Absent Blog Posts

Just wanted to say a word about my absence at times from this blog...I continue to do my reading on a regular basis, but I have been out of town (without internet connection) and also been at the hospital many days with the niece Sarah Beth Napier. She has been courageously battling Breast Cancer for the past five years and has been in the hospital for a couple of weeks. We are keeping vigil as a family at the hospital, offering our love and support to her and her mom and dad (my sister and brother-in-law). Please be in prayer for Sarah...you can read more about her story at www.loveyourguts.com.

(Sarah Beth on the left with her mom, Kathleen).

My wife, Leigh Ann has been keeping Sarah's website up-to-date...
Here is her entry from Saturday, March 6th...

when we got to the hospital this evening, sarah
beth was asleep after having been awake for a big
part of the day. kathleen had texted greg earlier,
saying that sarah's color was good, she was sleepy
and speaking in whispers. we weren't surprised to
find her asleep. of course we stayed anyway - lots
of family there. after awhile, sarah beth's eyes
popped open and with that, she had everyone's full
attention. we had a time of prayer, then sang a
few songs together that are some of sarah's
favorites - there's something about that name, i
love you Lord, amazing grace, how great is our God
- she even sang along in her whispers with us all,
smile on her face. (i can't even tell you what a
beautiful sight that was.) sarah's uncle greg
suggested "victory in Jesus" to her and i wish you
could've seen her reaction - her face just lit up!
when asked about a favorite scripture of hers, she
said romans 12:1-2, so it was read. here it is, in
case someone reading isn't familiar with it:

"1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of
God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your
spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any
longer to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you
will be able to test and approve what God's will
is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

sarah beth, in the way she is walking this cancer
journey, is a perfect example of "living
sacrifice". she has given herself over to the Lord
time and time again to be used as He sees fit. and
He has grown her into such a woman of His. a
living sacrifice being molded continually into
what God had planned for her all along. sarah's
uncle chuck asked greg to read 1 peter 1:6-7:

6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a
little while you may have had to suffer grief in
all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your
faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes
even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine
and may result in praise, glory and honor when
Jesus Christ is revealed.

in our time together tonight there were many tears
but also many smiles and even some laughter. that
seems to be the way it always is. our hearts are
heavy as we continue to realize more each day what
is happening with sarah beth. but we aren't
without hope. and neither is she. our hope is in
God alone. who else could bless hurting hearts
with moments of joy?

as we were leaving, she was getting a few more
bites of her oreo blizzard, a request of hers from
earlier in the day. she looked to be enjoying it
pretty well. =)

as always, thank you so much for the time you take
to pray.

leigh ann