Waiting Rooms

Written Wednesday 3-20-2013

As I finally start my third round of the second protocol of Chemo, which means I am tied to the needles, tubes, bags and pumps for five or more hours today, there is time to contemplate the message that God has placed on my mind and to complete another update.  I am truly thankful that the lab work came back with all the values in range to allow for Chemo today.  The verse that I am contemplating is Jeremiah 29:10-13 For thus says the Lord, “When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.”  “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”  “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.”  “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”   The crux of the message is that the Israelites will be in captivity in Babylon for seventy years because they rejected God.  After the seventy year waiting period God will restore the Israelite Nation and restore their spiritual foundation.

 

Since I am again in the Waiting Room related to my cancer I can draw some parallels with the Jeremiah verses.  I have identified two kinds of Waiting Rooms that apply to my situation.  The first is the temporal Waiting Room.  This is the one driven by the physical world.  I am in that room based on the doctors and course of treatment they chose for me.  The end of this Waiting Room experience will be the next CT scan.  That is the measure of the success of the treatments on my cancer.  The second is the spiritual Waiting Room.  I will always be in the spiritual Waiting Room with God if I approach Him in reverence, unlike the Israelite Nation which spiritually separated themselves from God during the Babylon captivity.  But, even in that spiritual separation God had plans for welfare and a future and a hope for the Israelites.  So, God always had a plan for restoration of the Israelites.  In my situation I know that God is with me in both the temporal Waiting Room and the spiritual Waiting Room.  I know the plans He has for me, in a large part because I seek Him daily and pray to Him as often as I can.  I know He is with me since He has answered my prayers and continues to do so.  While I will be in the temporal Waiting Room periodically throughout my treatment I will always strive to remain in God’s spiritual Waiting Room.  In either case He is with me.  Since He is there with me in both waiting places, I can take comfort that He has plans for welfare and a future and a hope for me and that I can call on Him and He will listen.  That understanding along with the Unshakable Faith and Unstoppable Joy He has provided allows me to face this Adventure with full confidence.

 
 

Sunday 3-31-2013

For some reason, which I cannot elucidate, I am just now getting back to the Update I started eleven days ago.  God continues to amaze me with His provision.  During this Easter season His greatest provision for everyone is, of course, being proclaimed every where.  The sacrifice that Jesus made so that all our transgressions and human failings, that separate us from God, could be forever atoned for was God’s greatest act of reaching out to us to bring us back to Him.  What an awesome God!

 

I am officially retired from Oncor after thirty eight years with them.  It feels good and sad all at the same time.  There was a wonderful retirement celebration on March 18th at the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Dallas.  It was great seeing everyone and reminiscing about my career but what was especially nice was that Jan, Julie, Carol, and Catherine could be there and meet and talk with everyone I had worked with at Oncor.  Carl Brown made a very special wall hanging that had my favorite verse (Job 19:25) and a wooden cross on it with places for my employees to write very special messages on.  I was also given many notes and cards and a very generous gift of money.  Thanks to everyone who participated and for the wonderful mementoes and gifts. 

 

I know I am retired because my BlackBerry is dead (literally) and my work computer has been relinquished to Oncor.  Those were the final ties to work.  So far I have not missed them and I seriously think that I never will.  That chapter of my life is closed.  On to other endeavors.  I am staying busy and as I stated earlier, God continues to amaze me with His provision for my life.  We get notes and letters that are so very dear and confirm that God is at work in our lives on a daily basis.  Carol has been with us in Dallas since Thursday and will be leaving tomorrow.  Ralph Webb, a great friend from high school, will arrive in Dallas Thursday.  It has been thirty years since last we met.  That will be a special visit.  Catherine will be in town the next weekend.  We went to Easter Service Saturday afternoon at Matt Chandler’s church (The Village Church Flower Mound) and reconnected with some dear friends.  It was as if God orchestrated the whole affair. It was so awesome to attend the service as a family and so much fun to visit and catch up with Deb and Mike and their family.

 

I start my fourth round of the second protocol Tuesday, if the lab values work out.  I am ready for the next round because God is with me and His provision is perfect.  The Adventure continues.  As events unfold I will be continuing the Updates.  Thank you for your continued prayers and support.  Pray as God leads for me and my family.

Thank you

Price  

Report

I attempted to start my third round of the second protocol of Chemo today.  For the first time in all the infusions I have had, my lab levels prevented me from having Chemo today.  Specifically, my White Blood Cell Count and another value called the  Absolute Neutrophil Count were too low to allow for Chemotherapy.  I am now rescheduled for infusion on March 20th.  That will give my body time to recover and build my defenses up to satisfactory levels.  As I have stated in the past, God’s timing is perfect so I am not disappointed, just curious to see what God has in mind.  Watching Him work through all the red tape that is involved in Chemotherapy is part of the joy I receive knowing He is right beside me at every step I take on this Adventure.  I was going to use the time while hooked up to the Chemo stuff today to complete this update.  Instead, I am at home contemplating the message that God has placed on my mind and to complete the update.

