“I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Jesus is with us! He lives in us! “Christ in you – the hope of glory,” Paul wrote. Jesus urges: ‘Live in this truth! Be bold; do not be afraid! I am the Conqueror! If I am with you, why should you fear? Don’t you know I am above all? Even in death, do not fear… because I am with you.’

I cannot overcome without His presence; fear is a constant enemy. But Jesus says, ‘Don’t give in to it.’ He has given us what we need. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.” (II Timothy 1:7)

God works in unpredictable and mysterious ways as He helps us overcome. The disciples were fearful as Jesus told them He was going away. He gave this promise: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:16-18)

I want to thank Steve Wolf for all his help with The Journey over the years. I sent this writing to him on Tuesday, checked into the hospital on Wednesday, and should have already started chemo by the time you receive this email. I hope to write again in a few weeks. The doctors say I’ll be in the hospital at least a month. Thanks for all your prayers and love. Paul wrote the words below to help us run the races we’ve been given. I pray He blesses you and your families richly in every way!

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

“For Your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:26-39

Three parables found in Matthew 25 reveal ‘preparation’ mindsets Jesus wants us to possess. He does not want His children to simply take a survivalist mentality or go sit and wait on a mountain top. Nor does He want us to be oblivious to what is happening in the world and miss the signs He described as ‘birth pains.’ I asked our daughter, Kinsey (the midwife), about ‘birth pains.’ “Birth pains come at the end of pregnancy. As time passes, the contractions become more frequent and more intense,” she answered. “Then, when the mother thinks she just can’t make it any longer, the baby comes.”

The parable of the 10 virgins contrasts the difference between being wise and being foolish in the last days. The five foolish virgins were unprepared for the coming of the Bridegroom. They took an emergency outing to buy some oil for their lamps, but didn’t make it back in time. All five were shut out and could not enter the Wedding Banquet. The five wise virgins had already brought extra oil for their lamps; when the Bridegroom came, they were prepared and welcomed in with open arms.

In the Bible, oil usually represents the Spirit, so the message seems clear: Be filled with the Spirit. Have your eyes on Jesus. Be spiritually prepared. God has given us His Holy Spirit, but am I listening to Him? Is God my passion, or do lesser matters consume my mind and energy? How do I spend my time? The Spirit points us to Jesus and helps us know Him better. The Spirit reminds us of the necessity of obeying our Lord. If we don’t understand, we can ask Him for help. The Spirit is our Helper. God is for us! So Jesus warns: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.” (Matthew 25:13)

The second parable is about using our talents. The question is not as much: how many talents do I have? But rather: what am I doing with what I’ve been given? While Jesus stressed being spiritually prepared as we watch and pray, He did not teach idleness. While we watch, we are about His work. We pray to know God’s will. How do I bless my spouse, my kids, and my friends? How do I serve my neighbor? What type of employee am I? Do I use my abilities and gifts to bring glory to God? Burying my talent brings disaster! Using my gifts and blessings with boldness and wisdom pleases the Lord. “Blessed is that servant whom the Master finds doing his job when He comes.” (Matthew 24:46)

Finally, our Good Shepherd tells a story of Judgment. When you hear people saying: ‘all are going to heaven’ or ‘there is no hell’ or ‘a God of love would never punish’… tell them you prefer to listen to Jesus. He talked a lot about heaven and hell and judgment. This last story in Matthew 25 says there will be a separation. The sheep enter the Kingdom; the goats do not. “How did you treat Me?” was the measuring stick of the Judge. The prepared soul sees one in pain and responds… the hungry, the poor, the heartbroken, the sick, the imprisoned… When we serve the hurting, we serve our Savior. He is everywhere.

Watch. Pray. Obey. Be wise. Be full of the Spirit. Be fruitful. Serve. Love. These are some of Jesus’ instructions on preparation.

“Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” Ephesians 5:15-17

I had to accomplish three things before Susan and I could get on the plane for Barcelona on Tuesday, July 5. First, Susan had to give me a shot to raise my white blood cells. As always, she gave it in the stomach. I then had to get a COVID test which Spain required. Thankfully, I passed. Finally, we drove to Emory where Susan dropped me off to receive two units of platelets. Our dear friend Mark planned to pick Susan and our bags up at the house about four hours later, and then they would pick me up on the way to the airport.

