Consider it pure joy

Narlin and I can’t wait to go back home to Thailand but it seems we will be staying in the Philippines longer than we anticipated.

I never thought that the PET CT, another CT Scan and blood tests would take more than a month. Nevertheless, our stay here is nothing short of joyful reunions with family, friends, and people who are praying for us.
The Lord keeps us joyful in spite of sickness and we are reminded of God’s promises in 1 Peter 1:2-4.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

It seems my battle against cancer is not over yet. The nodule in my right lung is apparently a renal cancer metastasis from the right kidney that was surgically removed last January. It is noticeably increasing in size as seen in PET CT and the latest CT Scan.

Dr. Adefuin, my oncologist told us he needs treatment. With the help of our friends, Dr. Ener Baysa-Pee, my urologist, Dr. SJ Garcia, (I baptized him when he was young and he is now a practicing oncologist in Manila) and my childhood friend, Dr. Noel Cruz, we are exploring different treatments to remove the tumor in my right lung.

The oncologist told us that our first option is targeted therapy by oral medicine. She recommended that we should explore radiation therapy. There are two kinds of this type. The first is Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) and the other is Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT). All these treatments are rather expensive, although non-invasive are not as good as surgery.
My urologist, Dr. Baysa-Pee suggested Thoracic Surgery, Dr. SJ and Dr. Noel agreed and think it is my best option.

I consulted a surgeon in Tarlac City and he referred us to one of the best thoracic surgeons in Manila. We are waiting for the Doctor's message anytime now to tell us to proceed to the Lung Center for the surgery.

God did a miracle in the last surgery with both healing and provisions. Please continue to pray for me that I will be cleared for the surgery. Pray for success, fast healing, and recovery.
Thank you so much for your love and prayers. We have peace of mind and confidence in our hearts because we know that you are praying for us.

Meditation upon creation

But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you; 

or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. 

Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. 

Job 12: 7-10

(One) kind of contemplative prayer is meditation upon the creation. Now, this is no infantile pantheism, but a majestic monotheism in which the great Creator of the universe shows us something of his glory through his creation. The heavens do indeed declare the glory of God and the firmament does show forth his handiwork (Ps. 19:1).

Evelyn Underhill recommends, "...begin with that first form of contemplation which the old mystics sometimes called 'the discovery of God in his creatures!'" So give your attention to the created order. Look at the trees, really look at them. Take a flower and allow its beauty and symmetry to sink deep into your mind and heart.

Listen to the birds they are the messengers of God. Watch the little creatures that creep upon the earth. These are humble acts, to be sure, but sometimes God reaches us profoundly in these simple ways if we will quiet ourselves to listen.

Lord, thank you for revealing more of yourself to us. Not only through your written words but also in your creation. In Jesus' name. Amen

Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, 2003 PDF

On Christian Meditation

This, in brief, forms the biblical foundation for meditation, and the wonderful news is that Jesus has not stopped acting and speaking. He is resurrected and at work in our world. He is not idle, nor has he developed laryngitis. He is alive and among us as our Priest to forgive us, our Prophet to teach us, our King to rule us, our Shepherd to guide us.

All the saints throughout the ages have witnessed this reality. How sad that contemporary Christians are so ignorant of the vast sea of literature on Christian meditation by faithful believers throughout the centuries! And their testimony to the joyful life of perpetual communion is amazingly uniform. From Catholic to Protestant, from Eastern Orthodox to Western Free Church we are urged to "live in his presence in uninterrupted fellowship."

The Russian mystic Theophan the Recluse says, "To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart, and there to stand before the face of the Lord, ever-present, all seeing, within you." The Anglican divine Jeremy Taylor declares, "Meditation is the duty of all." And in our day Lutheran martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer, when asked why he meditated, replied, "Because I am a Christian."

The witness of Scripture and the witness of the devotional masters are so rich, so alive with the presence of God that we would be foolish to neglect such a gracious invitation to experience, in the words of Madame Guyon, "the depths of Jesus Christ."

