9. Love Like You Really Do Mean It
Juli and I were introduced to a young couple many months ago as Family Life Today would occasionally reach out to us to offer prayer and encouragement as well as keep us up to date on the ministry.
On one of the first occasions I happened to be in China when my phone rang and it was Billy. It was pretty cool to be in a land where I knew virtually no one and also couldn't understand the language only to have a Christian brother from my own country call and ask if he could pray with me.
Months later, Juli and I were walking in the door of our home after just having the diagnosis of Cancer confirmed when my phone rang and it was Billy. God is so good to use people to remind us of His care and love for us. As we talked about the fact we had signed up for the cruise, and now were unsure what would happen, Billy prayed with us and said to please keep him informed. Billy and his wife Rebecca were planning to be on the cruise as well, so he said "we are really hoping to meet you in person" on the ship if God makes it possible.
As the reality unfolded, the "Bon Voyage" party was the first place we went after getting our state room squared away, and the first person we met as we walked into the venue was Billy, who quickly introduced us to Rebecca. Even though they had other guests to tend to, we both spent time getting to know each other before the event began. This was the event that ended with Tiffany Lee (Plumb) wrapping her arms around Juli and I as she prayed, and during that prayer, we felt Rebecca's arms wrap around us as she had rushed over to pray for us as well.
The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations...
In order to feed everyone on board for dinner, the passengers sign up in advance for an early dinner hour or a late dinner hour. This allows the entertainment venues to better handle crowds by performing twice, with the dinner hour arrangement providing the time division. Early dinner, late entertainment, and vice versa. The first night, you go to your prearranged table at a prearranged restaurant and then you stay with the people of that table the rest of the week. Except us. We missed our first night because Rebecca and Billy had invited us to their table in their restaurant for the first night. We enjoyed the evening together, eventually taking a walk outdoors in the warm wind, then went together to try and catch a speaker.
The next night when we went to dinner, we were not sure what they would do with us since we didn't have a table to go to. They simply sent us to a table with room for two more guests and that became our table for the rest of the week. So, through this unplanned detour of restaurants, we were seated with Rogers and Sylvia, a couple we would never have met otherwise. Again, God in His wisdom and mercy placed us with people who became fast friends and conspirators. They have both experienced enough pain in life to know God is good and we found that encouragement flowed both ways. They happened to be marriage counselors in full time ministry together, their journey to that point another example of God's grace, mercy, and wisdom on display through the obedience of people who love Him. Unfortunately for Juli, they determined pretty quickly that I, as a husband, was beyond the capabilities of their profession.
Wednesday night we got to hear Plumb in concert. What I love about her is that she is genuinely creative and dramatic. If you listen to the interview on Family Life Today, they joke about how dramatic she can be in real life, while her husband is the opposite. When Jeremy was walking away from their marriage and from God, at one point, Tiffany finally told him to make up his mind. If he was really walking away, then come and get his stuff. She put all his things neatly in the driveway for him to load up, and then she placed her wedding dress across the top of his things. In retrospect, she thought it was over the top, but it provides insight into her real personality. She was so fun to listen to! Her music is loud and awesome and unique. Her husband sat in the front row not too far from us and it was fun to see her singing songs about them while looking at him. She had a concert planned for the next night as well in a smaller room on board and Juli and I decided we would go even if it was exactly the same set of songs. It turned out that the 2nd concert was much more intimate in size and subject as she would spend as much time exhorting us as singing to us. It was the story of their marriage in song and segue. Worth. Every. Minute.
In the midst of all this, we were introduced to another couple who were battling cancer. A year ago, Sidney had been diagnosed with cancer just before the cruise. While onboard, several had prayed for him just as they had prayed for us, and after the cruise he began an incredible fight to defeat the cancer. Somebody always has it worse, and Sidney definitely had it worse than I do right now. His cancer was in his neck and lymph nodes, etc. Because there was not a minute to lose, they did a radical surgery using a robot, dislocating his jaw on purpose to create access, attempting to surgically remove all the cancer they could see. After a minimal time to heal from the surgery, they began radiation and chemo treatments. He and his wife describe the days after treatments as just trying to knock him out to sleep through it, days on the floor of the bathroom. When we met, he had completed all the treatments and was cancer free. But not without permanent damage as he is likely to require a new titanium jaw in the future due to radiation damage to his bones. But he is alive. He related to us that several friends or acquaintances had fought the same cancer and already had died simply because they tried to fight it without first doing the radical surgery. Sidney's wife gave Juli her phone number and told her that when my chemo starts, she could call her any time day or night if she needed support.
