Update:
I don’t have much time before Karen and I leave to do our grocery
shopping and then on to my eye surgery; so this will be short and quick.
Yesterday, we had an interesting day at church. It started out with a 7 a.m. phone call
alerting me that the church had been broken into sometime after 9:30 p.m. on
Saturday and 7 a.m. on Sunday. The
biggest damage sustained was the door to the food pantry was kicked in breaking
the door. As far as we can tell nothing
was taken. One other locked cabinet was
damaged but repairable. Instead of
getting to finish preparing for my message, I dealt with the police officers
taking the report. We can only assume
that something spooked (like maybe the Holy Spirit) them and they fled before
exploring the rest of the church and doing any other property damage.
I stood up and walked a bit during the service. I stood for the announcements, the offering
and the closing prayer. I sat for my
sermon—I preach too long to stand for the entire sermon yet.
I decided to share my problems with my eyesight with the congregation
prior to preaching. While I was doing
that, my wireless microphone cut out. I
noticed that the body pack was warm and getting hotter. I took it off and set it aside. Something shorted out because later we found
that the plastic had melted and they couldn’t even open it up anymore (And I
wasn’t even preaching “hell fire and brimstone” at the time). We continued the service with a new
microphone.
After I shared what was happening with my eyes (the potential for going
blind, the eye injections and eye surgery hoping to stabilize my eyesight,
etc.), one of the members of the congregation asked if they could gather around
me and pray for me. I deeply appreciated
their prayers as well as what I saw as the continued evidence that God is
moving within my congregation.
Later in the afternoon, I went with the youth group to go see the
movie, “God is NOT Dead.” We all
thoroughly enjoyed it and I would encourage you to see it if you have the
opportunity. Locally it is playing at
the Micon in Chippewa Falls. From what I
heard Sunday’s show times were sold out.
Sunday afternoon, a friend of mine found out that his oldest son had
committed suicide. Please pray for this
family as they contend with their shock and grief. I cannot imagine the pain and
heavy-heartedness this family is enduring.
My eye surgery today is an attempt to stabilize my eye so that my
vision does not further deteriorate. I
will probably lose some (or most?) of my peripheral vision due to the
surgery. It is a trade-off to help
ensure that I keep my central vision. I
am afraid and at the same time I am at peace.
I was told that about 10 minutes of the two hour procedure is
painful. Messing with my eyes usually
bothers me anyway; so I am really hanging on to Jesus for this one! I was told that they’ll put a patch on my
eye after the surgery (I assume for a day or two) so I am being transformed
slowly into a PIRATE!!! First the peg
leg, now the eye patch, next they’ll issue me a prescription for a parrot!!!
Here is the verse I am hanging onto day:
Isaiah 41:10 “Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you,
surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (NASB)
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