some meetings with the local baptist association, and a really great pastor, Kevin Clifton, of Bay Vista Baptist Church in Biloxi, MS.  God is doing some incredible things down there in opening people's hearts and through continuing to call volunteers to give of their time and resources to help put people's lives back together.  Our church is sponsoring Pathfinder, and we are praying that we will be able to start a church out of it as we reach into people's lives with practical and spiritual help.  Charlie and Martie spent 6 months at Shoreline Park Baptist Church in Waveland running their camp and felt led to stay down there and serve the people.  We are doing everything we can to help them.  Please pray for us and pray about any help that God might be leading you to provide for these people who are still in great need.

Well, I thought I'd chime in on The Da Vinci Code. I preached on it yesterday, and after doing a bit of research, I realized that if anyone is afraid that this book/movie is going to undermine Christianity, they can rest easy.  After just a little research, almost all of the claims of the movie are shown to be patently false.  The danger of the movie will be towards those who do not think for themselves and believe whatever they see or read, which unfortunately might be the majority of people. 

Dan Brown has crafted an interesting, fast-paced mystery, in which a plot to protect the bloodline of Jesus and Mary Magdeline by the Priory of Sion is in danger of being exposed by the Catholic Church.  It is a fanciful tale and one that can be exposed as pure fiction in about five minutes.  As far as being a serious threat to Christianity: not so much.  As far as it being an avenue to explain to people who Jesus really is:  it could open doors of conversation. 

What we are facing is what Frederic Baue predicted in The Spiritual Society: What Lurks Beyond Postmodernism.   His basic premise is that we are entering what he calls the Therian Age, which will be very spritiual, as modernism has failed us, but it will also be very hostile to Christianity.  I believe that he is right and it is being borne out through things like the Da Vinci Code.   But, is that not exactly what Paul faced in Acts 16:16-24 and Acts 17:16-34 where he cast the demon out of the slave girl in Philippi and was beaten and thrown into jail, and when he debated the philosophers about the Unknown God in Athens?  We live in a pluralistic age and we should be prepared to enter into this type of dialogue with unbelievers/pagans.  For it to frighten us, only shows us that our faith is not as secure as we perhaps thought.

I got my message notes from several different places that I do not even remember now, but here are some resources if you are interested:

Josh McDowell's Research (pretty heavy)

Read Some of My Message Notes Below (Not Cited)

The last week has been hectic, to say the least. Caelan is doing really well with his chemotherapy after the first week, which is a major praise. Thank you all for praying - God is anwering! It is amazing that just one week ago, we were in the hospital with his port surgery. So much has happened since then.

Over this past week, we have really seen God guide us, take care of our son, keep his nausea at bay, work out major scheduling problems, speak to me dramatically as He has led our church, call me away to spend time with Him, and reveal Himself in amazing ways.  We've also been exhausted, confused, and overwhelmed at times. 

Through it all, God has shown us that He is taking us where he wants us to be.  The picture above illustrates that.  It was taken by me during a time of prayer this weekend.  If you throw a stick into the raging water it might get tossed all around and turned upside down.  But, still, the river will take the stick where it is going.  That is how it is with God.  In our lives, the raging current of God's providence and will turns us upside down and tosses us all around - or so it seems.  In reality, He is working and moving to take us where He wants us to be.  Our part is to trust Him and get in His flow, let Him lead, and believe that He is working in our lives.  Things might not be easy in the moment, but we serve a God that can be trusted.

Well, that is what He has taught me this week through experiences, trials, and victories that seem too many to name.  The week seemed like a month, but in that time I saw the Lord at work.  He is good! His love endures forever!

Everyone's home. Caelan is fine. Mom is very tired. Hopefully, we will not go back to Birmingham until next Monday. One day at a time.  Praise God for all His blessings, praise Him for who He is, praise Him for His grace and mercy, lest we be consumed. Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord.  Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

May we all rest well tonight, thinking on things above, praising the Lord, trusting in His benevolent care.

For those of you keeping up with Caelan, he is fine.  We came back from the hospital yesterday after his port surgery and first round of chemotherapy. We were looking forward to a somewhat normal week, and, before you know it, he was running a fever of almost 102. Erika had to go back to Birmingham with him for blood tests and they ended up keeping them overnight.  Today, he is having another scheduled bone scan (routine), and a blood transfusion (also routine, or so they say - it doesn't sound very routine to me).  His fever is back down and he is doing very well.  Anyway, our first week of this has not been easy.  Erika and I keep telling each other that this is the new normal, so just get used to it.  We're trying, but I don't think you get used to this easily.

