God helped me with the strength and stamina to stand, although I did have a stool to use if I needed (a stool has never been my style) and my voice held up and was strong enough to carry me through the 50 minutes of each class.  So, thank you for your prayers and continue to pray that God would help me pace myself through this new material and that there would be obvious signs of him ministering to us all through his Word.

Meanwhile, Lisa continues working with the married lady students and loves every minute of it.  Together, Lisa and I meet with three of those married couples and then we have a Green Letters group once a week with five students.  Green Letters is the name of the book we are studying through, a book on spiritual growth.  We have both found ourselves saying that we think we have the best jobs in the world, teaching and discipling young men and women to grow in their spiritual lives so they can be useful to God.

All our love,

James and Lisa

Psalm 71:18…So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

I had been asking for wisdom as to whether or not I should teach this semester so, after some discussion, I am slotted to teach Psalms in February with a view to adding other classes as able. A lot of that will depend on my response to the chemo and radiation treatment. Lisa will continue to work alongside Martha in the Dean’s department, however, she too will have to take it a day at a time depending on how I am doing and how much she needs to help me. Pray for us both as we seek to be a blessing to the students and staff alike but have to work with a flexible schedule.

I had my first chemo last Thursday, felt good Friday but then wasn’t good on Saturday with aches, fatigue and nausea. Started to pick up on Sunday and Monday and Tuesday have been good. Tonight I was well enough to attend the opening session for the new semester. We saw a video of the new church in Siar and heard one of the most amazing testimonies of a new believer I have ever heard.

Incredibly, the gospel will be presented among the North Waghi people on Thursday 19 January (PNG time) where the missionary’s translation helper has already believed and been born again. Pray that the presentation of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ will leave the Waghi people in no doubt of what they must do to be saved. Pray too for the Wilsons who have to leave for furlough straight after the teaching to attend to medical issues.

Thank you for your prayers,

James and Lisa

Ps 13:5,6  ‘My trust is in Thy mercy and my heart is joyful in Thy salvation.  I will sing of the Lord because he has dealt so lovingly with me, yea, I will praise the name of the Lord Most High’.

First day of chemo is over and today I am feeling fine, thank God. Thanks to all who have prayed. Have been advised about all the possible side effects and realize that these could appear as time goes on. But today, I am not having to deal with any, so thank God.

I do have a list of things I need to do to keep on top things as much as possible – wash hands often as my immune system will be affected, drink lots of water as one of the drugs is hard on the kidneys, breathing exercises as often as possible as I have fluid in my right lung, exercise as much as possible as toxins can be released through sweat, maintain high carb and protein diet eating 6 times a day rather than 3 to prevent weight loss and promote healing. I’d appreciate your prayers for faithfulness and diligence in attending to these issues as it will give my body the best possible chance of surviving the treatment.

Just as I need maintenance of the body, I need maintenance for the soul. Nothing different there, simply enjoy a current relationship with the Lord through His Word, prayer and fellowship with the saints. Reading today that if a leper wanted to be cleansed he had to see the priest. However, he had been banished from the camp and so the priest went outside the camp to the leper. I was reminded that Jesus suffered outside the city and of God’s willingness to meet us where we are. To survive the rare and aggressive cancer I have will take a miracle but I was reminded today, that whatever the outcome, Jesus will meet me there.

James

Leviticus 13:46 He (the leper) shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

Leviticus 14:3 and the priest shall go out of the camp, and the priest shall look.

The story of the lepers reminded me of this photo our son, Isaac, took ‘outside’ Jerusalem!

These are a couple of lines to a Sunday School chorus I used to sing that the Holy Spirit must have brought to mind yesterday when we were told that a blood test that tracks my cancer was elevated.  I was rejoicing at this response, clear evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in answer to the many who have been praying for us.

The previous night, Lisa and I had been reading a devotional that said, ‘Has your Father led you into the desert? … Are there sorrows that sorely test our hearts?  Be assured that our Father intends every one of them to be a road for us to Christ so that we may reach Him and know Him in some character of His love and power that otherwise our souls had not known.’

