I found this photo when I was looking for high school friends to post on Facebook. It's a pretty bad photo but I had to laugh. This is Jack and I in 1988. I was at the end of my medical assistant training and was learning how to draw blood. I'm practicing with a tourniquet, trying to find Jack's veins for a blood draw! Back in the 80s if you wore glasses you didn't have to have OSHA goggles or shields to draw blood! LOL Look at those things. They could be windshields! These were my FAVORITE glasses! Burgandy and nerdishly cool! :-) It looks like I'm calf roping Jack and neither one of us are thrilled with Mom interrupting with a picture. I'm also wearing my favorite concert tshirt from Steve Camp, not that you can see it, but I wore that thing to threads. It was from the song "He Covers Me" and had a black pen drawing of a huge tree with a person sitting at the base - the idea is the tree is sheltering just as He shelters and protects us. Isn't that great to know?!
Oh Lord, I feel so barren and ashamed of who I am
How I often felt I hid it well, it is a lie I cannot defend
So I lean upon Your mercy as I confess my sin to You
There is no easy way, no saving face, when I finally see the truth
So let my life be filled with only You
Chorus:
I know someday I will be free
The weight of sin shall be released
But for now He covers me
And though the trials never end
I've learned to take them as my friend
For each day He covers me
Sometimes the pressure builds around me and I feel about to break
I suffer painfully from wrongs done to me but vengeance isn't mine to take
So let me glory in my weakness till Your strength's revealed in me
It is Your grace alone that helps me carry on to be the man I long to be
So let Your life be perfected, Lord in me
Until it's You they see.
CHORUS
And though heartache surrounds me
I know Your love is around me
Nothing can separate me from You
And I know it's true
repeat CHORUS and fade
Artist: Steve CampCopyright: 1986 Birdwing Music (ASCAP) / River Oakes Music Co. (Tree Group) / Sparrow Song (BMI>
Not only was Steve Camp a "hot commodity" in the mid to late 80s contemporary Christian music scene, but I related to him on a personal level because as a teenager he lost his Dad to cancer. Having lost my Dad my senior year, just 6 weeks before graduation, I felt very isolated. Even in college I had great friends, but only one of them could understand what that was like. When Steve sang about learning to count his trials as a friend because God covered him during that time, I could believe Him and my faith was strengthened. I knew when Steve sang it, he meant it and it was true!
Okay, that ended up longer than I thought. Both Mom and I have really been comforted during this stressful time by songs of faith that remind us just how much He loves us and how we are not alone and how no matter what God is covering Jack.
Thanks to everyone who was praying for Jack's appointment on Friday. They had a very good visit with an awesome radiation oncologist who took time to answer a lot of questions about things in general as well as the specifics of the radiation therapy. Radiation won't begin for about two months because chemo will be the first round of business.
This coming Wednesday, Jack will be meeting with the medical oncologist who will be overseeing the chemotherapy treatment. Please keep this in prayer too. After Wednesday we will have a clearer picture of what is happening and hopefully a schedule.
Jack is doing quite well with his surgery recovery. Thank you for praying! It is a whole new adventure discovering what he can eat and how they can make it taste better. His sister Kris is a skilled nurse and is pampering him! :-)
If you are local, Jack is up to short visits and phone calls. He does get tired easily, but has a little cabin fever and misses his "faces"!
Please pray that Jack's body will continue to grow strong and that God will prepare him for his upcoming treatments.
We appreciate all of you!
No comments:
Post a Comment