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