Tony’s Blog

Sometimes i’m blind to the work of God that is all around me.  Not surprising I know.  But, then at other times it is as if I have 20/20 spiritual vision.  Today, I am somewhere in the middle and yet would love to get spiritual lasik surgery to be able to see all of the blessings I have.  It is as if I have just enough spiritual vision to see that I can’t really see all that God is doing.  The good thing is that this is a great gift of grace to be able to see what you can’t see.  I pray that I don’t loose this level of sight. 

Hebrews 3:13 says “Let us encourage one another daily, as long as it is called today so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”  This is a clarifying verse for me concerning how to maintain and develop our spiritual vision.  We need each other for encouragement each day so that our hearts stay soft toward God and so that we can see clearly…not being deceived.

So go out and encourage someone today…you could be part of giving sight to the blind.

Tony

The other day I was meeting with a friend who is dealing with a tough situation.  He finds himself with less passion for God than he had just a year ago.  As we talked I began to ponder what I would say to myself if he was me (if you follow that) and what would make the difference so I would take my own advice.  The bottom line is that we often are faced with issues and circumstances that we give advice on and then in short order we are facing similar issues and circumstances ourselves.  Would we take our own advice when the situation is turned on us?  I think this is some of God’s humor at our presumption. 

So the next time you are giving advice affecting someone elses life you may want to ponder what you would say to yourself…and the most crucial question when the heat is on…would you take your advice.

Counseling cautiously.

Tony

Good communication is absolutely necessary for enjoying life, but sometimes it feels like a necessary evil.  Sometimes good communication is just plain hard if not impossible.  What you say is not heard the way you intended or the words get clouded by the tone in which you say them or you say them at an inappropriate time. I think good communication in some circumstances is only possible through supernatural empowerment.  Perhaps you are familiar with what I am saying or perhaps you are just tilting your head slightly with a quizical look on your face.  Either way I’ve made my point.

Here is what I’m thinking today about communication.  No matter what our speech reveals something about what is on the inside…”from out of the heart the mouth speaks”.  This means our speech can be a yellow flag for us, that signals we need a time out…not like our childrens’ ”time out” necessarily but some time to reflect on what is going on inside.  When christians say things that surprise them and they wonder “where did that come from” they (we) should see that as a “red” flag because it is showing us something big is going on “inside” because we have just let something slip through our highly sophisticated grids that “usually” keep those words, and phrases filtered out.

So, my simple strategy for sour speech and a hurting heart is…seek some significant solitude walking with Jesus in the gospels as well as perusing the proverbs, with a prayer journal.  The solitude helps to de-clutter our heads while Jesus and the proverbs pierce our hearts and the prayer journal provides a place to ponder and plead for God’s help for all we are finding in our head and heart.  Finally, we must find at least one person with whom we can be absolutely honest with about our findings in our “time out”.

The proverbs say…”a Soft answer turns away wrath”…but what about my wrath?  Soft answers are very hard to offer when we are angry.  So, why are we angry?  Just pondering…looks like I might need some solitude…SMILE.

Tony

It’s hard to believe it has been so long since I have blogged.  I was telling my sister the other day that I blog best when I’m not caught in a frenetic lifestyle…which means I don’t get to blog much.  I am going to do better.  Rhonda is still making slow progress…so slow it is hard to tell it is happening.  But as I told another friend yesterday that I think she is at least pointing in the right direction.  THere have been times when we did not even know if there was a right direction to be headed.  We feel the prayers of our friends and family.  The body of Christ has become more and more real to us over these months.  We realize our need for the Body of Christ today more than ever.  Which means that Church is much more than what happens on a Sunday morning…at least for us.  We love the Church and our church.  God has been so gracious to work in our lives through the church.

We are still here… because the people of God care and show in real time that God himself cares.

Thank you Church!

Sometimes change takes place at a snails pace, especially when you are up close and personal.  People are daily asking me How Rhonda is doing and if she is better…was the surgery worth it?  Sometimes it is hard to tell whether she is getting better or not, to tell the truth.  It is when a truthfilled friend stops by and says the equivalent to the “My how you’ve grown” phrase we have all heard about our children or ourselves over the years.  But, the phrase we are hearing now is ”My you look good, Rhonda”.  When you are up close and personal and each day is a long day of doing everything you know to do to get better, all the while praying that God our Father who gives good gifts is making her whole.

So, the answer to the question of how Rhonda is doing is…she is getting better each week, but when you are up close the change seems small.  Was the surgery worth it?  Absolutely!  Physically speaking this surgery had to be done to make way for healing…barring a miracle…which we are always open to and would welcome with open arms.  We do not know whether Rhonda will get completely better or not but, what we do know is that our lives are in His hands and He is our Heavenly Father who knows how to give good gifts to those who ask. 

