To be forthright, I did not come up with all  of this, but I agree with every word and added several things to it.

How to be more effective in the pulpit

Here are observations and ideas that I believe will make anyone who follows them a better speaker, teacher, and even student. And since those are three of the primary tasks of preachers, I think they’re worthwhile, especially  for those who are just starting out.

1) Don’t Preach It All Every Sermon

Don’t feel like you have to preach everything you know about your chosen topic, every time you preach on it. Choose what you’re going to say, and stick to it. Face it, you cannot say everything that every listener needs to hear in one sitting, nor could they absorb it all if you did. Better to say one thing well, and make it stick, then to say everything poorly or in a manner that is forgettable . I am reminded of a young speaker who got up with a 10 minute time limit attempting to speak on “The Life of David” only to be extremely frustrated at being called down before he could finish.

2) Don’t Talk About Your Outline It has always baffled me why high school speech teachers afflict their poor students with the notion that it’s best to tell the hapless audience what the three headings of your “talk” are as you start out. Don’t spend much time talking about how you’re going to “get into that in more depth later in the lesson.” Don’t talk about how “we’ll come back to that later, don’t worry.” Especially don’t say such things as, “Now for our second point,” and such drivel.

Just cover your material. Move smoothly through the presentation that you’ve planned. Let your outline (if you use one) be your guide, but don’t lean on it or be a slave to it. And whatever you do, don’t read it. Your job is to present a complete presentation of the results of your study, and to help someone else,  it is not to talk about what should be just an invisible skeleton on which you hang the meat of your talk.

Either memorize your scriptures or have them written out so listeners don’t have to watch you  flip through your Bible. When I first started preaching I did not have a typewriter, so instead of typing out the scriptures and worrying about getting them exactly correct, I went to a used book store, bought some cheap ($1.00 or so) paperback Bibles and cut out and pasted the scriptures into my sermon notes.  The audience doesn’t want to watch you struggle to find Galatians.

3) Finish On Time

Am I allowed to say that? Did I lose anyone there? Are you wondering where my zeal all suddenly went? Don’t I know that Paul preached until midnight?

Let these two witticisms I received from my Dad be your guide. Dad told me one time, “Son, if you haven’t struck oil in thirty minutes, quit boring.” Secondly he said, “The mind is only able to absorb what the rear end is able to endure.”  You should also remember that according to surveys the average comprehension level of most audiences is about that of a 12 year old, so adjust your lesson to fit that standard.

Certainly, there are exceptions to all good rules, (with some exceptions, of course) there are to this one. But as a rule finish what you’re going to say in the time allotted to you. This is not because those old sorry, unappreciative, poorly devoted people out there in the pews don’t enjoy hearing the truth as much as you. No, it is because if you frequently “run long”, then most likely  you’re breaking other rules ;  either trying to cram too much stuff in, (Rule 1), wasting time along the way talking about stuff that is irrelevant to your main thrust or being repetitive.  (Rule 2, e.g.) It’s not that you have so many brilliant things to say that you don’t have time to say them all. More likely, it’s that you’re just not saying them as well as you could be, so it takes a long time to get it all out. Having to fit into the time allotted gives you discipline, and frequently is a great help in firming and toning your otherwise flabby words. I have noticed that many speakers known for lengthy presentations are quite often repetitive!

As Strunk & White put it, “Vigorous writing is concise.” (see Rule 9 for more on this.)

4) Don’t Take Every Opportunity to Criticize Your Audience

Don’t always be pounding your audience for not being “spiritual” enough. There will always be something that you could preach against. But the fact is that you have to preach for something, or else people will quickly learn to shut you out. After all, no one (including you) is anywhere close to perfect. But just like we can’t live on a steady diet of castor oil and penicillin, we do not grow primarily through criticism. We grow through the whole Word.

This doesn’t mean that you must avoid “difficult” topics, or that you cannot reprove and rebuke. Just don’t let your frustration with the often glacial pace of change tempt you into becoming a driver rather than a teacher (and leader).

Do not accuse your audience by painting with too broad a brush, such as “Everyone here is guilty of hypocrisy.” Do not insult your audience’s intelligence by admonishing them to “Try to stay with me now…”

5) Don’t Mistake Brashness and Tactlessness for “Courage” and “Honesty”

There are many ways to handle most problems, some good and some bad, and which is which may depend uniquely on the situation. You may have courage, but being too eager for an opportunity to show it can make you fight when you should encourage or delay or befriend or ignore. Remember Peter’s sword.

