Gracey Update

Last week we got Gracey's tests results back and they were not good. They decided there was a possibility the two samples got mixed up (they took a sample from her after she fasted, and then again 2 hours after she ate to see what her liver enzymes would do) but either way, the levels indicate something is wrong with her liver. So, they decided to repeat the test, which is actually going on right now. If the test comes back bad again we will bring her to a specialist and they will do an ultrasound of her liver and see if there is a shunt. If so it could be operable, or if it is in the small ventricles we could try a medicine. She seems to be ok. She went on our trip with us and did a lot of walking. I picked her up as much as I could, but still she was really pushed a lot physically. She has been resting a lot, but not in a way that makes me think she is hurting or reacting to the liver. So again we wait for the test to come back in about a week and we will go from there. But I pray for healing for her! She is such an amazing little dog and I am so thankful for her.

26.2 miles:4 hours 43 minutes and 48 seconds later!

Bryan with his medal!

Bryan did it! 26.2 miles in 4hours 43 minutes and 48 seconds!

Bryan crossing the finish line!

All I can say is "WOW!" You have no idea what he has been through to do this! It has been a long day. We got up at 4:30am after really not sleeping much, walked to the bus station so Bryan could catch his shuttle to the starting line. He arrived there and began the race in a corral group around 7:45-7:50 ish. Gracey and I then went to mile-marker 1 and cheered him on. We then went to the finish line and waited and waited and then finally I saw this very cute guy running towards us! But I have to pause here briefly...I am NOT joking when I tell you people were literally dropping like flies all around us and had to be carried by medics to a near by medical station. It was a extremely hot and humid day here and people were getting very over-heated. The clock said 5:08, but since he started in a pace-group he began after the clock started, so his time was tracked by his shoe-tracker. After I saw this one man pass out only several feet from the finish and carried across the finish...not even knowing really where he was, I began to get very worried. There were 30,000 runners and just think of all the people who came to cheer them on! I was a little piece of sand on a huge ocean beach! But I prayed and asked the Lord to help Bryan see me and Gracey and he did! It was nearly impossible to get a good shot of him, but I tried!

After we finally found each other by Bryan borrowing a cell phone to call me to meet him, we sat there and Bryan just started to cry and cry! He was happy, and he did it and we found each other and rejoiced! I was very nervous the whole time he was running, but I knew the Lord would see him through to the finish. I was just happy he wasn't one of the people passing out.

There is so much more I want to write, but we are at the hotel still and I will get to write more when we get home. Here are some AMAZING photos of my WONDERFUL husband. Thank you all who prayed for him and wrote the notes of encouragement. He got them after he finished and cried from joy and feeling so loved by you all.

Us before the race!

Gracey was here to cheer him on, she thinks SHE did the race...and we are not telling her otherwise!

Bryan with all his 50 encouragement notes!

Disappointment

Every day I see horrible things that break my heart, all in the name of "Christianity." In fact, believe it or not ACU proudly announced they hired a hypnotist for a free campus-wide event on Friday night. When do we as followers of Christ have to apologetically step towards the line of sin to look cool and bring in events that are fun, without quite putting one foot over. All this to say, it doesn't matter if people or buildings attribute themselves as followers of Jesus, their actions state more of what is going on in the heart. Hiring a hypnotist to come onto a Christian university should send a HUGE red flag into the air, but it seems that no one else even noticed or cared. A hypnotist is not someone who desires to use the Lord for glory, it is NOT possible. They however use their power, which is worldly pride and recognition and Powers that one should not even be around or "play" with to make the crowd believe in them. It is a very dangerous thing to be involved in and for ACU to promote this on their Campus should be unacceptable and recognized as a wrong move.

"Hypnosis began as part of the occult and false religion. The Bible speaks out strongly against all practices of false religion and the occult. God desires His people to turn to Him in need, not to those who practice sorcery, divination, or enchantment. He warns His people about following after mediums, wizards, enchanters, charmers, and those who have a familiar spirit (Deut. 18:9-14).

Hypnosis, as it is practiced today, may very well be the same as what is identified as "enchantment" in the Bible (Lev. 19:26 KJV)."In hypnotism, faith is shifted from God and His Word to the hypnotist and his technique. God speaks to people through the conscious, rational mind. He commands individuals as creatures who make conscious, volitional choices. He sent His Holy Spirit to indwell Christians to enable them to trust and obey Him through love and conscious choice. Hypnosis, on the other hand, operates on the basis of imagination, illusion, hallucination, and deception. Jesus warned His followers about deception. After a person has opened his mind to deception through hypnosis, he may become even more vulnerable to other forms of spiritual deception.