Before my infusion, I noticed the tiny entry point of the needle in my stomach was bleeding. I knew my platelets were low as was confirmed at the hospital; then a chief nurse confirmed what I thought, “You’ll stop bleeding as soon as you get platelets in your body.” But even after we arrived at the airport, my stomach was still bleeding. I had never had this happen with a little shot.

It is true: over the last 21 years, God has been so kind to me whenever I leave the country. I was really not too worried. I figured everything would clear up as we left the ground, or as we left US territory, or at least when we landed in Spain. I was wrong; I bled the entire ten hour flight. As we met Dave and Cindy in the Barcelona Airport, I said to our missionary friends, “Guys, I think we’ll just need to meet you at the camp. I’ve got to solve a bleeding problem.” A helpful airport worker told us the nearest hospital; we gave our one suitcase to Cindy, and we caught a taxi to the ER.

We both had peace, though we had no clue what we were doing. Susan found a way to check me in at the ER, which felt a lot like Grady Hospital in Atlanta. Young doctors-in-training examined me and asked what happened. I told them that my wife had given me a shot and one exclaimed, “Your wife shot you?!” With a bit of charades to overcome the language barrier, we finally got on the same page. They took blood to measure my counts, then the lead person sprinkled some silver nitrate on the wound. Within seconds the bleeding stopped and we celebrated. It took a couple of more hours to find out my blood counts were good and finally another doctor examined me and said I was released.

Now the challenge was finding the camp. Susan and I had done it back in 2018, but I do not trust myself… I am terrible with directions. We took a taxi to the train station and bought tickets to Girona, which was the closest large town to the camp. We followed the kind worker’s directions to the correct platform to catch the train. We were standing with about 200 travelers on one side of the platform when an announcement was made. All of a sudden the crowd started rushing to the other side of the platform. I tried asking several people what was going on, but “No hablo Inglés…” was all I understood. We joined the crowd, got on the arriving train, and found a seat.

“Ay yai yai!” I’ve been lost on a train in Europe before. I always thought the camp was two hours south of Barcelona. After ten minutes, I was convinced we were going north. “Susan, I think we’re going north! We’re going to end up traveling over the Pyrenees Mountains into France!” She said, “Girona is on the way to France. We are supposed to go north.” “What?” I thought, then got up and found someone with a kind face. “Habla Inglés?” “Sí,” she answered. I asked if our train was going to stop in Girona and she said it was. Relief beyond relief! I had been wrong about directions again! I would much rather be bleeding in an emergency room than be traveling the wrong way on a train headed for another country!

In Girona, we met up with Dave, Cindy, and a dozen other Americans they had picked up at the airport. We rode their bus thirty minutes to the camp. Hallelujah! We were in Spain; my bleeding had stopped; we reunited with friends from the past and met others. After a 9:30 dinner, we were ready for bed. As we settled into our cabin for the night, my nose started bleeding. “Ay, yai, yai!”

“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10

Today you’ll get two writings! It might be best to read this ‘time’ entry first…. then you will better understand the error I need to share.

Last week closed out the ‘travels to Spain series’ from this past summer.  Now I realize I have written, but failed to send an important entry about the flight to Barcelona. I will include after this week’s writing…

I would like to blame this error on my health situation, but actually, I’ve done stuff like this all my life. I think ‘inept’ is the best description of Yours Truly

Susan and I appreciate your love and prayers.
Dana

The first month of the school year went very well. I had enough energy to teach four Bible classes and help a bit in the middle school chapel class. As long as I can teach properly, I want to continue… any age, it does not matter. On second thought, I might not survive 1st graders and younger… those teachers deserve trophies!

During the sixth or seventh week of school, I was constantly dizzy and my thinking became cloudy. I even forgot how to tie a tie! I told my administrators that the doctors had ordered a series of tests and the future was unsure. Within the week, a CT scan of my head revealed a slow bleed in the front of my brain. An excellent substitute took over my classes and I’ve not worked the past eight weeks.

Once again, low platelets seemed to be the reason for the bleeding, so I’ve gone from receiving infusions twice a week to receiving them every other day. In August, Susan counted that I had gotten 13 units of platelets; in September I received 37. For the past couple of decades, my doctor has been a hero to our family. His nurse practitioner, a good friend, called and said, “Mr. Davis, we have a suggestion for solving your blood cell problems. Dr. Lonial thinks if you have an ‘allo’ stem cell transplant, things might change.”

