Deda

Greetings from Winston-Salem! I'm on Spring Break this week and drove to Southern Pines, NC about an hour southwest of Raleigh to visit with my grandfather (Deda.."dee-dah") who is having some health problems. Deda, his friend, and I drove to Winston-Salem today to get what should have been a routine biopsy on a nodule on his lung. Well, after they got the biopsy, the "hole" in the lung they took it from did not seal back up as quickly as they would have expected, and he has a pneumothorax (partially collapsed lung) that has been growing. He's been having a little chest pain with the pneumo, but it goes away when he sits up, breathes deep, and when he walks around. Unless he has more symptoms, they're gonna wait til the morning to do another chest x-ray.

To complicate things, he has a 5.1 (at most optimistic measurement, 5.5 at the worst) cm abdominal aortic aneurymsm; surgery is generally recommended at 5 cm. Since his aorta is so large, the stent they were planning to put in won't be large enough to grab the artery walls. So, rather than being able to do a minimally invasive surgery on the aorta, they're going to have to open up his abodomen and the artery to repair it. However, if the spot on his lung is cancerous, he has said that his cardiac surgeon won't touch the aortic surgery.

So either way, Deda may be close to dying and he does not know the Lord. I came to be here for support and also to hopefully share the gospel with him. It's going to be very hard since he is not supposed to be under any stress whatsoever, he has a tendency to get angry when made uncomfortable, and I'm very rarely with him alone. But I have been learning from the Lord that I have not been believing Him that He can or will help me in talking to Deda. I need to believe Him and not doubt.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."--James 1:5-8

Please pray for me as I spend time with him this week. Currently, I'm staying at my Aunt and Uncle's house here in Winston and wearing my cousin's ultra comfy soccer pants and watching 24 with the fam and Shell's boyfriend. This family doesn't know Him either so you can be praying that the detour would be fruitful.

South Asia

Psalm 67

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.

¹ May God be gracious to us and bless us
and make his face shine upon us,
Selah

² that your ways may be known on earth,
your salvation among all nations.

³ May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.

⁴ May the nations be glad and sing for joy,
for you rule the peoples justly
and guide the nations of the earth.
Selah

⁵ May the peoples praise you, O God;
may all the peoples praise you.

⁶ Then the land will yield its harvest,
and God, our God, will bless us.

⁷ God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

So I found out last night, Lord willing, that I am going to South Asia this July! My church, CrossPoint, is planning on planting a church there and I'll be going with the first team there this summer. The International Mission Board helps to sponsor the church plant, but we'll be raising our support for the 11-day trip. We'll be getting to know the city, finding out where people hang out and meeting people; we'll get to do some sight-seeing as well, of course. One of the major reasons I began to be interested in South Asia is because of the over 1,000 international students at Clemson, students from South Asian countries comprise the largest proportion. I have met many international friends from participating in the Language Partner Program, international ministry with Campus Crusade, and helping with ESL classes at Clemson Presbyterian Church. Last Spring, I went on a mountain retreat weekend with a mix of Indians and Americans and it was such a good time. I learned a good bit about Indian food (especially red peppers) and that there is a different language for almost every state. It's crazy how diverse this region is! I have a prayer card on my cork board for a family that's in Bangladesh, another South Asian nation. I picked this up a few years ago when I was at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary for their 20/20 Collegiate Conference. I have not prayed for them as faithfully as I should, but I think things will change a bit once I see South Asia.

The biggest reason I want to go to South Asia: There are 1.5 billion (with a "b") lost people there. That is 5x the population of the U.S. living in an area half the size of the U.S. I was talking with someone the other day about the spread of the gospel since Jesus gave the Great Commission. It started in Jerusalem and then moved west to parts of Africa and Europe and then to North and South America and now a large portion of Eastern Asia is being reached and the largest unreached region is the 10/40 window. If you've never heard of the 10/40 window, it is a region of the world stretching from 10 degrees to 40 degrees north of the equator and from Northern Africa to China. Because of Muslim influence, these are also some of the most dangerous places to be a Christian. I want to be a part in reaching these people for Christ, and I'll get to, again, Lord willing, this summer! You can be a part too, by praying for our team there and for the people of this region. You can pray for the persecuted church and for boldness in their hearts to share the gospel, and you can also pray for the persecutors themselves. Was not Paul the greatest persecutor of them all? And look at what God did with him.

