There was Lacy, a beautiful 29-year old young lady with a kidney condition. At first, the doctors thought it was a bleeding kidney from their initial diagnoses. They did an angiogram to cauterize the bleeding areas but found none! They instead found a mass around the kidney. No firm diagnosis yet. She has been in the hospital nearly a week.
There was David McCullough, a 51-year old man who went in to see a doctor because of recurring bouts of intense coughing and pain. The doctor came back with a curt report, "You have stage 4 colon cancer and have only 3/4 months to live." David has been in and out of three hospitals in the last two weeks, due to no health insurance to cover this dreadful disease. He is at the county hospital now and receiving good treatment. He is declining rapidly and losing strength daily.
There was Bob Anderson Sr., a good friend through the years (ever since my college days in the late 1960s). Bob Sr. is the dad of one of my best friends in college (California Baptist College in Riverside). Bobby, my college buddy, lives in nearby Highland, about 10 minutes from me. Bob Sr. is now at Kaiser Fontana hospital with pneumonia and is not expected to live more than a few days now.
There is K.L. Freeman, our dear friend from First Baptist Church Rialto days in the early 1970s. He is such a wonderful man and is currently our landlord. We have been renting a house from him for the last 10 years here in Rialto. He turned 81 years old yesterday and is in and out of the VA hospital quite frequently. He has severe breathing problems and is on oxygen 24 hours a day, rarely getting out of bed many days.
I attended the funeral of a good family friend, R.E. Craig, this past Saturday. R.E. was a pastor friend of my dad's back in the 1960s in San Diego. After retirement, he and his wife were members of First So. Baptist Church of San Diego, the church I pastored in the early 1990s. So, I became R.E.'s pastor during those years. R.E.'s daughter, Margaret Wahlen, and her husband Bruce were members as well and became special friends too. The memorial service was a blessing to attend because of the legacy shared about a man of God. In addition, I got to spend time with some other friends from the San Diego church who were there. Pastor George Nelson went with me to this service.
Sondra was unable to attend the funeral because of a long-standing commitment to a unique weekend event. Our church joined with other churches in the Inland Empire So. Baptist Association for a Friday-Saturday Ladies Retreat. We had 12 women from our church attend, and Sondra was the coordinator for our church group. What a blessing they received through seminars, worship and close fellowship times.
Last week was also a time of renewed friendship with Vicki Smith. She arrived the previous week, but we were able to have fun and share good times. We popped popcorn, ate Reese's peanut butter cups and drank Coke while watching a rental movie, "The Help." What a good movie. We also went to a matinee show at the local AMC and say "Bourne Legacy" with her. Vicki loved the action and suspense as well as we did. Sondra and Vicki did much shopping at the local mall for several days, which is fun for them!
We went to Richie's Diner one morning for breakfast, we went to Polly's for breakfast another day (and bought a delicious lemon meringue pie there), and she even wanted to cook a dinner for us one day. She made a Enchilada Quiche (with the pastry dough and all) with Nacho Chips and beans. We pigged out that night!
We were sorry to have to put her on the plane in Ontario for her to go home to Tennessee, because we had such a blessed time with her.
In the midst of all this, we held a wedding at our church. Michael Peters, son of Wayne and Lynn Peters, married Sarah Walsh on Friday night. It was a beautiful ceremony and a wonderful time of celebration.
This last Sunday was a good day. Again, new faces and wonderful service. A great start to a great week of living for the Lord!
No comments:
Post a Comment