I had ‘auto’ transplants in ’01 and ’09. This process used my own stem cells and both transplants were very successful. We knew in 2009 that I had no more stem cells of my own, so we assumed there would be no more transplants. But an ‘allo’ transplant uses stems cells from a donor. The strategy is rarely used with multiple myeloma patients, but it seems to be our only option. The doctors have found a perfect ‘10 category’ blood match, so if I can pass all the preliminary tests, I will enter the hospital November 2 for another go.

It sounds crazy, but Susan and I have spent weeks getting ready. On the medical side, besides getting infusions every other day, there are tons of tests and procedures required… the kind of tests you can’t study for. On the practical side, we are trying to have everything covered in case things don’t go as planned. It takes time to ‘get your house in order.’ Susan and I both have a positive outlook, but doctors have been very clear about the difficulty of this type of transplant. We are trusting God for wisdom.

On the people side, we are trying to spend time with our families and brothers and sisters in Christ. My parents are the best! My siblings would do anything for me. Our kids are scheduling as much time to be together as possible. Our five grandchildren won’t be able to visit in the hospital, so we are treasuring every conversation and occasion to be with them. Love reigns. A little advice: Don’t take ‘time’ for granted. Let love reign.

Susan and I try to resist the negative while dealing with reality. We are praying that God leads and teaches us how to think. His Words, His heart, our relationship with Him is most important. I’m not sure how much I’ll be able to write after November 2nd, but I hope to share a little about Jesus’ thoughts on preparation. ‘Carpe diem!’

“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise up from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5:14-17

After these last six writings, I’ve concluded that this story is not as much about our experiences as it is about the Kingdom of God. Our part is to believe that “with God, all things are possible,” and to say ‘yes’ when He gives directions. It is also good to remember: “His ways are not our ways.” Sometimes the path is smooth, but as Steven, Paul, Peter, and scores of other believers (many who live today) have experienced, the road is often rocky. Those who are persecuted for Christ and press on are the true heroes. How does one attain such faith? “Jesus is the Author and Perfecter of our faith”… He is our hope. The Spirit wants to guide us all to adopt Job’s mantra: “Though He slay me, still will I trust Him.”

The Good Shepherd may lead us through difficulties, but He does not put to shame those who love Him. I wanted to come back home half-way through the trip, not because I was afraid… I just couldn’t see myself finishing. Since landing in Barcelona, I had gotten progressively worse… but: “If we are we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot disown Himself.” (II Timothy 2:13) After the kind doctor ordered platelets then told us she could not sign the ‘permission to fly’ document, Susan and I knew her solution was God’s answer. “Come back the day before you are to leave. I’ll give you enough platelets to get home.” I started feeling better from that point on.

“The Kingdom of God is among you,” Jesus said. We can’t see it, but sometimes we can sense it. The Father wants the people of Spain to be delivered from the religious abuse that is a part of their history. Jesus is still seeking and saving the lost. The Holy Spirit was working powerfully in L’Arcada. He had chosen to send many American coaches to a different country as witnesses of the love of our Father. He had also chosen many young Spanish followers of Jesus to sacrifice vacation time to pass on to teenagers what they discovered years before at the same camp. God wants His Kingdom to spread throughout Spain and throughout the world. He knows that time is short.

God wants His Kingdom to spread in our land too. He hates hypocrisy and anything else that misrepresents the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He wants us to give up control and trust Him so that one day prodigals from all nations will run to Him. We can’t always discern the ‘wheat and the weeds,’ but He sees perfectly. “The Lord knows those who are His.” (II Timothy 2:19) He longs for His children to listen to Him, to pray fervently, and to live in His Son. Today, Jesus speaks with the same urgency that He had with His disciples. “The Kingdom of God is at hand!”

Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the Kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the Kingdom of God is in your midst.”

Then He said to his disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. People will tell you, ‘There He is!’ or ‘Here He is!’ Do not go running off after them. For the Son of Man in His day will be like the lightning, which flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other. But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

“It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the housetop, with possessions inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life will preserve it.” Luke 17:20-33