Today, my father went to see his surgeon. He is now scheduled for surgery on Monday, January 29th.
The lesion is in the right ascending colon. The entire right ascending colon will be removed and resectioned to the transverse and the small intestine. If you are like me, you might want to check out this description online.
It is expected to be about a 3 to 3 1/2 hour surgery.
Following the surgery, the doctors will deterine the next course of action. As of now, the CT results show no other organs affected in the abdoman.
I think it is safe to say that this is more than we expected, but still not the worste news we could have received. Please continue to pray for my father and our family. Please pray that God would just touch that side of his body and provide a protection against anything further.
I will continue to keep you updated.
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Monday, January 15, 2007
My Kids Should Be In School Today
Today is a day set aside for honoring the legacy and the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. It is a day that the government and civil rights leaders have carved out as a day of remembrance, but I believe that it is falling short.
My kids are off today in what I will loosely refer today, as a way of honoring that legacy. I find it antithetical to the purpose, and I argue that my children should be at school. They are not in school, yet they are at home watching Nick, and Disney all day.
I will argue that they should be in school and the day or part of the day should be dedicated to the message and the legacy of the civil rights movement, or in some way include a teaching moment. Yet, they are at home. I venture to say that they don't even know why.
Ok, you might argue that it is up to me to talk about it with my children, but I believe that there is some part of that responsibility that lies with the very institution that is to be educating my children in the most well-rounded education possible.
The second reason I believe that children should be in school is more of a justice issue than anything else. Today, many people who have to work in jobs that are not in the banking and government sectors must now find childcare. I imagine that the great majority of those who will have to do this are from the segments of our communities who should be benefiting from MLK's message the most. There are people who now have to pay for childcare today, because their kids are not in the public schools learning while they are out trying to make ends meet.
So I'm sticking to my theory. My kids should be in school. But because they are not, I am going to go home and see to it that they know why they are not.
My kids are off today in what I will loosely refer today, as a way of honoring that legacy. I find it antithetical to the purpose, and I argue that my children should be at school. They are not in school, yet they are at home watching Nick, and Disney all day.
I will argue that they should be in school and the day or part of the day should be dedicated to the message and the legacy of the civil rights movement, or in some way include a teaching moment. Yet, they are at home. I venture to say that they don't even know why.
Ok, you might argue that it is up to me to talk about it with my children, but I believe that there is some part of that responsibility that lies with the very institution that is to be educating my children in the most well-rounded education possible.
The second reason I believe that children should be in school is more of a justice issue than anything else. Today, many people who have to work in jobs that are not in the banking and government sectors must now find childcare. I imagine that the great majority of those who will have to do this are from the segments of our communities who should be benefiting from MLK's message the most. There are people who now have to pay for childcare today, because their kids are not in the public schools learning while they are out trying to make ends meet.
So I'm sticking to my theory. My kids should be in school. But because they are not, I am going to go home and see to it that they know why they are not.
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Does Character Matter?
Good question. To some people, it just doesn't. But to me, it does!
Character questions come up alot around public figures and it came up again yesterday. Cal Ripkin and Tony Gwynn were elected on the first attempt to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Both received more than the 75% of votes necessary for election. On the other hand, Mark McGwire was not elected and only received a paltry 23.5%. Read an article about it here.
So, was the election about more than stats this year. Maybe with regard to Ripkin and Gwynn it wasn't, but McGwire it had to be. Then again, I think that those elected were in many ways elected based upon more than just what the statistics say - character had something to do with it.
Character matters, and I want it to matter! It matters in the pulpit, in the pew, in the stands, and on the field. It goes beyond reputation and what people see on the surface; it goes much deeper. Character is something that I want my children to see, and character is something that I want to pass along to them as well.
So, does character matter - sure does! (I guess unless you are among the 23.5% who voted for someone who may be known more now for what he did behind the scenes than on the field.)
Character questions come up alot around public figures and it came up again yesterday. Cal Ripkin and Tony Gwynn were elected on the first attempt to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Both received more than the 75% of votes necessary for election. On the other hand, Mark McGwire was not elected and only received a paltry 23.5%. Read an article about it here.
