It’s been a while since I blogged and often I conclude that I don’t have anything of interest to say. However, I’ve had a number of comments asking how I am and so I thought I would give you an update with apologies to those who’ve heard the information many ties before. The battle for normal blood sugar has been won but it leaves me injecting insulin each day for the present. The three injections of interferon each week carry on relentlessly and the side effects vary from very little to more significant. Indeed over the past couple of weeks ...

Yes today is Good Friday, which now appears to be one of the most over looked calendar land marks. When I grew up in the UK, Good Friday was a national holiday ( I am not sure if it still is!). This made sure that anyone who wanted to could attend a service to remember the tragic and bloody events of the first Good Friday. When I came to the US I was staggered that even the major Christian organistion for which I worked did not consider Good Friday anything other than a normal workday. It was the easiest thing in the world for Good Friday to ...

When I began this road, I asked God if He would enable me to continue preaching. Two Sundays ago I shared with the New Life family one of the biggest scares I’ve had since beginning this treatment. Friday afternoon, sermon was three quarters of the way finished and all seemed well for finishing on Saturday morning, as is my normal practice. But when I sat down at my desk on Saturday I discovered I was unable to think or put together an argument with which I could convince myself let alone anybody else. The more I prayed, the more I tried ...

· One of the most unusual of my fifty-eight birthdays · I never thought I would ever find talking too tiring · Otter pops are my favorite thing in the world right now · Incredibly grateful that I can talk to my family in the UK via the amazing facilities of Skype. It really makes them feel not so far away. · The most predictable part of every day is how much I look forward to getting into bed after treatment. · How grateful I am for the prayers of so many of my friends all over the world; people who I’ve known for years, and people ...

· My first experience of depression and fatigue and I do not like it never thought I would have to take anti depressants! · The realization dawned that this is the first week in January and some form of treatments stretch ahead for a year. Seems like a mountain to climb! · How grateful I am that God has given me such good health for the first 57 years of my life · Strange to receive a call from a doctor at 2:30 am asking that we visit the emergency because of a strange reading of my potassium level in a blood test the day before....

One more blog post that caught my attention was from Shannon Cunningham. Towards the end of last year she wrote a very insightful post entitled, “ Bloom Where you are Planted”. I was challenged by her reminder of how easy it is to look at what is happening to others and to wish that were me. Unfortunately there were more occurrences of that type of thing in my life than I like to remember. The most powerful of all was when I was looking for a church where to begin my time in the pastorate. I applied all over the place and came pretty close to ...

Random thoughts from Interferon Week 1 · I don’t like flu now any more than the last time I had it even if it’s only for a few hours each day! · How amazing it is to be given my infusion each day by Nurse Heide who makes a point of praying for all her patients · It really was rather scary to get the shakes so bad that I could not speak on Tuesday. · How grateful I am for the advice of a doctor friend about the advisability of some of the medication given me and for Kaiser staff who were willing to reconsider and make changes. · What ...

It’s done! It took me just about 120 days because I slowed up at the end, but I finished as I read the final chapters of Revelation in the early morning of the first day of 2010. It sure has been an adventure and I have learned so much. I saw the reality of “The Big Story of God” in ways I never have before, its unity, its uniqueness and the unfolding revelation of the nature of God. A few days ago I said I wanted to draw your attention to some blog posts from members of the New Life Family that had caught my attention. Well undoubtedly New ...

Last Sunday I posed some questions for our church family that I believe are crucial for us to consider as we enter a new calendar year. The questions are so important that leadership has felt led to call the church family to a 21 day fast to begin the year (Jan. 4-24). ( Full sermon can be heard here) It was wonderful to recall and thank God for all the amazing things He has done at NLCF over the past year, significant increase in attendance and noticeable increase in commitment. Many are regular attenders where they were sporadic or just ...

Over the next few days I want to draw your attention to some recent posts from members of the New Life family that have captured my attention and challenged my thinking recently. The first is a post from Liz Howeth on the subject of fear. This honest account of the ways fear has prevented her from trying some things was powerful for me as I face what has been my greatest fear. Ever since a close friend in the UK was diagnosed with leukemia and I watched his long fight and finally saw God call him home, fear of cancer has haunted me. Walking ...

