Yes, the prior update was two (three) weeks ago. A lot has happened.
We’ll start with health. The testing for Dad cumulated in a biopsy of his lung. The preliminary results indicate there are no malignant cells. The place that showed the greatest concern seemed to be an overachieving lymph node collecting contrast dye. Don’t discount the hand of God in this, we’re not. In all things, He is neither surprised nor overwhelmed.
But He does arrange for us to learn and share His faithfulness, reliability, and more. Recently, my training has included trust falls. If you’ve been around a while, you know of Him providing housing at literally the last hour. This time, we included a flight connection of five minutes. My flight from Dallas was preparing to land in Chicago while my flight from Chicago was boarding for Columbus. The gates, intended to be in separate terminals, ended up being side by side with a restroom across the hall. I made it to Columbus and that’s the compressed version!
The Deaf Missions conference in Dallas was well worth it, both from a ministry standpoint and personally. While there, we were treated to the premier of the Jesus Film, a production completely in American Sign Language with captions for the “signing impaired” (including myself). Spoiler alert, he does say “It is Finished” while hanging by his hands on the cross – powerful. We also learned that the gentleman who portrayed Jesus was one of the children who participated in Dr. Wonder’s Workshop years ago. Go ahead, take a moment to imagine the ripple effect of this one deaf person who learned in childhood that his lack of hearing did not disqualify him from Jesus’ love and salvation. (That’s my calling in a nutshell.)
I was unable to visit with my family while in Texas, actually leaving a bit early to get to Columbus before Dad’s procedure, and leaving the computers in Indianapolis for another week. I’m thankful that my coworker was able to collect my car from the airport and put it in her driveway until I could return to Indiana. Since here, part of the focus has been packing up the room I’ve been staying in since Jan 2014 (less about a year in Lawrence & Pendleton). I’m attempting to clear out by May in order to return to Ohio for parent care. It’s time for them to have some light oversight and respite care, and as an “only,” I’m it.
There’s plenty more, but this update is already plenty late, so I’ll hit the publish button. As with several other things, I’ll catch up on the backlog later. Until then, consider the times in your life when God has let you wait on a matter until it was simply impossible without Him, then He proved Himself ever reliable and logistically creative. Trust Falls – part of our training program and ultimate testimony as His representatives.