Evendays

I’ve had a bad back since Monday 23 July at 11:00 a.m. The first time ever. It’s not fun. I wish to publicly ask forgiveness to all those who’ve had back trouble, told me about it, and I just blew them off. I know I acted like I cared, but forgive me, for deep inside, I didn’t really sympathize. So what’s been going on?

• The doctor told me to lay down for 3 days and take Valium. I managed 3 hours and have taken about 5 of the pills the last 10 days.
• I took a flight to Kiev and worked as a observer for simulations for heads of Human Ressources for leaders in the hospitality industry. More to come…
• Sunday I worshiped with one of the churches of Christ in Kiev. A good afternoon, from 3 to 6 p.m. I got to speak for 1.5 houea. (Sorry Greg and Randy.)
• Daughter finished her exams on Friday and passed everything. Her High School graduation is tonight.
• Son 1 finish his last exam on Monday. We won’t have any news for a couple of weeks. They really worked him hard this semester. Things aren’t like when I was in college.
• Wife started a blog called Stephruns1958, Do check it out, specially if you like to read about others’ suffering.
  
• I get my heart operated on tomorrow morning. It’s called a thermo-ablation, and the’ll go in through my leg, up into my chest, up into my heart, and see if they can’t take care of the tachycardia.

Thanks for stopping by. I’ll let you know how the operation went later on tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers. And I’ll be catching up on your posts straight away.

Mary* became a Christian about 3 years ago. She moved to another part of Switzerland last year and I encouraged her to dedicate herself to a local church in that part of the country (where there are no churches of Christ). She found a charismatic group not too far away and has been attending there ever since. We study the Bible by phone once a week, working through portions of the New Testament.

Mary hears a voice. It’s quite destructive, has led her to eating problems, lack of self-worth and much grief. She once asked me if I thought the voice was demoniac in nature. I told her I didn’t know, but would pray with and for her.

The voice continued after she became a Christian. She sought help from the local pastor and he assured her of what I couldn’t, that is, the voice is demon-inspired. She has asked for healing… The pastor there has prayed for her.

Recently, an acquaintance had a dream about Mary’s voice, and through this situation Mary was advised to attend an African Pentecostal group. Their pastor claimed that Mary had something in her that was destroying her, but that she  couldn’t be healed because her faith wasn’t great enough. (Her local pastor has told her the same thing.)

We talked yesterday. Mary was quite broken up. God has been very active in her life. She has grown, has joy in her life, has made some difficult moral choices, has prayed every day for liberation, but she is not free of the voice and does not understand why. On top of that, she has learned from two of her spiritual guides that her slavery is her own fault (lack of faith) and this has inflicted deep spiritual hurt, doubt and tears.

I know she has at least the faith of a grain of mustard. I think the prayer, “I believe, please help me in my unbelief” is sufficient for God to act. If demon possessed, it is not her lack of faith but that of the exorcist that is called in question.

Mary and I will speak on the phone again tomorrow. Your input… your prayers… would be appreciated. We can discuss this more in the comments section.

*Of course, not the person’s real name.