It is hard to believe, but this is our final week of school\u2026 so this is the last writing for a while. Thanks for all the prayers, encouragement, and love you\u2019ve extended to me and my family. I still receive good reports from the doctors and we give thanks for every day.<\/p>\n
I recently saw a friend who used to live in Atlanta but now lives in Nashville. A while back he had a conversation with a lady who, when hearing he used to live in Atlanta, said she remembered a man with cancer who shared at a women\u2019s study group at her church. \u201cThat was several years ago, so I am sure he is dead by now.\u201d My friend asked if the person happened to be me and she said, \u201cYes, that was his name.\u201d \u201cDana is a friend of mine\u2026 and he\u2019s still alive!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s still alive\u201d brings much glory to God the Father who keeps us very much alive in Christ, not only on this earth, but forever.<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago, I sat in a familiar room with another dozen cancer patients and a dozen or more caretakers. The patients were all waiting to give blood for our weekly labs, and held buzzers like the kind you get in a restaurant to let you know your table is ready. \u00a0But these buzzers tell us when they’re ready to collect our blood.<\/p>\n
The buzzer held by the man sitting next to me buzzed, and he addressed the nurses\u2019 station: \u201cMy wife stepped out\u2026 she\u2019ll be back in a few minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
I leaned toward him and said, \u201cYou should have gone back with the nurse and given your<\/em> blood while your wife is out\u2026 then you guys could get a good report.\u201d He smiled and said, \u201cNo, no, I shouldn\u2019t do that.\u201d A young patient overheard our conversation and laughed. I said to him, \u201cThat\u2019s what we all need\u2026 someone else\u2019s blood!\u201d<\/p>\n Upon reflection beyond my weekly labs: \u201cWe all need Someone else\u2019s Blood!\u201d And at ultimate cost, it has been given! \u201cWhen I see the blood, I will pass over you.\u201d This is the promise the Lord gave Moses as the Israelites prepared to leave the bondage of Egypt. Any blood would not work\u2026 it had to be the blood of an unblemished Passover lamb. (see Exodus 12)<\/p>\n Of course, this Old Testament story points to the true \u201cLamb of God \u2013 who takes away the sins of the world.\u201d Our own blood will not suffice, but God lets His Son\u2019s Blood redeem and purify us. \u201cFor you know it was not with perishable things like silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you by your ancestors, but with the precious Blood of Christ, a Lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last days for your sake. Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him, and so your faith and hope are in God.\u201d (I Peter 1:18-21)<\/p>\n The Blood of Jesus allows all who receive the Gospel to come to the throne of our Father in Heaven, who loves us more that anyone can imagine. \u201cTherefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the Blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is His Body, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.\u201d (Hebrews 10:19-22)<\/p>\n So, let\u2019s walk in fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit. God puts His love in our hearts and invites us to live boldly as we share the Light.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin.\u201d I John 1:5-7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It is hard to believe, but this is our final week of school\u2026 so this is the last writing for a while. Thanks for all the prayers, encouragement, and love you\u2019ve extended to me and my family. I still receive good reports from the doctors and we give thanks for every day. I recently saw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2680"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2685,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2680\/revisions\/2685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/airwoof.org\/journey\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}