They should be coming home tonight - yeah!  Tomorrow, probably I will blog about something else - I promise.  I am preaching on the Da Vinci Code this Sunday (actually, I'm preaching on the Bible, but I'm going to use the Da Vinci Code as a point of reference concerning the chasing after other gods and philosophies and how this is nothing new.  I'll be talking about how we can be prepared to answer these questions that come our way.  So, I might blog on that tomorrow. We'll see.  Hopefully, we'll be hospital free the rest of the week!

I'm blogging from Children's Hospital in Birmingham and want to report that Caelan had his port surgery today (they installed a port to receive chemo) and he is receiving chemotherapy right this moment for the first time.  I stepped out because I am getting a bit tired of seeing needles go into my son!  To the left is a picture taken of Caelan of few minutes ago right before they started his chemotherapy.  Everything is going really well, praise the Lord!  We will stay the night and go home in the morning.  Thank you for all your prayers and please pray that he will handle the first round of chemo well and not get too sick.  This is obviously new for all of us and we have received a ton of information that we are trying to process.  No fun at all.  I'll keep you updated when I have more time. 

It is a relief to finally get started.  As a friend said when she called today, "Just think, only 47 more weeks to go!"  Amen - let the countdown begin!  I say that in jest, though, because we recognize the serious need to just take this as it comes one day at a time.  God has grace for us each day and we will arise every morning to receive it.  We know that we have many trials and blessings ahead of us throughout the next year and we truly do look forward to knowing the Lord in a deeper way as we walk through this.  One day at a time.

In thinking about the cancer that my son, Caelan is going through, it would SO easy to throw a pity party and say, "Why us, Lord?" I could do a really good job of it, if I had half a mind. I've been known to throw some amazing pity parties in the past, with balloons, music, and even the paparazzi showing up to take pictures. I can be a pity party professional (P3 for short).  But, God, in His amazing grace is using all types of things to provide incredible perspective and to cause me to praise Him for His abundant blessing and goodness. He is using His Word, the prayers of others, and also things like books and film to remind me to pray without ceasing, praise the Lord, and think about the horror that others go through in this world.  My family really is blessed. 

The other day, Erika and I saw Hotel Rwanda.  I've been wanting to see this movie for some time, but haven't gotten around to it.  It is a really heavy movie about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 where almost 1 million people were killed.  The story follows hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina (a Hutu), as he works to save around a thousand Tutsi from extermination.  It is an amazing story of courage and compassion, and it also shows the incredible depth of our sin and how evil man can be to one another.  I found myself terribly ashamed that when this happened, I was in college and did not even notice.  I don't think I even uttered one prayer on behalf of all of the people that were killed or that the violence would be stopped.  The West turned a blind eye to what was happening because it was not in our vital, immediate, interests.  Shame on us.  Shame on me.

This past week, I have also been reading The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley.  This massive book chronicles the week of August 29, 2005 in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast when Katrina hit.  It tells the story of the lack of preparation before the storm, all that went wrong on the local, state, and federal level during and after the storm, and the incredible suffering and courage that was experienced and shown by the people down there.  That is my homeland, being born in New Orleans and growing up in Picayune, MS, right up the road.  The Gulf Coast was our playground and the culture and people there mean a great deal to me.  During this disaster, I (and my church and so many others) did respond with many prayers and action, sending a team of 30 with supplies enough to start two Red Cross shelters on September 2 in Ocean Springs, MS.  All of that work has led us to stay involved down there and we are now  helping start and support, Pathfinder Mission in Waveland/Bay St. Louis.

Well, the long wait of uncertainty is finally over.  We were told weeks ago that our 9 month old son, Caelan had cancer. We let everyone know about it, reconciled ourselves to the fact, and prepared for chemotherapy.  Then, 3 weeks ago, everything changed with the possibility that the tumor might be benign.  We fast fowarded a difficult surgery 12 weeks so they could get the whole tumor and we jumped on the rollercoaster.  A couple of weeks ago, we spent 6 days in the hospital as the tumore was taken out in a major surgery where he lost the cartiledge in the right part of his chest - but, it was successful and they got the tumor.  Today, in Birmingham at UAB Children's Hospital, our doctors, with all of the tests back, confirmed that it was indeed cancer.  So, we begin treatment surgery to insert the port to receive the chemo on Monday and we begin 48 straight weeks of chemotherapy with radiation after 12 weeks.  We will go to Birmingham EVERY week on Mondays, with an overnight stay every three weeks for the first twelve weeks. Then we will have radiation, and then just go every week for the next 36 weeks.  What a year.