That little orange book

This semester is so very different than any other semester I've had. I've had busy semesters, but usually they're busy with regular meetings that I get used to having throughout the week. This semester, however, I have all of this and then some! There's class, of course, 1 or 2 monthly meetings, like 8 weekly meetings (Bible study prep, discipleship, internship, etc.), office hours (whoa, I have office hours?), lunch with friends I randomly run into on campus and want to catch up with, appointments, a list of things to do, and things to remember to tell people, and the passage I'm supposed to read for the day in my Bible-in-a year plan (which is totally gonna take wayy over a year). sidenote: I really love this plan because it has a designated passage for each date, rather than "Day 1, Day 2, etc." So it stinks if I skip a day, but it keeps me from forgetting where I was and from taking it in way too small of chunks.

All of this fun is packed into one little orange notebook that doesn't leave my purse. I swore I would never be that slave to a planner, but I must check that thing 10 times a day to keep my head on straight! And the best part is, it really works! The stories my roommates could tell you about how I realized I needed to break down and get a planner are numerous and humorous. At least twice a month I would be playing cards or watching TV with everyone in the apartment and would suddenly and with great alarm ask "What time is it?!?" and then usually say something like "Aww MAN!" and then grab my coat and run out the door leaving them dazed and confused. The freshmen I was usually meeting with probably thought I was either crazy or didn't care about our appointment. (I hope the former!) I denied the need for a planner for so long because I would usually put events I "would have a hard time remembering" in my phone with an alarm on them, but with only a day's notice at the most of these events, it made it hard to make plans. So around mid-October-ish, I decided to give in and get one.

I begin by browsing through the school bookstore casually on a break and decide on the smallest one figuring it would be the most economical. I was shocked at the price but shrugged it off reminding myself that it was worth being organized! Excited about my new friend, here to help, I hurry to fill out all the contact info and whatnot in it to personalize it. When I went to fill in my first appointment, however, I was quickly confronted that the world does not revolve around me: the planner didn't start until January 2009! I NEEDED A PLANNER NOW! I chuckled to myself and contemplated trying to return it and remembered that I couldn't since I'd "personalized it." In any case, I used one of those free ones from the university to help me survive until December and was all the more thrilled and expectant in using my new planner.

Other than my first week mix-up of Monday and Wednesday (missed my Wednesday shag class thinking it was Monday!), the Quo Vadis has proven a very worthwhile purchase that is helping me to organize this crazy thing called life so that I may more effectively serve my King. My favorite features: the tear-away tabs at the bottom to show which week it is, the time slot formatting, and the pouch in the back for, well..anything! I like to put receipts there sometimes. OH! And I LOVE that it fits in this perfectly sized pocket in my purse!

Well, that's all for now!

My First Post

So it only took ..how many months? After the encouragement of my wonderful roommate April Marie Smith, I am officially writing my first post. So what is there to say really? I must admit that I only signed up so that I could have a pretty webpage on which to post the most random of events in the life of Reock. Number 1 on the list? I am completely obessessed with TLC and most shows on it. Channel 24 is pretty much the default for my TV here in Clemson (68 in Charleston ;-P). From Jon and Kate Plus 8 to What Not To Wear to Untold Stories of the E.R., I love it all.

Our apartment has been on a Jon and Kate Plus 8 marathon all day today. It's 2:36 and we're all still in our PJ's. love it. And you know the best news? There's a new episode of J&KP8 tonight at 9! yay! well, off to play another game of construction rummy...another 118-D favorite on days off. Who am I kidding? It's a favorite everyday.