6) Concentrate On The Ones Who Care

It’s easy to think that a little attention and youthful enthusiasm could really “turn old Bro. Smith around.” But human beings are creatures of habit, and inertia is a powerful force in our lives. The problem is, the only one who usually has much leverage in a man’s life is him. This means that a good intention can easily become a “project,” at which time it becomes harder and harder to move on, cut your losses (so to speak), and find some one who wants to grow. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Find thirstier horses.

I shouldn’t have to say this, but I will: I’m not suggesting that you abandon those whose zeal is flagging, or whose commitment may be slipping. But don’t spend all your time trying to repair what’s not in your power, and ignore people who are already eager to learn and do more. Jesus and His apostles were careful not to waste too much time on those who did not want the truth and did not want to learn. You should be too.

7) Don’t Try To Preach Like A Preacher

In particular, don’t emulate the style of well-known preachers 40 years your elder. For one thing, it just sounds odd when a young preacher talks like an old preacher. For another, those old preachers often borrowed their style from another older brother that they admired, so the style may be twice that old by now. Language, particularly the spoken part, is a dynamic, living thing (which can be good or bad). Words and mannerisms that were moving and effective 40 (or 80) years ago may not have the same effect now.

Don’t let your delivery distract from your message. Hopefully, those men are not popular and well-respected because of their style alone; one can hope that it is their message and their effectiveness at getting it across that brings them the reputation that they may enjoy. Truth is timeless. So keep in mind that effectiveness begins with content, then is augmented (or hindered) by the delivery.

The sad fact is that just being a preacher, and doing it fairly frequently, does not automatically make you a good speaker. So sounding like a “preacher” may make people recognize that you’re “preaching”, but it’s no guarantee that it will make them listen more, or that it will make your preaching more effective. Which are you more concerned about? Sounding “like a preacher”, or being effective in convincing and teaching and exhorting your listeners? Be yourself, and talk in a way that is effective for you and your listeners.

8 ) Be A Good Speaker, Not A Stylish One

You can be enjoyable to listen to, but not effective in carrying the argument. But if you are a good speaker, you will be effective, and as a happy side benefit, your listeners will also enjoy listening to you.

Of course, you can have some effect by sheer strength of your message or your personality. But that effect will be greatly less than what it could be, and your listeners will not enjoy it.

Good speaking has a lot in common with good writing (see Rule 9 for more on that). But you can rarely simply read a lesson (even if it’s a well-written one and you read well aloud) and make it a good speech. Speaking is an interactive activity, whether or not your audience is actually saying anything back to you out loud. All audiences respond in some way, and speaking is the delivery of a message, while interacting with the audience directly in order to get it across.

A good speaker has to use his voice and words well, but also his eyes and ears if he can, to be sensitive and reactive to the state of his audience: their interest level, their involvement, their agreement or disagreement, their fatigue (see Rule 3), even their mood. It is foolish for you to seek to impose your will, in some show of control over presentation; that is almost never going to get it done. You must learn to cooperate with your audience, and to work with them to achieve the maximum effect, whether that turns out to be great or small.

As for your words – this is not academia. Be direct. Be concise. Be personal and personable. Be accurate. Be specific. Be empathetic. Be reasoned and rational. Be passionate, even emotional as appropriate (but never for show).

Perhaps most fundamentally, know your material. Know both what to say, and what not to say, before you jump in.

9) Learn To Write Well

Almost nothing else you can do will have more long-term and positive effects on your own scholarship and knowledge, as well as your effectiveness in teaching, as learning to write and writing well.

Note: you do not learn to write well by reading what is typically written by brethren. Sadly, the majority of brethren whose writing I have read are truly awful writers. That doesn’t mean they’re not good people, or that they’re not good Bible students, or even that the article was not worthwhile. It simply means that they are not good at the art of writing, and like poor speaking, poor writing hampers the message greatly.