Hypnosis can generate Satan's counterfeits of true religious exercise. If hypnosis generates any form of faith and worship not directed toward the God of the Bible, any person who subjects himself to hypnotism may be playing the harlot in the spiritual realm. (See Lev. 19:26,31; 20:6,27; Deut. 18:9-14; 2 Ki 21:6; 2 Chron. 33:6; Isa. 47:9-13; Jer. 27:9.)

Hypnotism is demonic at its worst and potentially dangerous at its best. At its worst, it opens an individual to psychic experiences and satanic possession. When mediums go into hypnotic trances and contact the "dead," when clairvoyants reveal information which they could not possibly know, when fortunetellers through self-hypnosis reveal the future, Satan is most certainly at work.

Where were the Bible professors? The students to protest this event? Where were the Deans who should be testing and seeing that things on campus honor the Lord. Slowly, slowly, slowly, we are taking more and more risks that do not honor the Lord and we have trouble recognizing them and then they don't matter anymore, or we feel strange about them so we write it off and desensitize ourselves to the Holy Spirit's warnings. But they do! And we must stand up for the truth. I don't want to be one of those people who supposedly lived a life to honor the Lord that says "Jesus, Lord....Lord." and Jesus turns to me and says "away from me you evil doer I never knew you." These are the days where we will begin to see a clear mark between those who are seeking the Holy Spirit and then those who are not. And sadly even our Churches and Christianity is one of the main resources used to create problems and lead many away from what is true and what is freedom and LOVE from Jesus Christ the Son of God. We don't necessarily need to follow like blind sheep, we still have the responsibility to have a relationship with the Lord and by seeking His word, test and see what we allow ourselves to be around and taught by.

What a very scary time to live in, that even Christians can be completely blind to consequences of choices. Christianity is not a feel-good relationship with the world all the time. In fact, our choice to follow Jesus should be met with negativity, awkwardness, and people thinking we are strange for not participating in worldly events like Halloween or going to see a Hypnotist.

Courage

One of the most single amazing acts of courage I have ever seen did not come from a man who ran into a burning building to rescue a child, or someone that pushed a woman out of the way from an oncoming car and was hit themselves, or even a father who dodged bullets from an angry person who went on a killing rampage to rescue people in the store he didn't even know. No...oh no, to see real courage, the pure, basic, raw courage, go find someone who has lost everything and then find out to your amazement that they still HOPE. Yes, this is the greatest act of courage I have ever seen. It goes against all their reasoning to HOPE. Their experience may haunt them, but the choice to still go on and HOPE in the Lord completely astonishes me.

It stems from God's Love, covers our hearts and souls and allows us to see beyond pain and suffering and believe in something Greater, Powerful, and Beautiful beyond what words could describe. Hope medicates us and pushes us to persevere towards the unseen. But yet it is unseen- it is by no means un-felt. Sometimes the greatest sense of compassion comes from the One who knows us and can comfort us like no one else could.

And to those who are true Courageous people, keep going because the Lord is pleased with you.

Test Day

Gracey had her test today. It felt so weird not having her around the entire morning as we had to drop her off early this morning and leave her there until afternoon. I kept looking for her and checking on her, but she was not there. Hopefully this test will help us know how to treat this. It will take 7-10 days for results. We'll just wait and see and give her extra love and care in the meantime.

My Trial

How important we feel

going around like we deserve so much

as if we've done something to even permit breath

I plead and hold trials

I judge You for Loving me

as if it were a crime for You to discipline and mold me

Have You not already had Mercy?

Have You not already shown Grace?

I chase myself in circles

Hoping to prove I am there

But it is not what matters

Even when others play too

Are we all missing it?

If not then we drown ourselves in distraction

And we think it is living life

Oh God, that You would somehow pull out the rug from under us all

Am I blessed that You would allow me to struggle TO You?

I've asked for You

When I was a child I knew You beyond what I was taught

I felt You and wanted You

You were my Treasure

Has my spirit been disciplined from a believing Counselor

That painfully pushes me to grow?

Not for the faint of heart

Not simple nonsense

But tough Love

Tougher

Toughest

At times it almost feels like hatred

But You know me

You know I struggle with the Tamer

I go right

You pull me left

I struggle with letting You have the reigns

I must look silly

But You've never left me

Your discipline has allowed my desire for You to increase

And when it increases I find real Joy

God, a contradiction is at stake

But only in the mind of a man

It's fabricated to look as though we are persecuted or targeted

But I've drank

It's You

Give me strength to Love

But I do ask for one thing,...

Just that You would grant me joy in doing so.

Journal Entry from 10/13/2009