Richard Foster, The Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

Going to sleep is an act of faith

“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, 
make me dwell in safety."

Psalm 4:8

We begin our lives asleep in the womb, formed by another. Passive in the darkness, we are made. When we finally venture into daylight action, we are not done with the passivities of sleep but return to them at once. In our early days we are more asleep than awake, as another, and others nourish us into the wholeness that we have neither the wisdom nor the strength to fashion ourselves. Gradually our waking hours lengthen and we take up for ourselves tasks others did for us, entering into the work of the world—loving, helping, feeding, healing, building, teaching, making.

But we never arrive at a condition where we are beyond sleep, self-sufficient in twenty-four-hour control. Daily we give up consciousness, submitting ourselves to that which is deeper than consciousness in order to grow and be healed, be created and saved. Going to sleep is a biological necessity; it can also be an act of faith. People who live by faith have always welcomed the evening hour of prayer, disengaging themselves from the discordant, arrhythmic confusion of tongues, and sinking into the quiet rhythms of God’s creating and covenanting words.

Are you able to go to sleep in peace, believing deep down that the Lord  keeps you secure during the night hour?

Lord, now I lay me down to sleep, believing that my soul you’ll keep. Amen.

"Welcome the Evening" by Eugene Peterson

Excerpt From: “Faith That Matters: 365 Devotions from Classic Christian Leaders.”

On silence and meditation

It is hard to find a silent moment in our churches today. Pastors and musicians feel like loud music is equal to intense worship. As if the period of quietness should be filled with noises like soft background music or prayers.  There is nothing wrong with that but I always think that a moment of silent prayer and meditation should be important in contemporary worship.

"Contemplation is not a psychological trick but a theological grace." - Thomas Merton

In contemporary society our Adversary majors in three things: noise, hurry, and crowds. If he can keep us engaged in "muchness" and "manyness," he will rest satisfied. Psychiatrist Carl Jung once remarked, "Hurry is not of the Devil; it is the Devil."

If we hope to move beyond the superficialities of our culture, including our religious culture, we must be willing to go down into the recreating silences, into the inner world of contemplation. In their writings, all the masters of meditation beckon us to be pioneers in this frontier of the Spirit. Though it may sound strange to modern ears, we should without shame enroll as apprentices in the school of contemplative prayer.

Richard J. Foster, The Celebration of Discipline: The Path to Spiritual Growth, 2003.

Book I Read: Celebration of Discipline

 

I read this book when I was in the Seminary almost 30 years ago. Now that I was diagnosed with kidney cancer and having radical nephrectomy of my right kidney, I thought it would have a long and hard road to recovery. I have been struggling with my personal spirituality. But I know that during the difficult times, it is my spirituality that will help me stay strong. So I am revisiting this book on spirituality. No, I won’t write a book review but I will just post few nuggets that I hope will inspire those who will read to grow in their spiritual life.

 

Here is the description of the book written by Richard J. Foster.

From the Inside Flap

In the twenty years since its publication, Celebration of Discipline has helped over a million seekers discover a richer spiritual life infused with joy, peace, and a deeper understanding of God. For this special twentieth-anniversary edition, Richard J. Foster has added an introduction, in which he shares the story of how this beloved and enduring spiritual guidebook came to be.

Hailed by many as the best modern book on Christian spirituality, Celebration of Discipline explores the "classic Disciplines," or central spiritual practices, of the Christian faith. Along the way, Foster shows that it is only by and through these practices that the true path to spiritual growth can be found.

Dividing the Disciplines into three movements of the Spirit, Foster shows how each of these areas contributes to a balanced spiritual life. The inward Disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study offer avenues of personal examination and change. The outward Disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service help prepare us to make the world a better place. The corporate Disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration bring us nearer to one another and to God.