The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations...
Three very special couples plus Plumb.
On one of the first occasions I happened to be in China when my phone rang and it was Billy. It was pretty cool to be in a land where I knew virtually no one and also couldn't understand the language only to have a Christian brother from my own country call and ask if he could pray with me.
Months later, Juli and I were walking in the door of our home after just having the diagnosis of Cancer confirmed when my phone rang and it was Billy. God is so good to use people to remind us of His care and love for us. As we talked about the fact we had signed up for the cruise, and now were unsure what would happen, Billy prayed with us and said to please keep him informed. Billy and his wife Rebecca were planning to be on the cruise as well, so he said "we are really hoping to meet you in person" on the ship if God makes it possible.
As the reality unfolded, the "Bon Voyage" party was the first place we went after getting our state room squared away, and the first person we met as we walked into the venue was Billy, who quickly introduced us to Rebecca. Even though they had other guests to tend to, we both spent time getting to know each other before the event began. This was the event that ended with Tiffany Lee (Plumb) wrapping her arms around Juli and I as she prayed, and during that prayer, we felt Rebecca's arms wrap around us as she had rushed over to pray for us as well.
The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations...
In order to feed everyone on board for dinner, the passengers sign up in advance for an early dinner hour or a late dinner hour. This allows the entertainment venues to better handle crowds by performing twice, with the dinner hour arrangement providing the time division. Early dinner, late entertainment, and vice versa. The first night, you go to your prearranged table at a prearranged restaurant and then you stay with the people of that table the rest of the week. Except us. We missed our first night because Rebecca and Billy had invited us to their table in their restaurant for the first night. We enjoyed the evening together, eventually taking a walk outdoors in the warm wind, then went together to try and catch a speaker.
The next night when we went to dinner, we were not sure what they would do with us since we didn't have a table to go to. They simply sent us to a table with room for two more guests and that became our table for the rest of the week. So, through this unplanned detour of restaurants, we were seated with Rogers and Sylvia, a couple we would never have met otherwise. Again, God in His wisdom and mercy placed us with people who became fast friends and conspirators. They have both experienced enough pain in life to know God is good and we found that encouragement flowed both ways. They happened to be marriage counselors in full time ministry together, their journey to that point another example of God's grace, mercy, and wisdom on display through the obedience of people who love Him. Unfortunately for Juli, they determined pretty quickly that I, as a husband, was beyond the capabilities of their profession.
Wednesday night we got to hear Plumb in concert. What I love about her is that she is genuinely creative and dramatic. If you listen to the interview on Family Life Today, they joke about how dramatic she can be in real life, while her husband is the opposite. When Jeremy was walking away from their marriage and from God, at one point, Tiffany finally told him to make up his mind. If he was really walking away, then come and get his stuff. She put all his things neatly in the driveway for him to load up, and then she placed her wedding dress across the top of his things. In retrospect, she thought it was over the top, but it provides insight into her real personality. She was so fun to listen to! Her music is loud and awesome and unique. Her husband sat in the front row not too far from us and it was fun to see her singing songs about them while looking at him. She had a concert planned for the next night as well in a smaller room on board and Juli and I decided we would go even if it was exactly the same set of songs. It turned out that the 2nd concert was much more intimate in size and subject as she would spend as much time exhorting us as singing to us. It was the story of their marriage in song and segue. Worth. Every. Minute.
In the midst of all this, we were introduced to another couple who were battling cancer. A year ago, Sidney had been diagnosed with cancer just before the cruise. While onboard, several had prayed for him just as they had prayed for us, and after the cruise he began an incredible fight to defeat the cancer. Somebody always has it worse, and Sidney definitely had it worse than I do right now. His cancer was in his neck and lymph nodes, etc. Because there was not a minute to lose, they did a radical surgery using a robot, dislocating his jaw on purpose to create access, attempting to surgically remove all the cancer they could see. After a minimal time to heal from the surgery, they began radiation and chemo treatments. He and his wife describe the days after treatments as just trying to knock him out to sleep through it, days on the floor of the bathroom. When we met, he had completed all the treatments and was cancer free. But not without permanent damage as he is likely to require a new titanium jaw in the future due to radiation damage to his bones. But he is alive. He related to us that several friends or acquaintances had fought the same cancer and already had died simply because they tried to fight it without first doing the radical surgery. Sidney's wife gave Juli her phone number and told her that when my chemo starts, she could call her any time day or night if she needed support.
The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations...
Three very special couples plus Plumb.
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