Another update!

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I will be brief about my health this week mainly because I don't feel too great, but I felt bad I had not updated you on the situation so that you will know how you can pray this week. Today is Thursday and round 2 of chemo is complete. This round was very tough and I know it's gonna get tougher! My voice is still gone and this is really hard on me. I went to Abilene for a check up last thursday or so I thought, they admitted me and went ahead and did round 2, out of nowhere! I was not really mentally prepared as strange as that sounds. I have been home a couple of days but I haven't got back to 100% yet. I'm sure it will take some time. I am praying that God will show me something good that chemo did this time around in three days. Last time I was able to start eating after three days so I'm really looking forward to what He has in store for me this time.
Speaking of praying, I tend to do quite a bit of that these days. I was looking at Jesus praying and saw something interesting. Some of you may already know this, but this is what God has revealed to me this week. I always try to recite the Lord's Prayer when I'm not feeling well. This week while in the hospital, God led me to the "real" Lord's Prayer. It is found in John 17. Here we find Jesus praying in the Garden right before He's crucified. In Matthew, we find the Lord's model Prayer, but here we see Jesus hard at work, praying. I discovered that this chapter is broken in four parts. Please understand this is my version of it and it is not written in stone.
In John 17:1-5 Jesus prays for Himself
John 17:6-19 He prays for the 11 disciples that were still with Him
John 17:20-26 He prays for all believers that were still to come. Can you believe that? Jesus was praying for me and you at the Garden before He was crucified!
Then in John 17:20-26 He prays for the unity of the church.
What a great thought...Right before Jesus was arrested and beaten and crucified He took time out and remembered to pray for us! My mind is not big enough to fathom this concept, but then again I've never been known to be the "sharpest" tool in the shed...God bless you this week. I hope we take time out of our busy lives to say a prayer for someone else even during our time of crisis...

Tony

P.S. In case you're wondering what my family does while I'm in chemo for four days. My wife took the girls to the Children's Museum in Abilene. It was inexpensive and as you can see they had a blast. We highly recommend this as a family event. I also ask that you notice the question that I have posted this week. I thought it was a pretty tough one...

Well here we go off to another great week! Just a quick note about my health and then a short devo. As far as my health goes, this has been an exciting week. Lots has happened since I last posted, the two major things are this last wednesday I had a feeding tube put in. I am eating fine, but my Dr. seemed to think it would be a good idea since we don't know what the future holds and I was losing weight pretty quick. Thank God I have not had to use it and my appetite has been pretty good. My wife made my favorite tater tot casserole and I ate the whole thing by myself over the last few days! That was exciting! Another unexpected event that has occurred is that God has decided I no longer need a voice! I now talk with a speech impediment. If you call my phone and I don't answer this is why. I am now talking with a very heavy tongue and I am very difficult to understand. My daughters think it's hilarious when I try to discipline them, but I guess they get their warped sense of humor from their mom...
Again, I cannot tell you how overwhelmed we have been by the love we have received in so many different forms! I am feeling really good and I am really missing being around students and preaching. Since I cannot really preach a vocal message, I have a feeling I will be posting a little more regularly. I have a Dr.'s appointment this coming thursday in Abilene. I covet your prayers. I guess they will tell us when we do our next round of chemo.

Isaiah 53:5, my paraphrase says, "by his stripes I am healed..."
Since I have been diagnosed, again, I have really had an encounter with God and we have been talking about this situation. I thought about it the other day, about the difference in my relationship with God now, and my relationship b.c. (before cancer). I love to drink Starbuck's coffee, as some of you may already know...(hee hee). There's nothing like sipping on a Venti 2% cappacino with sugar, wet! Now some of you know exactly what I'm talking about. Others have not yet seen the light to know what exactly this is. This is basically 20oz. of "heaven of earth". If you think you can handle it, you can eat a Reese's Peanut Butter cup with it, and you will be a changed person! It is the sweetest, most tasty treat on this side of heaven! I am sitting here drooling on the keyboard as I type this because we do not have a Starbuck's here in Brady. I love Starbucks and they have their own lingo when you order in there. They try to be responsible to the coffee growers and the enviroment and often feature stories about who grew your coffee beans and what part of the world it was grown. My true encounter with Starbuck's came the first time I pressed my lips to that cup! It's like time stood still. That was my first encounter with Starbuck's. Before this encounter I could only talk and imagine what Starbuck's was like. After I had the first taste though, then it became an encounter! I now feel like the hand of God has touched me. I have had that encounter with God. That's what's different. Many of us can talk the Christian lingo. We can wear the Christian clothes. We know the Sunday School answers, and we can quote scripture with the best of them, but we have never felt the hand of God.
Let me encourage you to check yourself right now. Where are you and where is God? Are you and God one right now? John 3:30, says, "I must decrease and He must increase..." Let's stop talking and start walking! I pray that we all have an encounter with God this week that is obvious to all...God Bless your socks off!