Instead, you learn to write well by doing these three things (and there are no other steps than these that I know of):

a. Learn the rules of language. This doesn’t mean that you always must be a slave to a bunch of formalities; it just means that, like all good writers, you must be aware when and whether to break or bend one to make the sentence or paragraph more effective. Read Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style, and you’ll pretty much have this nailed, or at least as much as you’ll need. Then keep it close to your desk and USE it whenever you’re not sure. Proper grammar is your friend and a welcome sound to your audience.
b. Read good writing: not writing about “good” topics, or writing by “good” people, or even writing that’s entertaining – just good writing, by masters (this does not include most modern popular writers of any genre, moral considerations aside).

c. Practice, regularly, until you die.

10) Never, under any circumstance, brag on or praise your own ability. If you receive praise, let it be from someone else. I have witnessed too many preachers young and old brag on themselves and to be honest, no-one likes a braggart, especially when boasting and being prideful is considered sinful.

Repeat as needed.

“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” – 1 Cor. 16:13

Credit for the origin of most of these points goes to: http://www.goodfight.com

As I write this, I am lying in bed thinking about my trip to Springfield tomorrow for an M.R.I. It has been about 2 & 1/2 years since surgery to remove a brain tumor and 2 years since the completion of my radiation treatment.

I had a slight setback about 5 weeks ago now. In preparation for my upcoming visits to my doctors, I decided to try and wean myself off of my anti-seizure medicine. (This was not a completely crazy idea as my neurologist had said we could try this.) The reason for trying to wean myself off  is the side-effects of the medicine. Keppra which is what I’m taking has the listed side effects of lethargy and vertigo. I suffer from both of those, so I need to be OFF this medication a.s.a.p.

I guess I went too quickly in weaning off, because I went to Hardees before church on a Wednesday night, by myself, and had a seizure which caused me to black out and fall off a high stool onto the floor, separating my shoulder. I am just now able to go the full day without wearing a sling for my left arm. Yes, I learned a valuable lesson and YES, I am taking my full dosages of medication now.

I want to start this blog back up and contribute something besides my woeful tale of battling cancer. I want this blog to be helpful and perhaps even entertaining from time to time. One of the things I’d like to blog about is some of my thoughts about The Church and spirituality in general. I have a lot of things I’d like to say in those areas that just don’t seem to fit into the genre of Facebook or any other social networking site.

One of things I’m going to have to do if I follow through is to become more adept at knowing how much or how little to type at a time. Being able to type at well over 80 wpm has good and bad points. I can type a LOT of nonsense in a little amount of time. I usually wear people out when I chat with them online by typing. I overwhelm them with messages and WORDS! In the spirit of trying to control this, I am going to end this update here and say more later. I’m thinking less words and greater frequency is the formula I need for now. Having said that, Buh Bye for now!

Okay, I know….I know. I haven’t updated in a (long) while but I am going to try and remedy that. I had a little “episode” back in February and it discouraged me from doing much on the blog. I know that sounds weak, but it’s all I got. What happened was, I was singing down at the show in Neosho, sitting all hunched over on top of a chair and I passed out. Hit the floor and got a few scrapes, etc. Woke up in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I have not had ONE hitch nor even a twitch since then, so things seem to be going great.

If I can get my vehicle running right, I’ll probably attend the meeting in Springfield in July. That is going to be a great meeting just about any way you look at it. I won’t be able to afford to spend any nights over there, but I should be able to make at least a couple of services, Lord willing of course!

Not much new around here except the music show is taking off until September, so I’ll be jamming/singing other places occasionally, like  Red Oak 2, etc. I have BIG plans to work on the yard/house this Summer, hope I don’t wimp out!  Talk to ya’ll later….Keep the faith!

Stan.

I need to update since my trip to the Neurologist in Springfield. I got a “Get Out of Jail” card. That means I can drive once again.

Last Friday, Feb. 19, I went to see Dr. Ling Li, my Neurologist in Springfield. After a consultation with her and me describing my seizure that occurred at the end of last year, she decided that it was likely induced by going off the anti-seizure medicine too quickly. She said that they go by either 3 months or 6 months after a seizure to make a determination, and since my seizure was somewhat mild and had no lasting effects, AND I was doing so well, she’d go ahead and let me start driving again since it had been 3 months. She was also very happy with my latest M.R.I. and bloodwork.

