The Gathering Storm

Beloved, I thought it important today to set all things in order.

Before an angel ever stirred. Before the Earth felt the warmth of a sunrise. Before a star ever twinkled in the night sky. Before anything was created, our High King of Heaven is.

Fly back with me on wings of faith into eternity-past. We see a council-chamber and behold the Father pledging himself to the Son, and the Son pledging himself to the Father, while the Spirit gives his pledge to both, and thus that divine compact is completed and settled. The covenant of grace which has become the joy and hope of all the saints.

God The Father speaks; "I, the Most High Jehovah, do hereby give unto my only begotten and well-beloved Son, a people, countless beyond the number of stars, who shall be by him washed from sin, by him preserved, and kept, and led, and by him, at last, presented before my throne, without spot, or wrinkle. I swear by myself, because I can swear by no greater, that these whom I now give to Christ shall be for ever the objects of my love. Them I will forgive through the merit of the blood. To these will I give a perfect righteousness; these will I adopt and make my sons and daughters, and these shall reign with me through Christ eternally."

As for God The Son; "My Father, on my part I covenant that in the fullness of time I will become man. I will take upon myself the form and nature of a man. I will live in the world, and for my people I will keep the law perfectly. I will work out a spotless righteousness, which shall be acceptable to the demands of a just and holy law. In due time I will bear the sins of all my people. You shalt exact their debts on me; the chastisement of their peace I will endure, and by my stripes they shall be healed. My Father, I covenant and promise that I will be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. I will magnify the law, and make it honourable. I will suffer all they ought to have suffered. I will endure the curse of the law, and all the vials of thy wrath shall be emptied and spent upon my head. I will then rise again; I will ascend into heaven; I will intercede for them at thy right hand; and I will make myself responsible for every one of them, that not one of those whom thou hast given me shall ever be lost, but I will bring all my sheep of whom, by thy blood, thou hast constituted me the shepherd—I will bring every one safe to thee at last."

God The Holy Spirit gives His declaration; "I hereby covenant, that all whom the Father gives to the Son, I will in due time quicken. I will show them their need of redemption; I will cut off from them all groundless hope, and destroy their refuges of lies. I will bring them to the blood of sprinkling; I will give them faith whereby this blood shall be applied to them, I will work in them every grace; I will keep their faith alive; I will cleanse them and drive out all depravity from them, and they shall be presented at last spotless and faultless."

These words of Father, Son, and Spirit were excerpted from a sermon Delivered on September 4th, 1859, by Charles Haddon Spurgeon at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens, London, England. Truth is unchanging!

In the fullness of time, a child was born to Mary. They named Him Jesus. Only her husband Joseph and cousin Elizabeth knew the mystery of Mary's conception. He grew into manhood. The quality of His life was a lightening rod to all whom He came in contact with. Those who met and touched Him were changed forever. The Jewish Leaders were puppets under the Roman
occupation of Palestine. Much like the Vichy Government of France during the Nazi occupation, they would do anything to appease the Roman military. Jesus was a huge threat to their survival. He had to be eliminated. The charge of blasphemy was brought to Pilate. False witnesses testified. Pilate tried in vain to deflect their falsehoods but finally caved under the political pressure. On a certain Friday, Jesus was executed by Roman crucifixion. The darkest and brightest day in the history of our world. His body was removed and laid in a tomb.

As a father of four, what strikes me beyond belief is that God The Father stood as a witness to the death of His only Son because he loves my daughter Valerie so much. Just one word and His Son would be freed but no word was spoken. How great and unchanging the love of the Father is for us.

The weatherman announced this morning that the sun would shine only four hours today. But he was wrong. The sun is always shining above the clouds. The storm clouds of our journey with Valerie grow darker beloved. God's love for her lies above the darkness, but we can not always see it. Please pray that the Spirit of God within our beloved Valerie will open her eyes in a supernatural way to see the wonders that await all who call on the name of Jesus.

Val caught a bug over the weekend. She is congested and coughing, a very dangerous situation for her. Dr. Lenz prescribed Levaquin, an antibiotic. Chris picked it up at Vons but, for some reason, insurance didn't cover it and he had to pay $300. Pray that he can work that out with is insurance company.

TPN is continuing but not without problems. We have extended the infusion to 18 hours per day to mitigate the ascites . Pray that Val's body is able to absorb the nourishment. This must turn around to prevent starvation!

We are scheduled, God willing, to go up to USC tomorrow for Chemo 30. Pray also that Dr. Rose will call to give us an interpretation of last week's PET at UCSD.