Before I get into the meat of the message, I need to give some context to the verse that God gave me for this update.  The situation described in the Bible is that Jesus encounters a man filled with unclean spirits who are named Legion.  The man was completely uncontrollable and very tormented.  (I am leaving out some of the really neat parts where the Legion recognize Jesus as one who could torment them.)  Anyway, Jesus gives them permission to leave the man and enter a herd of swine.  All 2,000 of the swine immediately run down a steep bank and are drowned in the sea.  The herdsmen reported what had happened to everyone they could find and a crowd came to Jesus.  As they approached, they saw the tormented man sitting down, clothed and in his right mind and they became frightened.  (The world often misses the point of Jesus.)  The crowd entreated Jesus to leave and as Jesus was getting into the boat the man who had been demon-possessed asked to go with Jesus.  Jesus did not let him.  The verse picks up at that point.  Mark 5:19 And He did not let him, but He said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.”  Verse 20 states that he did as Jesus asked and everyone marveled.  It is ironic that when in the presence of Jesus some people of the world become frightened but when they hear from someone who was touched by Jesus they marvel.

I believe the reason God wanted me to share this verse in relation to my journey is to let everyone know that I am to follow the example of the tormented man when he was told by Jesus to tell the people what had happened.  I feel like I am supposed to share my Adventure with Jesus and God as it happens.  Doing so helps the people who are praying for my healing to maintain their diligence, it lets others know that Jesus is working in my life in a very powerful way, and it provides insight into Jesus in a way that is non-threatening to those who have not experienced the saving grace that Jesus provides.

It is important for me to report what great things the Lord has done for me and how he had mercy on me.  The journey is not over and I pray that I am up to the task of reporting when my healing occurs.  The accuser will not appreciate the powerful message that will be reported at that time and the total defeat of him it represents.  The other hindrance I foresee to my reporting is the proclivity of us to forget the great things God does for us in a surprisingly short time.  I am committed to not fall into that trap and maintain my reporting throughout the Adventure and after I am healed.

As far as how I am doing on the new protocol, I would have to say the second round was easier than the first.  The side effects were about the same but they lasted for a shorter period of time or I got used to them faster.  I am not sure which of those two statements are what actually happened.  When I get the third round it may give me the answer to that quandary.  For sure, God has been continually with me in the current protocol just like He was in the first protocol.  I am doing well and have not suffered some of the more devastating effects of Chemotherapy.  Carol is in town and she went with me this morning to Chemo.   Catherine will be in town along with Carol for my retirement next weekend.  I am blessed to have such a wonderful, supportive wife and three amazing daughters.  Thank you for all the support, encouragement, thoughtful notes, cards, gifts, and kindnesses that have been poured out on my family and me during this journey.  Please continue to pray, as you are lead by God, for my family and me all the way to the end of this Adventure.

Thank you,

Price

PS From Jan

I am prompted to report about two special pastors that have been used of God to minister to us during this time. First, we were so blessed, a few weeks after Christmas, to go up to Aubrey Texas to attend church at Oak Grove United Methodist Church. This is a special church because Sunday morning worship takes place in a beautifully renovated building that dates back to the 1800’s. But it was special to us because of the church’s pastor, “Reverend Liz”. We first met Liz approximately 20 years ago when she was Julie’s teacher. She is a gifted teacher and our time with her was very special. This includes the time she came with our family to Colorado on one Spring Break. It was a very exciting day when, during that trip, Liz and I took Carol and Catherine up chair lift #2 at Loveland Ski Basin. A whiteout blizzard came upon us as we got off the lift. We found out later they closed the lift right after we got on. Liz and I got our little snow train of 2 brave little girls down the mountain in one piece with only a touch of frost bite on the tip of Carol’s ear, where it had wiggled out from under her hat. After 20 years in education Liz became a student again and then became a pastor, now with her own church. We were blessed to hear her sermon and see her sweet congregation. We were also blessed to see Price’s name in the church bulletin asking for prayers, when she did not even know we were coming.

We became aware of another special Dallas pastor from picking up a book in the doctor’s office. The book is My Stronghold: A Pastor’s Battle with Cancer and Doubts by Joe Fornear. I share this resource because it is a great book to give to someone fighting cancer. He and his wife have another book available called In His Grip, Meditations with the Great Physician. These books can be obtained from Stronghold Ministry, PO BOX 38478, Dallas, Texas 75238 or at www.mystronghold.org.

I close with a picture of Julie and Price taken at Silverado Senior Living Center where we go to church with my mother. Our little service is conducted by Tim and Marilyn from Valley View Baptist Church. We are blessed by them as well!