““Don’t over do it!” Over the past few weeks I have heard this familiar phrase from many who love and care for me. When I started thinking about it, I found myself entering one of those 'more questions than answers' zones!! How do I know when I am about to…”over do it”? Where is the boundary between “under" (is there such a thing?) and “over” doing it? Last Friday I think I experienced the consequences of “over doing it”. I was looking forward to going to my friend Josh Howeth’s graduation from Seminary (Congratulations Josh!!) but found ...

Today I want to pay tribute to an amazing lady; I have to do it this way because circumstances are such that I am not able to be with her to celebrate her 80th birthday. This lady is Kay Rouillard and she is Mag’s Mom. I have only known her for about three years but a more marked antithesis of all that is said about mothers in law could not be found! I did not have the privilege of meeting her husband, Maggie’s father, as she lost him more that twenty years ago, but I have had the joy of beginning to get to know, not just her but the wonderful ...

So today has not been so good. I am grateful that the healing process from the surgery is proceeding just as the doctor said it would. But as l talk with those who know about the interferon treatment, it seems that the month of January will be like four weeks with the “equivalent of swine flu.” It’s a little daunting. How do I prepare for that? What is that going to do to my precious family, to say nothing of my church family? And then there are the survival statistics. But I read : “And we know that in all things God works for the good ...

To continue the story, in case some of you have not heard, I had some more tissue taken from my heel and the sentinel lymph nodes taken from my left groin. Both nodes had metastatic melanoma present so they ordered a PET scan which came back clear, Praise God. Yesterday I had dissection of the rest of the lymph nodes in my left groin and I am now recovering at home. God provided wonderful staff at Kaiser South City that made the 24hr visit as pleasant as possible under the circumstances. As soon as I have recovered, I am to begin interferon ...

I have had this call three times already, once concerning my late wife Sarah, and then in turn for each of my two sisters. However when the subject of the call is you it adds a completely new dimension to your response! A few weeks ago I asked my doctor about a mark on my heel just to be sure that it was not connected to my Type 2 Diabetes. Following tests on this, seemingly insignificant, mark on my heel that I got “that call” to inform me that it was in fact a melanoma. The implications of that call have not been far from my mind ever ...

So many times this week, as I have been doing my readings in the 90 day Bible and having conversations with others about the passages I have been reminded of the perspective I shared on Sunday from Brian Maclarens book “ A Search for What is Real.” In case you missed them I thought I would share some of the quotations again. Its rather long but well worth the time . . . . I have a confession to make: I have often wondered about the Bible, as I have about the church: "God, couldn't you have done better than this?" If God were trying to give ...

Sometimes the subject of sharing your faith can be so uncomfortable can’t it? If you are anything like me thinking about it just brings back memories of missed opportunities. I recall times I have made excuses or simply just been too scared. The easy answer is to try not to think about it too often but easy answers are rarely the right ones! Recently however I have been reading a book which has been a real encouragement on the subject. (If you are part of New Life you have heard me quote it from the pulpit a number of times in the past few ...

I am sure most of us have heard at some time or another that quote from Socrates “ “The unexamined life is not worth living” It would seem that the writer to the Hebrews was sensing the same danger when he wrote “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away”. Hebrews 2:1. The challenge there is to live an examined life, an intentional life, as we have examined this idea over the past few weeks at New Life we have seen that a good way of training ourselves to be intentional is to make a ...

Most Saturday mornings I look forward to having breakfast at Denny’s with a group of men connected in some way to the NLCF church family. It reminds me that the first part of our mission statement is about connecting and it’s a wonderful opportunity to do just that. Almost invariably I order the same item from the menu, A Grand Slamwich! Yes only Denny’s could come up with such an exciting name for a heart attack on a plate. However I do make one special request (which is also a measurable health improvement!), I ask for “ No mayo! “ I am ...

It seems only a short while ago that we first experienced “doing church” with church families all over the world in ONE PRAYER. Over a period of five weeks last June we joined more that 1500 churches and heard some wonderful teaching, prayed together and contributed to an offering that has resulted in more than 600 (the target was 500!) churches being planted in China, Sudan, India and Cambodia. The exciting thing is that this Sunday this wonderful project begins again! During One Prayer 2009 will hear messages from great teachers some of ...