My surgeon, Dr Nyugen, is happy with my recovery and removed the final drain.  I am now under the care of a Dr Fakih, who will be overseeing my chemotherapy.  Because of the elevated blood test, I am having a CT scan on Monday 9 Jan, with chemotherapy to start Thursday 12 Jan if all is well.  Chemotherapy and radiation will last about six months .  The doctor hasn’t ruled out the possibility of me teaching this coming semester, so pray for wisdom as to what courses I could teach.  Pray for the strength and stamina to endure the treatment and the possible side effects and to be able to teach this semester.

Next week, our son Benjamin and his family will be meeting with two other families who have been talking and praying about forming a team to take the gospel to an unreached tribe.  I am sure they would value your prayers as they finalize this decision and then talk strategy.

Meanwhile, a Dao believer, prompted by the woman who poured her very expensive perfume over Jesus’ feet, served up his most precious possession, a pig.  He shared it out to others who came to the feast he had planned to celebrate Jesus’ birth.  No one had seen anything like this before, usually they would have paid for the pig meat but Daapoi, the Dao believer, wanted all to know that Jesus, whose birth they celebrated and who died on the cross for them was now his most precious possession.

Thank you for your prayers, love and concern shown in many ways,

James and Lisa

Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Last Thursday and Friday I had appointments with the chemotherapy and radiation oncologists. Both were very pleasant and honest about the possibilities given the rare and agressive nature of the cancer I have. I will have chemotherapy first which will involve a combination of two drugs. This will allow them to give smaller doses and reduce unwanted side effects. They will be administered once a week for 2-3 months with every third week off. The surprising thing for me was that they encouraged me to be about my business, whatever I could manage. The radiation will involve high energy x-rays aimed at the sites where they know there has been cancer, however, this is every day, five days a week for six weeks. Again, I was surprized to hear that many patients drive to and from the hospital themselves. The hospital is very willing to work around my schedule as far as is possible.

At this point there is no definite prognosis, they hope that the treatment will sterilize all the cancer cells remaining in the body. However, those who have opted to take the chemotherapy route have always done better than those who have decided against any further treatment. A Yembi Yembi believer speaking at the funeral of another Yembi Yembi believer said that only God has the power to close fingers or to end life. So we take heart that while oncologists give us their best guess given the data, ultimately we are looking to God.

The cool thing about the Yembi Yembi believer’s comments is that the funeral came shortly after a five week leadership/discipleship course taught by our missionaries. Part of the course was on how to conduct a Christian marriage and funeral. Traditionally, the Yembi Yembi would have assumed that the death was a result of black magic and that the dead woman’s spirit would have been floating around their village. This also illustrates how tribal believers must not just be brought to faith but that they must be taught to observe ‘all that I have commanded you’.

In a booklet written by John Piper entitled, ‘Don’t Waste Your Cancer’, he said this. Satan’s and God’s designs in our cancer are not the same. Satan designs to destroy our love for Christ. God designs to deepen our love for Christ, Cancer does not win if we die. It wins if we fail to cherish Christ. God’s design is to wean us off the breast of the world and feast us on the sufficiency of Christ.

Our next hospital appointment will be 5 January 2012. Until then I have to concentrate on good nutrition and exercise so I am as strong as I can be to endure the chemotherapy. Pray for good healing from the surgery. Continue to pray that we will look not at the things that are seen but at the things that are unseen so that we will see this cancer as a light and momentary affliction that is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory above comparing.

James and Lisa

Dear Friends and Supporters,

I have known good help recovering from the surgery, so glad to have been able to get home after only five days and enjoy the family atmosphere.

The next big event on our calendar is a series of appointments on 8 & 9 December. One is a follow up with my surgeon. Then I have two appointments with oncologists to discuss chemo and radiation therapy.

I would ask that you pray for wisdom from from above for the oncologists as they decide on what sort of treatment to pursue.

Benjamin will be returning to PNG on 10 December. We have been so glad to have him with us and appreciated the sacrifice on Missy’s part for being willing to be apart for a month. When he returns, he will be involved in developing a strategy, with his team members, for moving into a tribe.

I would ask you to pray for wisdom from above as they decide on which tribe to go to, develop their team strategy and wait on God for his provision for the move.

Thanks for all your love and support and for all your prayers.

2 Cor 1:8 We felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

All our love,

James and Lisa

Dear friends and supporters,

I am in my ninth day of recovery from surgery and definitely seeing daily progress. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with all our kids (except for Missy and the PNG grandkids) and able to express our thanks for our situation knowing that it will, in some way, glorify God. Thank you for your emails and cards.

