Three Random Pieces

First Piece.

It is Friday. It is my last day of chemotherapy for this week, Round 4. Thankfully, I am feeling well – actually the best I have felt during any of my treatments. As I write, my chemotherapy is dripping into my veins.

While there is a tendency to feel nauseous from the chemotherapy, I am sitting here in bed thinking about food. I have been having all kinds of food cravings this week.

We have run into a bit of a snag with my injections to bring up my white blood cell count. I have to have the injections daily for ten days. The insurance company will cover the injections if I have them here at the hospital, but not if I self-inject at home. So, it looks like we’ll be making the hour and 45-minute drive (each way) every day for ten days.

We could complain about the drive, the time involved, the cost of gasoline, the inconvenience, and on and on, but we have no reason to complain. Because of God’s provision and the kindness of so many people, we have the means to make this daily trip. What a blessing to know that our needs have already been met!

Jehovah Jireh, My Provider,
His grace is sufficient for me.
My God shall supply all my needs, according to His riches in glory.
He will give His angels charge over me.
Jehovah Jireh cares for me.

Second Piece.

Relax! My wife hates it when I tell her to relax. She says that the last thing she can do when I tell her to relax is to actually relax.

I have a new phrase now. Stop picking up rocks. It comes from a book we recently read, where the author describes a walk down a jungle path. As we walk down the path, we tend to look for hidden dangers. We look under rocks to see what is hiding. All unnecessarily. Every day, we tend to worry about things that will never materialize. We see problems that don’t exist. We go looking for trouble. Our minds race with the “What ifs?” Paul tells us in Philippians 4 to be anxious for nothing. We need to stop worrying. We need to stop picking up rocks and looking underneath them.

Third Piece.

I received a call from my friend Jamie this morning. Jamie is one of those rare friends with which you can pick up in the middle of a conversation that was started three months ago. Our conversations go deep quickly. We can share our deepest thoughts readily without spending ten minutes beating around the bush. After a brief conversation with Jamie, he knows how to pray for me and I know how to pray for him.