So, was the election about more than stats this year. Maybe with regard to Ripkin and Gwynn it wasn't, but McGwire it had to be. Then again, I think that those elected were in many ways elected based upon more than just what the statistics say - character had something to do with it.
Character matters, and I want it to matter! It matters in the pulpit, in the pew, in the stands, and on the field. It goes beyond reputation and what people see on the surface; it goes much deeper. Character is something that I want my children to see, and character is something that I want to pass along to them as well.
So, does character matter - sure does! (I guess unless you are among the 23.5% who voted for someone who may be known more now for what he did behind the scenes than on the field.)
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Can I boast?
A topic of discussion around peers sometimes consists of the question, "So - how are things going?" The usual and comfortable answer is usually, "well." It is an answer that is safe, non-descript, and says about as much as the answer we give when someone asks us how we are.
Maybe it's because we don't want to boast, or sound arrogant, or haughty. Maybe there is a part of us that is reserving judgement - don't want to brag too soon. Maybe there is a part of us that is too myopic or nearsighted, and the question only brings about thoughts of the present.
So - go ahead and ask me! How are things going? Today my response is "Excellent!" And I guess I need to say why. Numbers are coming in for the end of the year. You know it's that time of the year when we are doing end of year reports. It's also a time when I am reflecting on Christmas and attendance, and even my messages. The easy thing for some to say is to say that it is a reflection of me. My response is to say, no - it's much larger than me. There has got to be something different happening. My only response is that God is doing something here.
Our average attendance was up last year. The last six months surpassed the previous six months by nearly 500. Our income outlasted our expenses by more than they have in years. And the last sunday of the year, a day when most churches saw a small attendance, there were 206 in worship!
My thoughts move to Paul and his ministry. In his second letter to the people of Corinth, he writes a defense, or we could say that he boasts about his ministry. But Paul is careful to reflect on the source of his boasting - the Lord. You can read what he says in 2 Corinthians 10 here.
Hopefully, I am boasting about what God is doing, and not what I am doing. I can't do this stuff on my own, and would be foolish to think otherwise. I want to keep a level head, but I am so excited about how God is moving and leading people at this church. It has been my prayer that people would come to hear the Word of God. God is doing just that - and I am proud that our congregation can be a part of that Kingdom work.
Hopefully, I have confined my boasting to the "proper limits," and the "field God has assigned."
Thank you God for this ministry.
Maybe it's because we don't want to boast, or sound arrogant, or haughty. Maybe there is a part of us that is reserving judgement - don't want to brag too soon. Maybe there is a part of us that is too myopic or nearsighted, and the question only brings about thoughts of the present.
So - go ahead and ask me! How are things going? Today my response is "Excellent!" And I guess I need to say why. Numbers are coming in for the end of the year. You know it's that time of the year when we are doing end of year reports. It's also a time when I am reflecting on Christmas and attendance, and even my messages. The easy thing for some to say is to say that it is a reflection of me. My response is to say, no - it's much larger than me. There has got to be something different happening. My only response is that God is doing something here.
Our average attendance was up last year. The last six months surpassed the previous six months by nearly 500. Our income outlasted our expenses by more than they have in years. And the last sunday of the year, a day when most churches saw a small attendance, there were 206 in worship!
My thoughts move to Paul and his ministry. In his second letter to the people of Corinth, he writes a defense, or we could say that he boasts about his ministry. But Paul is careful to reflect on the source of his boasting - the Lord. You can read what he says in 2 Corinthians 10 here.
Hopefully, I am boasting about what God is doing, and not what I am doing. I can't do this stuff on my own, and would be foolish to think otherwise. I want to keep a level head, but I am so excited about how God is moving and leading people at this church. It has been my prayer that people would come to hear the Word of God. God is doing just that - and I am proud that our congregation can be a part of that Kingdom work.
Hopefully, I have confined my boasting to the "proper limits," and the "field God has assigned."
Thank you God for this ministry.
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
The Padawan Learner
Upon my being appointed to the College Hill Church, I was told of a retired pastor who I would like to meet. I began to hear stories of this sage, but only recently came to understand the full scope of that reality.
