October Update

Health News: God continues to answer your prayers on my behalf. Thanks for your persistence. As we close in on the one year point for this journey--it was October 18, 2008 that I felt the first symptoms--I am amazed at your ongoing support. Thanks for standing with Joanna and me for the duration. We are so blessed to have a community like you around us.

My walking continues to improve. Most days Joanna and I do about a mile and half, but have gone farther. My left leg still doesn't have full nerve or muscle function, but it's coming. I'm very encouraged by my new physical therapist. He has me doing workouts in an exercise pool with a treadmill in it. This is a new experience, but is giving me some new hope regarding what my future might be. My upper body is still very weak, but the pain isn't as constant and severe as it was for so many months. And, the general feeling of "crud" has improved as well…making my thinking more clear and increasing my daily stamina. I've still got a long, long way to go, but feel like I'm heading in the right direction.

I have blood drawn fairly often to keep my doctor posted on my progress. Most levels have improved in recent months. However, there is still sign of inflammation in my body and I remain a bit anemic, but overall I'm heading the right direction.

Still no progress with the swallow function. I hope to get a Barium Swallow Test this month. In this test, under x-ray, the therapist gives me six different drinks to try to swallow--I guess it is all barium in different viscosities. Every movement--or non-movement--of the throat is visible in this procedure. I had this done in January and would like to have it done again to see if there is anything new to learn about what is happening. Thanks for your ongoing prayers!

This Weekend

I'm back at the church working half-time. I'm encouraged that my energy level is such that this is working out okay, at least so far.

This weekend I'll join our Lead Pastor Steve Fowler on the platform to talk for a couple minutes about my new role. I won't go into all the details now, but one significant component of my new job description is prayer--providing oversight to the many expressions of prayer found at Salem Alliance and the new prayer center to be located in the Broadway building. These are interesting days of transition, but God has been very good to me.

Upcoming Blogs

I'm pushing the envelope the next few days…at least for my comfort zone. Do you remember the days when magazines published stories one chapter at a time and you had to wait for the next issue to read more of the story? I don't actually remember this myself, but I've heard about them. I've just finishing the writing of a children's story for adults. It's far too long for one blog entry so I've broken it into four chapters that I will share as four consecutive blogs October 11-14. If it drives you crazy to read this much on a computer screen or you are too impatient to wait for the next chapter, you can contact Rebecca Anderson at Salem Alliance and she'll email you the full story as an attachment. She can be reached at randerson@salemalliance.org.

Care to Join Us?

Speaking of Rebecca…she and I have been assigned the task of producing a Christmas devotional for the Salem Alliance Church family. In the past, this has been a printed booklet that we handed out or sold to those who attend our church. However, with this year's economy and the ever increasing influence of the internet, we have decided that this year we will produce an Advent devotional that will primarily be accessible on-line. (For those who don't have internet access, we will have a few printed copies available.) This will not only be cost effective but will allow many outside of Salem Alliance to enjoy this resource as well.

This is where you come in. We're extending an offer to this blog community to submit devotionals to us for consideration. Have you ever wanted to try your hand at writing? Here's your chance! Rebecca and I will be writing a few of them and we'd love to have you join us.

We're requesting from you 400-800 word devotionals on any theme of Christmas you choose. We'll take the selected entries and organize them into some manner that makes sense to us. Ideally your entry would include a key verse or passage and a central thought summarized in one sentence or two. The body of the devotional itself might include a lesson you learned, a Christmas memory you have, a story, an insight into the incredible fact that Christ came to earth, or something that would enrich the Christmas experience of others.

Entries should be sent to Rebecca at randerson@salemalliance.org by November 1.

As with any submission for publication, it is very likely that we will not be able to use everything that is sent to us. I've had this happen to me many times as I've submitted material to publishers. Even so, the act of writing itself is valuable, whether the work is published or not. So, give it a shot. Get a head start on Christmas and let your heart go there. See what you come up with. This should be fun.

Well, that's enough updating for tonight I think.

My love to all of you,
John