I just can’t tell you how happy that all makes me. It is really scary how MUCH my independence relies on being able to walk out, get in my vehicle and just go, whenever I want. Hopefully, I will NEVER again take that for granted.
That is the good news, the bad news is that my vehicle sitting un-driven for that period of time caused it to run VERY rough when I drove it. It finally quit on me completely about a block away from my house and I had to have it towed to the mechanic today. So, I’ve got driving privileges and no vehicle….worthless, right? Someone (a church member) had pity on me and let me borrow their vehicle until mine gets fixed.

I am constantly thankful for my Church Family. They are truly like a family to me and it is a blessing beyond words. I may come back and type more later, but that is a quick(?) overview of my last few days.

Well, this past Thursday, Feb. 4th, I went back to Springfield for an M.R.I. and a visit with my neurosurgeon and radiologist.

My appointment for the M.R.I. was first and I was directed to a new place for that. Previously, I’ve gotten all my M.R.I.’s at St. Johns Hospital in Springfield. This time, the event took place in the same building that houses my neurosurgeon, The Surgery Center, which is just across the road from the hospital. The appointment had been moved up from 11:00 to 9:00 so we had to leave here at 7:00 to get to Springfield in time. Lehua drove us and we arrived there in plenty of time.

I got into the place for the M.R.I. and the lady did NOT have me on the schedule. That seems to be typical for these things. Even though they had called me to confirm the appointment, she didn’t have any record of it. They happened to have had a cancellation right at that time, so they were able to get me in. I did NOT like this M.R.I. machine. The machine at the hospital is familiar and not NEARLY as loud as this one was. I knew I was in for something different when the nurse handed me some of those foam earplugs and then they started immobilizing my head with cushions and finally a “mask” that went over my face.

I’ve been having some allergy/sinus problems along with congestion, so when I was up inside the tube getting the M.R.I. I started getting a tickle in my throat like I needed to cough. I fought it off as long as I could but finally had to signal to be brought out of the tube and cough my head off. When they put me back in, the lady asked if I wanted the fan turned off (it blows in your face to give you the feeling you’re NOT in a tube) and I asked her to turn it off. That made all the difference in the world and I was able to get through both M.R.I.’s without further incidence. I say two M.R.I.’s because it is one WITH and without contrast. The one with contrast they put some kind of fluid/dye in your veins via an I.V. and it gives them a different view.

We now had almost three hours until my visit with the neurosurgeon, so we headed to the mall to kill some time. I got to walk one time around inside the mall which is about 2 miles. I need to start up my walking regimen again, it makes me feel a lot better! We finally had some lunch about 12:30 and then did a bit of “people watching” which is one of my favorite activities at the mall. I like to guess how far away people live from town by how they’re dressed, etc. It’s a great game!

We left the mall and went to the neurosurgeon appointment. I saw two assistants before I saw the surgeon and both of them looked at the M.R.I. results and the commentary and told me there was no re-growth and that the “edema” had gone down. I’m told the edema is the place in my brain where they cut out the tumor. It had been swollen a bit on the last M.R.I. but that had gone down, which was good news.

My surgeon finally came in and we talked about the results. He was very happy with what he saw. I told him about the seizure I’d had back in November and he told me I’d have to quit driving for 3 more months. I was NOT happy with that news, in fact it almost completely wiped out the good news I had just received. It meant I am now dependent on others to go anywhere or do anything for the next three months. That my friends is like a jail sentence for me. The only bright spot about that is I have an appointment in two weeks with the Neurologist and she may be able to get me back to driving before that 3 months….pray for me about that!

While we were in Springfield, at the mall, it started snowing and while it was lovely, I was worried about driving conditions. The temperature was just too warm for any of it to stick, so that worked out great.

After the appointment, I had to go to the radiologist and get bloodwork done and then consult with her. Her name is Dr. Raju, little Indian woman and she was happy with the results of the M.R.I. and said the bloodwork was as it should be, so all in all, GREAT news! (Did I mention that I hate needles? Not a good thing for a man in my condition.)

I guess Katy may get some time being a chauffeur during the next three weeks. I actually feel sorry for Lehua having to drive me around when I need her to. She will do it, she may not love it, but she will do so and for that I am thankful. I’m not very good at depending on someone else, so I hope this is resolved before three months.

I may come back and add to this later, but for now it’s about all I need to say without doing a whole lot more rambling.