Foster provides a wealth of examples demonstrating how these Disciplines can become part of our daily activities--and how they can help us shed our superficial habits and "bring the abundance of God into our lives." He offers crucial new insights on simplicity, demonstrating how the biblical view of simplicity, properly understood and applied, brings joy and balance to our inward and outward lives and "sets us free to enjoy the provision of God as a gift that can be shared with others." The discussion of celebration, often the most neglected of the Disciplines, shows its critical importance, for it stands at the heart of the way to Christ. Celebration of Discipline will help Christians everywhere to embark on a journey of prayer and spiritual growth.

From the Back Cover

In the twenty years since its publication, Celebration of Discipline has helped over a million seekers discover a richer spiritual life infused with joy, peace, and a deeper understanding of God. Hailed by many as the best modern work on Christian spirituality, Celebration of Discipline explores the "classic Disciplines," or central spiritual practices, of the Christian faith. Along the way, Foster shows that it is only by and through these practices that the true path to spiritual growth can be found.

Dividing the Disciplines into three movements of the Spirit, Foster shows how each of these areas contributes to a balanced spiritual life. The inward Disciplines of meditation, prayer, fasting, and study offer avenues of personal examination and change. The outward Disciplines of simplicity, solitude, submission, and service help prepare us to make the world a better place. The corporate Disciplines of confession, worship, guidance, and celebration bring us nearer to one another and to God.Foster provides a wealth of examples demonstrating how these Disciplines can become part of our daily activities -- and how they can help us shed our superficial habits and "bring the abundance of God into our lives." The discussion of celebration, often the most neglected of the Disciplines, shows its critical importance -- for it stands at the heart of the way to Christ. Celebration of Disciplinewill help motivate Christians everywhere to embark on a journey of prayer and spiritual growth.

About the Author

Richard J. Foster is the author of several bestselling books, including Celebration of Discipline, Streams of Living Water, Life with God, and Prayer, which was Christianity Today's Book of the Year and the winner of the Gold Medallion Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association. He is the founder of RenovarÉ, an organization and a movement committed to the renewal of the church of Jesus Christ in all its multifaceted expressions, and the editor of The Life with God Bible.

 

 

Don't Worry

Whenever we are staying in the house with Narlin’s sister, a little bird land by our window, sings some notes, hangs out for about ten minutes to “chat” with us, then flies away. She will be back in the late afternoon to do the same. What a joy to start and end our day, it seems that God is telling us not to worry about Joey’s health situation, reminding us of His promise in Matthew 6:25-27:

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?”

It has been two months since we left Thailand and we are still here in the Philippines. Yes, it’s about my health. The last CT Scan in Thailand shows that a tumor is growing on my right lung. The radiologist’ impression it is a metastasis from the kidney cancer. Dr. Adefuin, my oncologist asked us to come home so that I can undergo PET CT to determine the “shape” and extent of the tumor.

We thought our time here would be shorter this time, but God has other plans. We can’t wait to go back home to Thailand to be with the people we love and serve.

Thankfully, it is still localized, not irregular in shape and according to her has a moderate to low malignancy. She requested for another CT Scan for correlation, but my creatinine level is high, my nephrologist has not cleared me to undergo the test. My lone left kidney is having a hard time keeping my creatinine at a normal level. The CT scan is postponed for two weeks.

Thank you so much for praying for us. We are touched by your love and concern, reaching to us through personal messages, comments, and emails. Thank you for praying for the children, church, and ministries, we left behind while we are undergoing medications.

Rain is A Blessing

We woke up with the sound of pouring rain and soft thunder, a welcome relief to long scorching summer heat. The rainy season has officially begun in Thailand. We have waited longingly for this season when the air is now refreshingly clean and cool, the grass and trees will be greener. It soon will be beautiful out here.

I (Joey) was preparing a message for Sunday when I came across this verse reminding us of God’s faithfulness in our life.

"The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands." - Deut. 28:12

Thank you so much for your love, support, and prayers. We are sharing with you how God is working in our lives these days.

The Kids Are Back to School

The school opens on the second week of May. The children were so excited to go back to school. They have new uniforms, bags, and school supplies. They would meet their old friends again and would make new ones as well.

