First, A prayer reminder to you:
Kris and I will be taking our daughter, Cassie, to Anchorage on Monday to meet with her neurologist. Here is an update on her situation and, for those of you who are local, we would prefer that you NOT discuss this with Cassie, but with us if you have any questions.
1. Cassie has been in a "modified schedule" for school. All her teachers OK'd her doing her schoolwork/homework from home until after Christmas break - hoping that the seizures she has been having will be brought under control by then.
2. A good friend of ours, who is her band director, asked if she could pick her up and bring her home on the three days last week she would be in Jazz Band rehearsal. We agreed that it would be nice for her to be in school a few hours and it worked fine for two of the three days.
3. All medications she is now taking are in the proper level according to the blood work analysis recently done. So, what is at issue here is what must be done to control this new "stage" she seems to be going through. There are other, newer medications available. Cassie will have an EEG done also to determine to location of where this activity is occurring.
4. Any change in her medication will bring on an entire new set of challenges as she would most likely have to gradually discontinue one medication and gradually increase the other. For this to happen over Christmas break is providential, but it also may mean a few rough times over break.
Cassie and Kris and I are involved in a musical cantata at our church this evening, Saturday evening and again Sunday evening. Please pray with us that she will not have any problems this weekend, and pray also that we will be able to determine the right course of action. Also, pray that our van will get us there and back OK. It's got almost 165,000 miles on it - - and the drive to Anchorage is three hours through what is looking to be some nasty weather.
In one way everything has been put on hold during all of this. But God has orchestrated a few things to make it very evident to us that we are still in His Care. Our dryer went out about three weeks ago ( it was used when we got it) and we have been going to the Laundromat. A supporting church here on the Kenai Peninsula got word of it and. Later that same day, they were contacted by a church member who happened to have a washer and dryer that she needed to get rid of! She needed the money, the church member needed the cash, and the church family needed the blessing! WOW!
A couple of days ago, I shared the gospel with a lady who has a small crystal ball with her. I asked her what the ball was for, and she told me that she needed a room mate and that she was a member of a pagan religion that believed spirits inhabited objects like this - and they talked back and forth regularly. In short, it kept her company.
I guess I should have reacted a bit more wearily, but almost without thinking I said "You know, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and because he paid the penalty for my Sin by dying on the cross, I could now walk into God's presence any time I wanted and share my concerns with him. Now, what would you rather be doing, talking to the creator of the universe - - - - or talking to a piece of glass!?" I had no doubt that what she could have been experiencing was evil spirits. But at the same time, the comparison was just so ludicrous to me that I ended up saying "A piece of glass."
This set her back and, after a short pause, she responded, "Well, I'm a Catholic!"
Remember, YOU are the Salt of the Earth.
See ya!
Gary
