Well it has been a bit since I posted (OK since Oct 2011 but who’s counting). So I thought it might be time to give an update and begin to tell the new story through which the KING has elected I must pass.

One of the reasons for my silence about issues on the homefront has been the journey into foster care that the Lord began taking us in Dec of 2010. The confidentiality rules made it very hard to blog and not get myself in trouble so I didn’t. Needless to say it has been a journey of increased dependence on our Father God and a journey of emptying of self (that part is often not very pretty). We are currently fostering a sibling group that we are praying the Lord will allow us to adopt but for that to happen very God-sized mountains will have to be removed into the sea as you will soon see.

All other issues aside, the single biggest mountain we face in this journey is Cancer. In January I found out that I had cancer. Initially they thought and began planning like it was rectal cancer (very bad stuff and not much hope). “But God” being rich in his grace and goodness saw fit that after 2 biopsies, 1 attempt at a bone marrow biopsy and losing over 6 units of blood that they should discover that I DO NOT have rectal cancer but rather Burkitt’s Lymphoma! Praise God for Lymphoma! (Still bad stuff – see the 6 unit blood loss; but very treatable and highly curable).

Due to the aggressive nature of Burkitt’s the Doctors must be equally aggressive so that meant I spent most of last week in the oncology ward of our hospital. Each day has a regimen of meds so vile that no one can use the same bathroom as me for about 3-4 days AFTER they stop giving it to me. I have had 2 lumbar punctures, 1 bone marrow biopsy, 7 units of blood and more medicine than I have had most of my life. This journey will be at least 9 – 12 weeks and due to the frequent hospitalizations, immune compromise and fatigue I will be out of work on short term disability.  Needless to say, we could use your prayers.

It is my hope to not waste this suffering and to testify of God’s overflowing goodness and mercy in all of this. God is so good and he is good all the time! From the way far flung friends have sent gift cards and tender words of encouragement, to the way we have been surrounded by our church family, to the way my mountain of a man brother continues to tenderly check on me, We have been so richly blessed!

I will leave you with but one of the tender mercies of Our God. After being in the hospital all week, my doctor came into my room late on Friday evening for what we thought was just a regular round of checks before she went home. However, she had come to discharge me since my blood numbers were so good. There was one small issue, there was a medication that I needed which we had thought we had all arranged, small problem – it was not arranged. We tried every pharmacy we could think of and it was no good, the medication was special order and would not arrive until Monday. So it looked like we were going to have to make the 45 min car ride to the doctor’s office each day until the medicine came in. That is until God sent one of my dearest friends to my room in the midst of this madness and reminded him of a pharmacist friend of his. It was after hours and getting later but my friend tried anyway, by God’s providence the pharmacist was in the office late and as a specialty pharmacy had exactly what I needed. A few minutes, a few phone calls later and I had the medicine and was on my way home. God is seldom early, but he is NEVER, EVER late.

Tiana over at God Made …. Home Grown writes a great piece on why public school is not an option for her family. Her reasons are solid and compelling. On top of that, they mirror many of the reasons State Re-education Camps (a.k.a. public schools) and their government welfare are NOT an option here at the Pauper’s Hovel either. Check out what Tiana has to say:

“Even so, academic mediocrity, peer pressure and bullying, stifled creativity and liberal bureaucratic agendas are not my real reasons for homeschooling.

To say so would imply that if the schools were reformed–if all the legitimate concerns and criticisms about the government school system were to be fixed forever–that I would consider sending my children to public school.

But I wouldn’t.

Why Not?

Because God has said in His Word that educating our children is our job as parents”

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.godmadehomegrown.com/biblical-homeschooling/why-not-public-school-the-real-reason/#ixzz1WFg0XcAK

The groundbreaking full length documentary Divided is now available courtesy of the NCFIC:

Official Divided the Movie (HD Version) from NCFIC on Vimeo

Today is a difficult day for many of our brethren in the South. Please join me in praying for our suffering siblings in God’s family.

One of those families is the Lee family. May I be found as faithful in my fatherhood as Mr. Tom Lee.

Developing Story: Faithful Father of Thirteen Gives His Life for His Children In Alabama Tornado Destruction

By Doug Phillips

Tom Lee was a man who always had a sparkle in his eyes and a Gospel message on his tongue. His family is one of those that people describe as “energy givers.” When Tom, his bride and his family of thirteen children would arrive in town, it always meant encouragement.

Last night as tornado storm winds approached the Lee home in Alabama, Tom gathered his wife and thirteen children in the den. They huddled and they prayed. Two minutes later the tornado descended upon them. The house was instantly destroyed as beams and cinder blocks reigned down upon them.

But in his last great act of fatherhood, Tom Lee had the presence of mind to throw himself on top of his children, including his first born son Jordan. Looking up at his father Jordan saw the blood in his father’s mouth and witnessed as the breath began to leave his father, but was able to hear the last words of his fathers crying out to God for the safety of his family. Then the spirit left the body of Tom Lee.

Read the rest of the story here…

Father,

Please comfort the Lee family. Provide for their needs. Please give Jordan the manly courage he needs as he depends on you. Give him wisdom as he assumes the mantle of manhood passed to him by his father. I ask this in the mighty name of Jesus who is the Christ, Amen.

P.S. – The home of Kelly Crawford at Generationcedar.com was also destroyed. Please pray for them. (You can read her story here.)

Dr. Russell Moore has written a great piece on adoption in response to a reader question concerning permanent physical mutilation to prevent children (also known as permanent “birth control”) in order to facilitate the adoption of the maximum number of orphans. You really should read the whole piece, it is spot on. My favorite phrase comes at the very end where he says:

“Adopting for life doesn’t demand accepting the knife.”