Four of the children, Sam Ching, Dina, Jai, and Muey made it to the senior high. Ai Pang did not move up because his average grade is not high enough. He is now studying at a vocational school taking up hotel and restaurant management. The rest of the children are in elementary school.

Your support and contributions have helped the children to continue their studies. Two more years and four of them will be in the university. God has faithfully provided for their educational needs

The Exciting News

We hint about this in our previous newsletters, the exciting news is that the Lord has given us the opportunity to expand our children’s home ministry. It may take a whole year to work out the details before it can come to fruition. The initial meetings with Divine Inheritance Foundation (DIF) have been encouraging.

We have been envisioning to take in more children, but our space and resources are limited. The founder of the DIF met with us and allowed us to use a portion of the property (which has not been used for more than a decade) for our children's home. The Foundation was established to help children-at-risk and our work fit in perfectly with their purpose.

Please help us to pray about this next phase in our ministry. We are praying to have another batch of ten to twelve young children next year. Pray also that an MOU favorable for both parties will be drawn. Please help us to pray for volunteers and paid staff who can help us. We do not know yet how this ministry will be supported but we have proven that God throughout the years that He is faithful.

By His stripes we are healed

He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed. -Isaiah 53:6

In about two days Narlin and I are flying back to Mae Sai. We have been away from home for practically three months. The longest time we have been away since we came to Thailand in 2006. It is also the longest time we are away from the children. We couldn’t wait to see them again. We are grateful to the Lord that under Jillian’s watch they did well performing their household duties and other responsibilities.

The unexpected surgery, the pains and the initial false-negative biopsy results had led to confusion about my disease. It is only after the further immunostain test and consulting with the oncologist that we understood better.  The oncologist told us that the tumor is renal cell carcinoma, a kidney cancer. The urologist’s decision to remove my kidney was right and probably eliminates cancer.  The only serious threat is if the cancer cells had already spread to the other organs.

Thankfully, the bone scan reveals that there is no evidence of tumor invasion to my bone. However, she suspected that the tumor has spread to the liver hence she will closely monitor it by having CT Scan every three months. Just in case cancer has spread to the liver then I have to undergo targeted therapy by oral medication.

Please pray for Narlin too as she needs to take care of her heart. Her doctor diagnosed that one of the chambers heart is getting bigger and because of her family’s health history she needs to take preventive medication.

Please continue to pray for complete healing from the surgery and total cure from cancer. I’m hoping this will be my last update regarding our health because we believe God will heal us sooner.

God Heals

It's been a while since I post in this blog. I am sharing to you a post from my other blog about my health. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this blog. Here it is:

They brought me to the operating room at 10 o'clock in the morning. The doctors would remove my right kidney, part of the liver and gall bladder because of a tumor.  At about eleven thirty, I was put under general anesthesia. The last thing I remembered was they were putting the surgical cap on my head and I passed out as I was praying to Jesus to take care of me during the surgery.

I woke up to a comforting voice of the nurse telling me that that the operation is over. I glanced at the wall clock and saw that it was almost one o'clock in the morning. I learned later that the operation went on for over eight hours and I was at the recovery room for five hours. I was in so much pain and I was shivering, it was cold. The anesthesiologist gave me more morphine. Then I was brought back to the ward. It was one of the most difficult hours of my life. But Jesus was there to see me through. Praise the Lord!

It is over a month since the surgery and although the surgical wound is not fully healed,  I'm recovering well.  The result of the biopsy is negative for cancer. My doctor wanted to be sure that I will have proper treatment. He sent the specimen to the National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) for review and further test. The result was confirmed to be negative. But the doctor advised us to be examined by an oncologist just to make sure that the tumor does not spread on the other organs.

While we are here, we took the opportunity for Narlin to have her general check-up. It was found out she also has a few health problems and she will have treatment. We realized we were not looking after our own health while doing ministry in Thailand.

I found out later that the tumor is a renal cell carcinoma, a kidney cancer.