This pastor was recently hospitalized with a reoccuring condition. I had an opportunity to visit yesterday, and spent more than an hour in deep and lasting conversation with he and his wife. Today, I again visited, spending even more time in the act of learning.
For some reason, I have always valued relationships where I can learn from others. That may sound like a given for most of us, but I am sure that there are those in the world who find their knowledge too lofty to learn from another. I, however, value relationship, and especially those where I can simply listen and learn. I especially value my covenant group - these guys are foundational in my continuing conversation about vocation and ministering in today's world. Outside that covenant relationship, there are the moments of conversation with those who have "been there, done that" when I seem to learn the most - when I simply sit and listen. I become the learner.
As I continue to seek direction, God's leading, through prayer and meditation - today's lesson was most valuable. I'm not done processing, but I know it will go a long way into how God is moving, leading, changing and directing ministry today. I guess you could say that my lessons today were providential.
Thanks Be To God. And thanks be to God for my friends in ministry, the sages of life.
This pastor was recently hospitalized with a reoccuring condition. I had an opportunity to visit yesterday, and spent more than an hour in deep and lasting conversation with he and his wife. Today, I again visited, spending even more time in the act of learning.
For some reason, I have always valued relationships where I can learn from others. That may sound like a given for most of us, but I am sure that there are those in the world who find their knowledge too lofty to learn from another. I, however, value relationship, and especially those where I can simply listen and learn. I especially value my covenant group - these guys are foundational in my continuing conversation about vocation and ministering in today's world. Outside that covenant relationship, there are the moments of conversation with those who have "been there, done that" when I seem to learn the most - when I simply sit and listen. I become the learner.
As I continue to seek direction, God's leading, through prayer and meditation - today's lesson was most valuable. I'm not done processing, but I know it will go a long way into how God is moving, leading, changing and directing ministry today. I guess you could say that my lessons today were providential.
Thanks Be To God. And thanks be to God for my friends in ministry, the sages of life.
Is this the time?
I guess the thing to do at this time of year would be to make a new year's resolution. However, I'm just not feelin' it this year.
Don't get me wrong - it's not that I don't think there is a place for renewal, but I just don't think that this is the best time of the year for one. Just because the date changes from one year to the next with the drop of a crystal ball, there are probably better times of the year to make a change.
Liturgically, I could think of several times of the year. It wasn't just four weeks ago, that the church began it's new year.
Scholastically, while my kids have gone back to school, it's not the beginning of a new semester or for that matter the beginning of a new marking period.
Physically - I decided about 7 months ago to shed some pounds, so I guess that's out. So I guess I just don't feel the grove.
There is one area in which I hope to move toward change. The new year means a new cycle of Leadership in the church. This is the time that the church bureaucracy has decided that it is most appropriate to make the change - (more thought about that later). So with that new leadership, I am hoping to move from my Honeymoon period to a period of renewal. I believe that it is time now to move forward with some new ideas, new energy, and a new model for ministry as we continue to bring about God's Kingdom here on College Hill.
But then again, maybe this is not the time for renewal - we will have to see how God leads us.
Don't get me wrong - it's not that I don't think there is a place for renewal, but I just don't think that this is the best time of the year for one. Just because the date changes from one year to the next with the drop of a crystal ball, there are probably better times of the year to make a change.
Liturgically, I could think of several times of the year. It wasn't just four weeks ago, that the church began it's new year.
Scholastically, while my kids have gone back to school, it's not the beginning of a new semester or for that matter the beginning of a new marking period.
Physically - I decided about 7 months ago to shed some pounds, so I guess that's out. So I guess I just don't feel the grove.
There is one area in which I hope to move toward change. The new year means a new cycle of Leadership in the church. This is the time that the church bureaucracy has decided that it is most appropriate to make the change - (more thought about that later). So with that new leadership, I am hoping to move from my Honeymoon period to a period of renewal. I believe that it is time now to move forward with some new ideas, new energy, and a new model for ministry as we continue to bring about God's Kingdom here on College Hill.
But then again, maybe this is not the time for renewal - we will have to see how God leads us.
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