Almost forgot to add that I don’t have to go back until AUGUST!! That is a sixth month schedule and after that, if everything looks good, it will be a YEAR before I go back again. Wooooo Hooooo!

I also forgot to add that I finally asked the surgeon about the “bumps” on my scarline. He said that there was a small titanium plate held in by screws to hold my skull together, nice to know, eh? It sure makes shaving my head with a razor difficult.

Stephen put a message on my last post and said I needed to update more often. I can tell you that it is not simple neglect that has caused me to post so seldomly. It is the same problem I had when using Xanga.com I just figured nobody cared to read anything I had to say. It is hard to figure out how much to post. I don’t want to write in detail about EVERYTHING that happens in my life because it all just seems SO mundane to me. I will try to strike a balance.

One thing I did NOT talk about in my last post was a little “event” that happened to me in November. I had gone to my neurosurgeon, oncologist and radiologist at the beginning of November (2009). I talked to the surgeon about getting off the anti-seizure medicine because it has side effects that are not too thrilling (runny nose, dizziness and fatigue.) He told me to cut my dose in half for a week and then go off the medicine completely. I complied with that by taking ONE tablet in the morning for a week instead of one at night as well. The following week, I went off the medicine completely.  After a few days of that, one Saturday I was at my office working on some things when I started feeling very sick at my stomach and extremely fatigued. I laid down on the floor of my office for a while, I was the only one in the whole building, and finally was sick enough to sit up and throw up in my trash can. I laid back down for a little bit and worked up the energy to drive myself home.

Once I got home, I wasn’t feeling any better, in fact my symptoms were starting to get worse. I had Lehua drive me up to the hospital where they took me into the emergency room. While they had me on the exam table, taking off my shoes/socks I guess I had a seizure. I say I guess because I don’t remember it. I just remember “coming to” with the nurses standing over me telling me I had just had a seizure. That was very disconcerting, so long story short (TOO LATE) I went back on one pill a day and have been on that ever since.

My life has been pretty normal since then and I feel pretty good most of the time. I still have the undesirable side effects of the medicine (Keppra) so I’m hoping to get off of it for good somehow on my next visit. I spent most of November and December at school working with my honor choir and concerts, etc. The kids sounded really good with their songs and now we are working on our Spring concert music. Facebook has become an interesting, yet sometime annoying diversion for me. The thing that keeps me coming back to Facebook is keeping track of friends, etc. Yes, the games are an interesting pasttime but I’ve never been much for games.

Along the line of games, I do have a funny story to relate. Back when Nintendo was ALL the rage, we finally put together enough money to buy the boys a gaming system. We actually bought it about a month before we gave it to them, so I set the whole thing up in my study at the house. We would put the boys to bed and I would go in there and play Mario Bros. with the sound turned down real low. I completely mastered that game before the boys ever played once. We finally gave them the game, so whenever I played them, they wondered how Old Dad got so good at the game. They would always call me in to get them extra lives because I had gone online and learned all the tricks, etc. I’ve since told them about it, but it is a good story to think back on.

I’m still doing the once a month show with the Down Home Music Show in Neosho. I really enjoy that and it’s been a nice outlet for me and a good way to develop my guitar playing skills. I’m going to try and video some of the show sometime and maybe put it up here. Motivation….so easy to say….so hard to “get!”

I’ll post more later. We’re currently in a Gospel Meeting with Bill Fergerson and I must say Bill is doing some good preaching!

I will continue a bit about my surgery and recovery. I learned a great lesson from this surgery. It is something I always knew, but I had it proven to me beyond the shadow of a doubt.  It is very simple, and I can sum it up in two words: People care.

Sure, I’ve always known it, but sometimes you can get down on life and doubt these “absolutes.”

My recovery really began with a bang as it involved being put into a room where I could have visitors any time they wanted to come see me. The steady stream of people that visited was almost overwhelming. I still cannot adequately describe the joy of having my family with me in this situation. I love my family, but never tell them that enough, shame on me and no excuses. Without a doubt having all my Brothers and Sisters in Christ who visited, prayed and sent cards is something that is still amazing to me. It’s not that I didn’t expect it, it’s just that the outpouring of love and concern was so great as to be nearly tangible. That doesn’t do it justice, but it’s the only way I can describe it. I never did a final count and I can never say thank you to all, but there were at least a dozen cards a day arriving in my mailbox for about two weeks after my surgery, and it did taper off from there, but not before I had heard from seemingly everyone I know or that knows me in the Brotherhood!