Tony

Change...

Time really seems to get away from me these days and the funny thing is I don't know why. All I really do anymore is sleep! Let me see if I can get everyone caught up as to what's going on in our world. I have always been a man who thanks God for everything, but here lately some things have been tough to accept. I guess since we last visited lots has happened around here. I have started chemotherapy again! Not very excited about it, but it's happening. Praise God we got through the 1st round with very little excitement. I am very tired and sleep all the time, but Mindy says that's nothing new! I try to work when I can, but the heat is not good for me and I have been advised not be around large groups of people. I can have visitors, but sanitizer is a must. I am doing my treatments in Abilene and it is working out ok. At time's I'm not a happy camper, but then I remember that I'm there as a representative of Christ. I don't know how others treat those nurses, but I know when they see my Bible; they're watching ME. I do my best to be a representative of Jesus in ALL situations. I have started doing a little better now that I'm at home, but often put on a strong face for my girls and remember Philippians 4:13, " I can do all things through Christ who strenthens me..." All of a sudden this isn't just a T-shirt logo anymore. I know that you want to know what you can do for us to help us. I am going to list some things people have done, but don't expect you to do the same, however I want to show how awesome our friends and family are, I will not name names. Someone has finally bought our car from us, which is one less payment we have! Praise God!Someone else in our family paid our utility bill last month! I am not a person who accepts gifts very easy, but God has really taught me humility here lately! While I had treatments in Abilene, my wife and girls stayed at the League house which is $35 a night, the first morning my wife went down they told her it was paid in full for as many nights as we needed it! God is so good! I have found out that I don't have wealthy friends, but we have FRIENDS. I am writing this through tears, because God's love is so great! It is so awesome to receive cards and letters, they really lift us up. Please continue to pray for my Awesome wife, I don't know how I would function without her. Keep praying for healing, because I know regardless of what doctor's think, I know who the Great Physcian is...God Bless you to all my friends and I will write more later, sorry if I rambled.

Tony

And we're back...

Wow, it seems as though it's been forever since I've done this. Let me tell you it feels really good to be doing this right now! As some of you know I haven't typed in a month, let me explain why. I have been a very sick little man! Since my last devo, I have lost 18 lbs. That's not a good thing, I was not trying to lose weight. As you all know I have already had one bout with cancer in my throat. I began feeling sick about two weeks ago, but just kept trying to move on. Last thursday my world nearly came to an end. I had already been to see the doctor and had been diagnosed with pneumonia. I came home with an antibiotic, after three days of not eating and still feeling really bad, I developed a cough that would make me pass out. I knew that wasn't a good thing. I finally had enough and asked my wife to take me back to the doctor. I knew I didn't have the strength to get to Fredericksburg so off we went to Brownwood ER.. We arrived at noon, (so I'm told) and they began to run tests on me. I was admitted and spent the night in Brownwood. The next morning is when all hell broke loose! Friday Morning they came in and said I had fluid around my heart that was not supposed to be there and it needed to be relieved, but they couldn't do that there. They would need to send me elsewhere. They sent me to Abilene Regional where I would spend the next week. They did a procedure on me to remove all the fluid and check the fluid to see if maybe my cancer was back. I am now recovering from that procedure and we're still not certain on results from that fluid. It seems as though I am starting to ramble so I will stop for now. I just wanted to update all our prayer warriors and let you all know that I have seen too many miracles to count in the last couple of weeks to mention. I will be mentioning some of them as time goes by! Thank you for your prayers and let's keep it up! I didn't post a picture of myself this week because I don't think you all would recognize me. I am down to 120lbs.
God Bless

Tony

God is good...

Friday Update...