So, here we go.  This will probably be the most difficult year of our lives for our young family. We have many mountains to climb, as I have said in the past, weekly trips to UAB, constant monitoring for fever, vomitting, hair loss, and other side affects.  But, we are so grateful that Caelan is being cared for and that we are surrounded by such an incredible group of people who are praying for us and supporting us.  We know that Caelan is going to make it (they give him an excellent chance for survival), and we are fully placing our trust in the Lord.  We are going to keep on living our lives, as we have many things to do and three other children to care for.  God wants to teach us a great deal through all of this and draw us closer to Him.  We continue to pray for Caelan's healing, believing that God will use all of this for His glory.  Thank you so much for your prayers as we keep on this journey of faith.  We will continue to keep all of you updated through this blog.  Amen. So be it.

When you are faced with the strong possibility of a child with cancer (or your own weaknesses and sickness, for that matter), you are forced to see life differently. We're still waiting for test results, by the way, so no new news to report. I provided a link in my last post to John Piper's article, Don't Waste Your Cancer.   The basic premise of his perspective (which comes, by the way, from his own prostate cancer), is that this tragedy SHOULD serve to drive us closer to Christ, to cherish Him, and to step away from the pitiful pleasures that consume us as we live life in this world.

This affection for pleasure is so pervasive in America, and especially in the South, where I live, that it is difficult for us to see how it grips our lives. We (includes me) are driven by a desire for comfort, security, and pleasure, to the point that we begin to expect these things as though they were rights.  We fail to understand that the majority of the human condition is one of desperate need, fear, and suffering.  We are so blessed, that we do not even see it, and our blessing has become our curse.  Like the fish who does not recognize that it is wet, or even know what water is, we are so surrounded by affluence and prosperity, that we do not even see our situation or realize that we are prosperous.  Things like cancer, death, natural disasters, awake us from our malaise and remind us (if we are fortunate), what life is really all about.

We are still waiting to hear back from the various pathology labs concerning the results of Caelan's tumor. He is healing nicely from his surgery, so God is answering all of your prayers. He is not sleeping well at night, and (yawn!), that is having it's affect on the rest of the family. He also had an ear infection with a fever of 102, but the doctors have seen him and say that he is doing well over all.  Thank you so much for your prayers and your concern. I'll post an update when we know our futher course of action. As it stands right now, we are waiting until Thursday, when we go back to meet with the doctors.

I have not blogged lately because I have been very busy, we have not had anything new to report on Caelan, and because I also know that of the hundreds of visits a day that this site has been getting, 90% of them are primarily to get an update on Caelan. Thank you so much for visiting and your prayers!  I want to let everyone know that I will return to posting on other things of interest to me that chronicle how God is present in the little things of life to bring us closer and closer to Him (something that I have called Downshoredrift).   If you want to skip all of that and just read about what is happening with our precious son, you can go to Caelan Updates on my sidebar under CATEGORIES or hit the link here.  I just wanted to give a disclaimer before I started writing about other things to let you know that our family is going to return to some sense of normalcy, and part of that will be shown in my blogging on other issues, including Caelan. I hope you will track along with me through my other observations as well, but if not, hit the Caelan link and keep up that way.

Your comments are always appreciated and have been so encouraging to me and my family. I plan to print out these posts, put them in a book, and let Caelan read all of the prayers for him during this time when he gets older. Can you imagine how it will affect his life, when he is 16 and he reads about how during this time that he cannot remember, so many people prayed for him? I pray that God uses this in his life and the lives of others to draw many people to Himself. More later . . . God bless each of you!!!!

By the way, here is a great link from John Piper concerning his cancer. I thought you might find it interesting:  Don't Waste Your Cancer.  What do you think? Some of it is really good and I am still working through other parts.

I am happy to report that Caelan is doing fine! He came through surgery well on Friday, and although he has experienced quite a bit of pain, he is doing really well.  We should be heading home on Wednesday (tomorrow).  God has truly answered all of our prayers concerning this procedure to remove the tumor and we are so grateful!!!  We praise Him for His abundant goodness and continue to believe that He will carry us through this.  They got all of the tumor and the correct margin around it.  It was not attached to any organs, and although they had to take the cartiledge from his rib cage and muscle, they did not have to take part of his ribs.  The doctors are very pleased with his progress and feel real good about everything so far!

Where do we go from here? They are sending samples from the tumor to Emory University, Ohio State, and some guy named Fred.  No kidding. Our surgeon said that they were sending it to Fred somebody (she couldn't remember his last name, but he is supposed to be the foremost expert for this type of tumor).  We pictured a guy named Fred working in his garage on tumors and lawnmowers.  He's probably a jack of all trades who can also do roofing and a little plumbing on the side as well!  Well, we had a good laugh over that.

We'll hear back on the type of tumor in the next week or so.  Caelan's recovery should be steady once we arrive home.  There is still a chance that the tumor could be benign, but, once again, the doctors think it is cancerous.  Please pray for a conclusive result from the testing so that we can know exactly how to proceed.  Folks who have been through this say that the surgery is the worst part, so we are glad to have that behind us.