Unfortunately, the pathology report we were given before leaving the hospital was not good. Even though the surgeon removed 70% of the liver he was not able to remove all the cancer. Also, he found cancer in one of my lymph nodes. The cancer I have is aggressive with a high incidence of recurrence and in stage 3. The next step is to prepare for chemotherapy and radiation therapy but the statistics show that only 10% with this form of cancer survive for five years.

It has been hard news to bear but we have been knowing the peace of God as we look at it from His perspective. We are learning to appreciate the days and the moments realizing it is not how many we have but how we spend them. And then we have all eternity to look forward to with our Heavenly Father who is loving and kind and good and wise, the sight of whom will make all our questions disappear.

Pray for Lisa, she is my primary care giver and needs strength for each day physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Pray for the family for God’s perspective on a daily basis. Pray for me that I will be making the choices each day that will honor God and keep me useful to Him.

I had been challenged by PS 71:18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. I leave that to God to choose how I do so, whether by my life or my death.

We are grateful for your love and prayers,

James for the family.

Dear Friends and supporters,

We have been so blessed by messages and emails assuring us of your prayers.

We have experienced the grace and peace of God in a wonderful way. Then God has provided for Benjamin to return from PNG and Isaac and Camille to return from Israel. We have had a wonderful day together when Christopher and Mandy arrived from Ohio.

So, I am scheduled for surgery tomorrow, Friday 18 Nov, at 7:30am EST. The surgery will take 8 hours and recovery will require a further two weeks in hospital. We are looking to God for a successful surgery and the physical stamina for the family to go back and forth to the hospital to visit. Pray that God would give the surgeons wisdom.

We are aware of the risks of the surgery so over and above all this we are praying the Father to glorify his name, John 12:29. We will keep you posted.

Thank you for your love and concern and prayers,

James and Lisa.

Dear friends and supporters,

We have been so blessed at the response to our email a few days ago and thank you so much for praying for us, it is a great comfort to our hearts.

I had my final test today and we called the doctor for the results. I do not have cancer in the bowel or lungs, however, they are pretty sure that I have cholangiocarcinoma which is cancer of the bile duct in my liver – not good.

As anticipated a few days ago, they have scheduled surgery for 18 November. The doctor warned us that it is not without its risks. Since I will have about 80% of the liver removed, there is risk of bleeding or failure of the part of the liver that remains.

Assuming I survive the surgery, I will have some radiation and chemotherapy. Once that is complete, they will talk about a prognosis. If they don’t do the surgery, the doctor said I might have 4-6 months to live.

Feeling quite numb this evening, it all seems quite surreal but very glad to have family close at hand. We also have a very supportive team here at NTBI and as I have said, we are greatly comforted by your prayers and concern.

For the past four weeks we have been asking God to help us deal with what we know rather than what we don’t know and we have experienced a great peace with that. Now we have a definite diagnosis that isn’t good, we are trusting the Lord for that same grace to handle what we know.

Again, we would covet your prayers for courage, that our faith would not fail and for our family around the world. We would also ask you that God would be pleased to give the strength to survive the surgery and to have as long as possible with family.

Another quote from Ps 71:18 So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.

All our love,

James and Lisa

Dear friends and supporters,

We would really value your prayers at this time because I, James, found out this week that I will have to have some major surgery in the next two or three weeks.

I have a mass in my liver that doctors think could be cancer. In light of that, I am to have further tests to see if there are signs of cancer anywhere else. Whatever they find, I will have to have my gall bladder and more than half of my liver removed.

Needless to say, it has been quite a shock, however, God has been helping Lisa and I to take a day at a time, to deal with what we know and not what we don’t know. I am thankful to God for Lisa and for her steady faith that is very supportive.

We sure would appreciate your prayers. I would ask you to pray for me for courage as I face the surgery and wait on a definite diagnosis. I would ask your prayers that my faith will not fail. I would ask your prayers for the family as they wait with me on the outcome, especially our family in Ireland and our sons in Papua New Guinea and Israel who feel so far away.

“You God, Who have shown me great and severe troubles, shall revive me again and bring me up again from the depths of the earth.” Ps 71:20

All our love,

James and Lisa.