Wednesday, January 09, 2008

• Scan results

  As some of you have already heard we did our scan yesterday and we did not get the results that we have hoped for when we talked with the doctor.  The chemo did not work and the tumor had grown slightly. We now move on to Plan C.  Currently plans are to take a pill [can't remember the name] for 4 weeks , then 2 weeks off and then scan again.  The only good think about the pill is it does not have any major side effects - just hope it works!  Vickie was really down.  She had high expectations, and I can understand why, so it was hard on her. I guess the positive aspect about the situation is that we still have plans D, E and F.  Until we hear those word "their is nothing else we can do" we always have hope that something is going to work.  I do want to thank everyone for their prayers - God still hears them and He is not still.  It just may not be the answer we want at this time.  But my God is still great and loves me, this I know because the Bible tells me so.  What a wonderful God we have.  My brother called to check on me yesterday afternoon, because he thought I might be down, and asked me what I was doing.  I told him I was painting! The work never goes away.  I told him their is no value in setting around.  God has blessed me because I feel good, and I will honor Him by doing work.  Sounds like we wont have any more information for 6 weeks, but I will keep everyone up on what is going on, and I do covet your prayers very very much - Thank You!

  This morning I was going back through a book I just finished reading by John Piper on "Don't Waste Your Life" [it is a challenging and good book] and I just wanted to share some of his comments on Philippians 1:21, ...to die is to gain.  As we progress on our journey through this cancer this may become more real every day.  But whatever the outcome I just pray that my Lord and Savior will be glorified.  Hope you enjoy.  It certainly is something for all of us to think about as our days are numbered.

  We Love You Guys Very Much,

  MW [Michael Wayne]

  FOR ME…TO DIE IS TO GAIN!!

  In Philippians 1:21 Paul explains how he is so hopeful that Christ will be magnified in his living and in his dying: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Peter also wanted to glorify God by his dying [John 21:19]. God had decreed that Peter would make God look great in his dying. Paul and Peter had one common passion: to magnify Christ crucified – even in death. But how are we to magnify Christ in death? Or to put it another way: How can we die so that in our dying the surpassing value of Christ, the magnitude of his worth, becomes visible? Paul’s answer in Philippians 1 is found first in the connection between verse 20 and verse 21. These verses are connected by the word "for" or "because". Boil it down to the words about death: "My eager expectation is that Christ be honored in my body by death, for to me to die is gain." In other words, if you experience death as gain, you magnify Christ in death.

  How is dying gain? Verse 23 shows why dying is gain for Paul: My desire is to depart [that is, to die] and be with Christ, for that is far better." That is what death does: It takes us into more intimacy with Christ. We depart, and we are with Christ, and that, Paul says, is gain. And when you experience death this way, Paul says, you exalt Christ. Experiencing Christ as gain in your dying magnifies Christ. It is "far better" than living here.

  If we suffer or die on the Calvary road of obedience with Christ, the cost of following him is not just a result of making much of him, but a means. Death makes visible where our treasure is. The way we die reveals the worth of Christ in our hearts. Christ is magnified in my death when I am satisfied with him in my dying – when I experience death as gain because I gain him. Or to say it another way: The essence of praising Christ is prizing Christ. Christ will be praised in my death, if in my death he is prized above life. Jesus said, "Whoever loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" [Matthew 10:37]. When the hour comes for everything to be taken from us but Christ, we will magnify him by saying, "In him I have everything and more. To die is to gain."

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