So, each day we ask…that He would give good gifts…and be massively glorified with our lives.

Ask…Seek…Knock…for someone you know today.

We have been home 12 days and progress is slow.  We are thankful for the success of the surgery and there are signs of positive benefit, but the doctors tell us that it will be 2 to 3 months before we know what the benefits will be.  SO, please continue bringing us to Jesus for his mercy and compassion to be poured out upon us.

One of the reasons that the recovery is slow going is because before the surgery took place Rhonda was weak.  The surgery would be a challenge for a physically strong person but the recovery seems to be more difficult for Rhonda since she was not in peak physical condition going into it.

Thanks you for your care and prayer,

Tony

As many of you know we were brought home on Saturday by private jet…and yes, it was incredible.  I could really get used to flying that way.  Ten passenger plane flying at 40,000 feet.  When I think of the alternative I shudder to think how much trauma was actually averted by this provision.  On a regular day of travel (before surgery) Rhonda would need 2 to 4 days of recovery.  Our heavenly Father did more than we could have ever imagined.  Thank you for praying and caring for us through this time.

Now we are looking forward to each day Rhonda getting stronger and stronger.  There are some signs of success from the surgery.  On a scale of 1-10 Rhonda typically would have headaches from 7-10.  Now her headaches are 4-6’s, which is very encouraging.  We are obviously praying that they would continue to diminish.  There are several other areas physically that could be affected by this surgery but those will take longer to see results.  Please continue to pray that Rhonda would have full and complete healing from this surgery.
Yesterday we had the stitches removed…I volunteered but everyone told me they thought a doctor should do it…reluctantly I agreed.  It really didn’t look that hard. Smile.

Thank you again for loving us through prayer and action.  We have felt your love in bringing us to Jesus.

Tony

It is 1:10am and I couldn’t wait to tell the world the good news.  God has done it again.  A friend of mine was in a board meeting at 8pm earlier this evening and at the end he shared our situation and they spent some time in prayer and then one man said…we should know someone with a plane. Well they did and he is having his pilots fly to New York in the morning and pick us up. That is the short version.  This good gift shortens our day by 5 hours and Rhonda’s stress and pain by…only God knows. Thank all of you for praying. I am weak with God’s goodness in this gift. You know the kind of weakness where you just sit and stare and wonder if this is really happening.  Well it is and it is a great provision on a number of fronts.  I am especially humbled because God is teaching me that he is my Father and he loves me. Yes, I know I should know this, but I’m a slow learner. Anyway I have been reading the Gospel of Matthew and I was struck by the beauty of God’s love in Matthew 7:7-11 about prayer. The key for me was verse 11…if you, then, though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him.

My heavenly Father does know how to give good gifts and he does give them when we ask. In this case there have been so many asking OUR Heavenly Father that we can all rejoice in this great gift.

Well I need to get some sleep even if my days stress has been reduced 100 fold.

Thank you all for bringing us to Jesus. He has seen your faith and is pouring out his compassion on us.

Tony

Well here we are with one day before we travel home.  Terrorist plots have airport security ramped up.  To tell the truth I am a little nervous about the travel.

We have seen God go before us each step of the way and we are very excited about coming home to be with friends and family.  Areas to pray for us are:

• Stamina: Tomorrow’s trip will be an eight hour venture if there are no problems.  Rhonda’s stamina is low and this will be a long day.
• Pray that God would continue go before us and provide the right people to assist us along the way.  ie. rental car return, baggage check-in,
• Pray we can get Rhonda a seat upgraded to first class so she can lean further back and have some wiggle room…not that she wiggles much.  This is very important.

We are extremely thankful for your prayers and support as we have made this trip.  We are hopeful that God will bring complete and full healing.

I will spend some time in the near future to share some of the things we have learned so far.
Love Tony and Rhonda

Rhonda was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon and they were able to stop to pick up Rhonda’s perscriptions before heading to their hotel, Homewood Suites. They have settled into the hotel, and Tony said it is working out well for them. Rhonda is still in quite a bit of pain, so they are trying to stay on top of that with the perscriptions.

• Tony is asking for prayer for Abby and Bethany, as they are missing their parents very much. Pray that God comforts and sustains them until Tony and Rhonda return from New York.
• Please also pray for Rhonda to get stronger and for the pain meds to do their job.
• Pray that Rhonda continues to get rest and recovers properly from the surgery.