My “school family” at work were also amazing. Our staff is very close in situations like this and they were just amazing with cards, prayers, concern and even gifts of food and monetary aid.

I stayed in the hospital for about a week? It may have been more or less than that, but I’ll have to consult my family as to the particulars. I got home and began to try and think about returning to work. I was lost being at home with “nothing to do.” I couldn’t drive for a while, so I had to be driven everywhere and anywhere I went…many thanks to Lehua and my friend Jace Gibson who later drove me to and from work every day. I got so bored after one or two days at home, that I went to the library and actually checked out some books to read. I hadn’t done that in years….literally! That satisfied me for a little while, but it wasn’t long before I was wanting to go back to work.

I went back to work about 2 weeks after my surgery. That was probably a little bit quick, but I felt up to it. I got back and my office was very decorated and the kids seemed very happy to have me back. It was a great homecoming!

After I had been home for a while, I had to fly to Houston Texas and visit M.D. Anderson for a second opinion on treatment. That was a good trip and I was SO impressed with that facility and people. The oncologist down there was a brilliant doctor by the name of Conrad who according to people who know is about the best oncologist around!  Dr. Conrad recommended radiation only and no chemo. (In futher research I have discovered that chemo. rarely helps brain cancer because of the brain/blood barrier that keeps the chemo. out. That was a pleasant trip but went very fast.

My next step was radiation. The most agonizing thing about that was that it was for 5 weeks, every week day! Thankfully it happened during the Summer, so I didn’t have to miss any work for it. I just went ahead and stayed up at Springfield every week because driving back and forth would’ve been crazy. The radiation was a bit unsettling because I had to have my head bolted down to the table every time I went into the tube. I have pictures on Facebook of the mask I had to wear for that….NOT GOOD!

I somehow survived the radiation and went back for an M.R.I. and P.E.T. scan both which came back with good results. I am now feeling really good except for some occasional dizziness which I believe is caused by the anti-seizure meds. I am taking. I go back in February for M.R.I. and other tests to see how things are going. So far, so good.

You know, I should start from the beginning, but I’m not sure where that would be. My first up close and personal contact with the C word came rather surreptitiously. It all started with anomalies that should give most people pause. Flashing lights in my peripheral vision, sometimes so extreme there were “black holes” in my vision afterwards. Little jagged rainbows appeared sometimes as well, likely would’ve been beautiful if not so disconcerting. There were other signs, that I chalked up to random causes. Severe headaches while out fishing with a friend, that I figured were the combination of the hot sun plus a tight cap. Perhaps the scariest were the episodes after being on the roof of my house fixing some shingles. Profuse sweating, and even some trembling and nausea. Finally the headaches across the back of my head just above my neck accompanied by weakness in my legs and arms and dizziness. It was these final symptoms that sent me to the doctor.

Sadly, the doctor I chose to use was incompetent. I chose him for almost purely financial reasons ($25.00 office visit) and that was a near fatal mistake. He first diagnosed me with high blood pressure, which I had on my first visit (Something like 188/109). He prescribed medication to control my bp and heart rate, and then sent me to an Opthalmologist thinking that the symptoms I was reporting “might be” a detached retina. My blood pressure stabilized and actually started getting a bit too low on the bottom number. The “eye doctor” gave me a clean bill of health, so detached retina was ruled out.

About a month after my last visit to the quack, I started getting fairly severe headaches across the back of my head, just above my neck. I attributed these to stress, etc. Then, one day at school, about a month before Spring Break, I had a spell that seemed like the onset of the flu…bad headache, urge to throw up, weakness in the extremeties and rather sudden and profuse sweating. I was sick enough to go home from school for the afternoon.

Spring Break came and I was feeling somewhat better, although with some occasional symptoms recurring. I decided to go to Springfield and take Katy with me to attend their meeting with Kevin Presley. We had been invited to stay with Larry and Wendy Ford during the meeting, so we headed over. I’m not even sure now, but it seems the first service we attended was Sunday night. At the end of that service, when we stood up for the closing song, I had one of my spells. I felt terrible and finally went to the back row and sat down hoping it would subside. The “spell” eased up a bit and I drove back out to Larry and Wendy’s house.