This has been such an awesome week and the power of God has been so obvious! I could not wait until tomorrow to tell of all that God has been doing in our lives. If you will recall, in last week's episode we had lost our camera. We don't lose things like this. It's amazing how God reveals Himself to us in everyday, simple ways. Yesterday (Friday), I was on my way to the store and topped a hill, my truck died! I was going fast enough that the momentum allowed me to pull off the highway. I phoned my wife and informed her of my situation, then I phoned my mechanic. Some may wonder why I called my wife before I called my mechanic? The logic is simple: my wife prays about EVERYTHING! I tried to start the truck several times and it wouldn't work. I sat and prayed and called the mechanic, not two minutes after the phone call I tried the truck again and it has not done it again. Some say this is coincidence, I say this is God smiling back at us. Monday we went camera shopping and decided we weren't giving up on our old camera yet especially after pricing new cameras. Today, (saturday), I got a call from my sister telling us she found our camera on her dresser! Again, same may call this carelessness, I am gonna go with God looked down at us and smiled! Today I was doing a job that was way over my head with my limited knowledge. I spent about an hour in the humidity trying to figure it out. I finally asked God to lead me in what to do next...He did! It worked! Some may call this trial and error, I'm gonna say it was the Power of God!!! God is good...All the time...

Tony

Luke 15...

Luke 15...is what many refer to as "the lost chapter". They call this "the lost chapter", not because it was missing or was added later or anything like that. The reason this chapter is called "lost" is because there are three parables and in it three things are lost and then are found. In the first parable there is a shepherd who has one hundred sheep. He loses one and leaves the ninety nine to search for that one until he finds it. Then it's party time! He calls his friends over and they rejoice because he has found that one that was missing! In the next few verses we find a lady who has lost a coin. She turns her house upside down looking for that coin until she finds it! After finding her coin she calls her friends and throws a party! In the last parable we find the story of the "prodigal son". Here we have a man who has two sons. The older one decides to take his inheritance early and goes off and squanders it. When he comes back home after he has spent all he had and ate with pigs from the same trough, his father welcomes him home with open arms. These three parables are awesome. They end the way they should. I love this chapter so much that my very first sermon I preached came from this chapter.
Well my friends, it doesn't always end the way it should. Please allow me to tell you my story. I decided on Sunday that I needed to go baptize some minnows that had made a decision earlier in the week. What's a fishing trip without a camera? I asked my wife for the camera and...wait for it...wait for it...the search began! We dropped the ninety nine things we were doing to go and search for that one that was missing...no rejoicing. We turned our house upside down searching...no rejoicing. I went ahead and went fishing...a little rejoicing. The prodigal son returned from fishing...and still no payoff! There is no picture to go with this devotion because there is no camera. We have no idea where it is. One minute it was here and the next it was gone.
The camera can be replaced. Prayers are still being sent as I write this. The camera is probably somewhere really obvious. As I searched for this camera it made me realize how much you miss something you had once it's gone! Perhaps some of us had a relationship with Jesus at some point, but we have wandered off the path. He is still there. Maybe we want that relationship but we think we're too busy, or not good enough, or too far gone in life! Good news, God is still there seeking for us to come back. My prayer for this week is for those who once had a close relationship with God, that they come back, so we can have a party together someday! God Bless

Tony

Happy Mother's Day!

The local news station was interviewing an 80-year-old lady because she had just gotten married -- for the fourth time.
The interviewer asked her questions about her life, about what it felt like to be marrying again at 80, and then about her new husband's occupation.

'He's a funeral director,' she answered.

'Interesting,' the newsman thought. He then asked her if she wouldn't mind telling him a little about her first three husbands and what they did for a living.
She paused for a few moments, needing time to reflect on all those years. After a short time, a smile came to her face and she answered proudly, explaining that she'd first married a banker when she was in her early 20's, then a circus ringmaster when in her 40's, later on a preacher when in her 60's, and now in her 80's, a funeral director.
The interviewer looked at her, quite astonished, and asked why she had married four men with such diverse careers.
She smiled and explained, 'I married one for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go.'
I can't even begin to tell you what a mother means to me! After watching my wife work around the house all day I want to ask her when the last time she had a hot meal was or when the last time she enjoyed a shower without people knocking on the door to ask where something is, or how about when was the last time she did something for herself! Moms are simply amazing! I thank God every day for mine and for the wonderful mother that my children are blessed with...God Bless you mother's, I can honestly say, "you are my heroes!"

God Bless,
Tony