Zach’s surgery is scheduled for Monday 5/23 at 9:30 am. We’re thankful for the help of getting thru to 7 specialists in the span of 4 days.
Thanks for your ongoing prayers.
Tim
Author Archives: revtimbrown
My son Zach
We learned yesterday that Zach, has a rare eye condition in his left eye called retinoblastoma. This cancerous tumor on his eye has caused his retina to detach which is how we first became aware of the problem–the symptom is called “no red-reflex.”
The clear and unambiguous counsel of the opthamology specialists is that the best course of action for his condition is to remove the tumor. This necessitates the removal of his entire left eye (enucleation of the eye). He will grow up with a prosthetic eye and will hopefully be free of cancer.
Due to the apparently rapid growth of this tumor, we have agreed with the Doctors’ counsel to proceed to surgery this Monday, May 23. We will have some elders gather and pray over Zach this weekend prior to the surgery.
Here are some specific ways that you can pray for us at this time:
photography by Emily Alberta
- Pray that we have clear wisdom about this course of action.
- Pray that God would heal him before and without surgery.
- Pray that as surgery is otherwise necessary, that it will be entirely successful.
- Pray that the cancer in his body will be only in the eye and not anywhere else. Further, that there would be no threat upon his life due to this tumor. We have obviously “caught it early.”
- Pray for our other children as they deal with this dramatic event. Pray that they would still feel well loved in the midst of busyness and necessary attention toward Zach!
- Pray for God’s peace for all of us. We’re doing pretty well, most moments!
- Pray for God to be glorified and for opportunities to make him known.
Thanks for standing with us in prayer.
In Christ,
Tim and Sarah
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?” (in our case, with eye cancer)
Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God may be displayed in him.” John 9:2-3
Praise God for skilled physicians who can respond.
Praise God that it was in a part of the body we could see into!
Praise God that he is a gracious healer.
Praise God that all things are in his hands!
Praise God for his other good eye!
Praise God from whom all blessings flow!
Lent
Has anyone asked you what you’re giving up for Lent? You know we as evangelicals don’t tend to do much about that. Perhaps you’ve already given up something. If so, that’s great.
If you’ve not given up anything for lent, may I invite you to join me in giving up prayerlessness? You know it’s way too easy to be prayerless. Maybe it’s because we aren’t dependent enough. Maybe it’s because we don’t realize that we have the privilege of spiritual adoption entreating us to talk to our heavenly Father with the promise of his undivided attention.
Whatever it is that keeps us from him, the best antidote is to get alone with God and pray. Nothing puts us in the right frame of mind for prayer, than prayer itself.
When life is busy the need only increases to spend time waiting at his throne and pouring out our hearts to him. Whatever you’re doing this season between now and Easter, I pray that you will find time to enter his presence and seek his face.
8 Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. 9 Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. 10 Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. 11 Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. 12 Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced. 1 Chronicles 16:8-12
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Filed under Spiritual Formation
Lessons from the Kings of Israel and Judah
A friend of mine recently asked about the sins of the Kings of Israel and Judah:
- why did they sin?
- why did God seem to overlook some sins, but not others?
- where did they go wrong?
- what can we learn from them?
These are great questions. Here was my answer…
The Lord is gracious and does not treat us as our sins deserve. As a result, sometimes he treats us more or less severely, but it’s always less than we truly deserve.
The Kings of Israel did not get it for a variety of reasons:
- They were humans and imperfect men–demonstrating the need for the true King of Israel, Jesus.
- They were trying to solve their problems with human solutions, which often meant turning to human strategies instead of the Lord. Like when you have a foreign threat, do you bolster armies and make alliances with foreign nations, or do you pray and seek the Lord’s face?
- They were swayed by their evil wives. For example, Ahab and Jezebel (she was so treacherous!)
- They didn’t obey primary commands—the king was supposed to copy the Torah by hand, but few did. When you don’t know the law, you cannot obey it.
- The kings of the Northern 10 tribes (following the kingdom split immediately after Solomon) sinned greatly by trying to create a competing religion with the Temple to make the people follow them in a religious nations (theocratic). The north went into exile in 722 BC.
- The kings of the South (Israel and Judah) sinned by thinking that their fidelity to the Temple would save them. That is, “God will never destroy us because he will make the Temple continue.” Wrong answer. God did not spare them or the Temple. He fulfilled his words in Deuteronomy 27-28. Isaiah claims that when they raised their hands to worship, they were stained with blood because of their corruption. The south went into exile in 586 BC.
Deuteronomy 28:63-64 Just as it pleased the LORD to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess. 64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods– gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
Filed under Bible and Theology
38 years and counting
This weekend marks the 38th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
I encourage you to read Al Mohler’s excellent blog post on this subject.
To those who are supportive of abortion on demand, may God “open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in (Jesus).”
Acts 26:18
Tim
Filed under Christ and Culture, Current Events
. . . As I Follow Christ 