When we got there, Larry and Wendy both started talking to me about perhaps going to the emergency room to get checked out. I did NOT want to go to the emergency room because I knew it would mean $$$$, so I just said no. Wendy, started talking to me in a very sweet way and persisted in the idea that I should get checked out. I rebuffed her suggestions and finally headed in and went to bed. I tossed and turned all night and when I awoke Monday morning, still did not feel well. Thinking about my conversation with Wendy and Larry turned the tide and I went in and told them I wanted someone to go ahead and take me to the emergency room to get checked out. I only vaguely remember being in the waiting area, but I remember being cold and extremely fatigued and somone getting me some blankets to lay down on a couch and cover up.

Finally they came and got me to do a CAT scan. Not too long after the CAT scan, a doctor came out to see me who would become and remains my hero. His name was Dr. Sunghoon Lee and he is a Neurosurgeon, specializing in the brain and spine. He sat us down and told us that the CAT scan revealed  a “mass” in my brain and he wanted to do a biopsy very soon. The doctor also said that during the biopsy, if the tumor looked like it needed to come out, that he would go ahead and take it. I wasn’t sure what very soon meant, but soon discovered it meant Wednesday, so I was admitted immediately and assigned a hospital room at St. John’s Hospital.

From this point, I don’t remember nearly enough details, but I do know that there was an M.R.I. done along with blood tests, etc. and so on. The ONLY thing I remember about the surgery is being wheeled into the operating room and meeting some members of Dr. Lee’s team, after that it was “lights out” and I remember nothing until trying to wake up in the recovery room on a ventilator, with a doctor standing over me, trying to get me to “try harder” to breathe on my own. I guess I had fought the ventilator as I was waking up because they had to put things on my hands to keep me from trying to pull the tube out. It is VERY difficult to breathe when you have a tube down your throat, doing your breathing for you, I have never felt such great relief as when they finally pulled that tube out of my throat.

When the staff  got me stabilized, they let  visitors in and I believe the first people in, were Dan Wissinger and Wendy Ford (I think). I immediately requested that Dan pray and especially give thanks to God for bringing me through the surgery. The night I was admitted I had called my folks who were in West Virginia, where Dad was holding a Gospel Meeting. When I got my Mom on the phone, I said “I’m in the first place that I met you…know where that is?” I was born in Springfield, in St. Johns and she immediately knew where I was. Unbeknownst to me, they immediately consulted with the brethren there and decided to start driving to Springfield to be with me, I belive Bro. Wynn Baker finished up the meeting in WVa.

The next hours/days, etc. I could give quite the list of people that came to see me in the hospital, there is no way I could name or thank all the people. I was plesantly surprised that most of my immediate family got to come up and visit me in Springfield. There was so much comfort in having my Mom and Dad, Kim, Joni, Stephen and I think Clay was there too. I told Jonathan to stay home and work because he needed to, and I’m glad he “obeyed” me…HA! Of course I had Katy and Lehua there as well. Many of the people attending Kevin’s meeting came up as did several of my fellow teachers, etc. and even my Principal. ( I still feel a bit bad for providing such a dramatic background for Kevin’s meeting!) I felt blessed, even though I had a big scar on the side of my head in the shape of a “C” and something like 43? staples in my head (Not sure about that number, but I do know that Stephen counted them and he likely remembers. You can look at pictures on my Facebook page if you want to see for yourself.) I’ll have to come back and work on this some more very soon, but I’m afraid if I don’t go ahead and publish it, I may never do so.

“C” is for cancer? “C” is for cure I think.
(picture and caption posted by Randy)

I “must” give a shout out to my life-long best friend Randy Cantrell for setting this all up for me. Randy has always been the epitome of a best friend to me and I love him like he is my brother, which he is spiritually of course. Randy and I were baptized on the same occasion by the same person, Johnny Elmore. We actually talked about it and decided to be baptized and neither of us have ever looked back on that decision with anything but satisfaction. Thanks bro. I’ll try to get some stuff done on here so that your labor does not go “in vain.” Well, this will take a bit of getting used to, as I edited this, but somehow lost the edit. I said, I should also inform you that Randy and I are only ONE month apart in age, and I am unhappily the older one! I used to take great delight in that fact, but now not so much.