Read the rest here.

Many of us are comfortable thinking and even speaking about our convictions but what would we really give up for them? For a young man named Joel Northrup his convictions were worth more than the treasures of Egypt  (Heb 11:24-26). Well done Mr. Northrup! You have acquitted yourself as a man should.

From the Associated Press via Yahoo:

DES MOINES, Iowa – An Iowa high school wrestler who was one of the favorites to win his weight class defaulted on his first-round state tournament match rather than face one of the first girls to ever qualify for the event.

Joel Northup, a home-schooled sophomore who was 35-4 wrestling for Linn-Mar High this season, said in a statement that he doesn’t feel it would be right for him to wrestle Cedar Falls freshman Cassy Herkelman. Herkelman, who was 20-13 entering the tournament, and fellow 112-pounder Ottumwa sophomore Megan Black, who was 25-13, made history by being the first girls to qualify for the state tournament. Black was pinned quickly in her opening round match.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Cassy and Megan and their accomplishments. However, wrestling is a combat sport and it can get violent at times,” wrote Northup. “As a matter of conscience and my faith I do not believe that it is appropriate for a boy to engage a girl in this manner. It is unfortunate that I have been placed in a situation not seen in most other high school sports in Iowa.”

Read the rest here.

Valerie at In Faith and In Purity poses a question with which I think we ALL should wrestle:

So I ask you again, are you REALLY pro-life?

Let’s be clear and make no confusion about my heart on this. I am not saying at all that if you use birth control of any kind, you are pro-abortion. I know many different families with many different views on children, and I know how much each one of them loves the Lord. I try and support all my friends in their personal decision that are between them, their husbands, and God.

But I cannot get away from the hypocrisy of it all when it comes to the pro-life movement in general.

Some of the women I knew, who I KNOW are pro-life, were so horrified when they found out my husband and I were getting a reversal and decided to let God bless us with more children. As many as He wanted actually. They were absolutely disgusted. How can I translate that with their STAUNCH pro-life stance? I just can’t.

I volunteered as a counselor/client advocate at a crisis pregnancy resource center and all the while, my hope was that I could encourage, love on, and bring hope in the name of Christ to some of these hurting women. Not all women who came in wanted abortions, some just wanted a free pregnancy test. But some, whom I will never forget, where hurting, and scared, and desperately wanted to keep the baby, but didn’t know how to make it work. They reminded me so much of myself at nineteen, pregnant, unmarried and scared to death , when I too had to walk in to a crisis pregnancy center because I couldn’t even afford the ten dollar test. I remember the feelings of fear, hurt, and joy that you experience all at the same time when you find out your are expecting a VERY unplanned ill-timed pregnancy.

Read the entire post here.

I like this video on 2 fronts:

1. It attacks our practical atheism in which we live our lives without relating EVERYTHING that happens to the divine plan and purpose for His glory through our lives.
2. It attacks the idea that we can not trust God to determine how many children we have. Dr. Evans makes it clear that the scriptures testify that EVERY single person is a special creation of God. Created by HIS divine volition and unction, out of HIS perfect counsel, plan and will. There are NO “SURPRISE” children if we believe the Bible to be God’s Word. Each of them were sovereignly ordained in eternity past to be created by God’s own hand in their mother’s womb. When we take the “planning” of our family and its size into our own hands we proclaim that we do NOT believe that the Bible is God’s word (else we would live as if we believed passages like Ps 139:13-16) and we show ourselves to be atheistic in our daily practice – living as one with without regard for God and his Law.

Watch at your own risk!

Remember you are accountable for the revelation you have been given!

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

I thought I would start a new series here at the Hovel, one in which I single out something/someone I am thankful for and praise YHWH for his grace by telling a bit about why I am thankful. So here goes (fair warning it is a long one).

I am thankful for my brother. My brother is a mountain of a man in more ways than one. On the internet he is known as The Freedom Crusader and it fits him well. Though I am often confused as to what he is fighting for or against and on more occasions than I care to count I have found myself on the opposite side of the field of battle from him (that could be due to his penchant for playing the devil’s advocate) but one thing is sure: he is a man unafraid to enter in the fray no matter the cost. It is one of his most infuriating and endearing character qualities. In my life it has meant that on the one hand I have a ready gadfly waiting to goad me to deeper thought and study and on the other I have had the privilege of having one of the bravest defenders. For this I am very thankful.

I was reminded of one such time by the Crusader’s own Thanksgiving Day post. I will never forget one July day when the Crusader and I were down at my Uncle’s house unloading a stock trailer full of corral panels that had been used at a recent rodeo in our home town because it was almost my last. The trailer was filled wall to wall with steel corral panels that were 5′ tall and 12′ long. At first both the Crusader and I were outside the trailer dragging each panel out and stacking them in the barn. However, as the trailer began to empty it became necessary for one of us to stay in the trailer and hold the remaining panels upright while the other dragged the next panel out and stacked it. Being one that never shirked work and also being a bit protective of his  older brother, the Crusader told me to stay in the shade in the trailer and hold the panels while he moved and stacked each one in the barn. So in and out of the sun he went, muscles bugling, face turning red under the strain, sweat pouring off of his brow carrying each panel. I would start at the end of the trailer farthest from the door and would carry one end of a panel with one hand while steadying the stack with the other to help him get them out of the trailer and then I would walk back to the far end while he stacked his load in the barn. Everything with this system went smoothly for about the first 8-10 panels but no sooner had we gotten our rhythm down when everything went south.

I was in the trailer and had just handed one off to the Crusader, made my way over half way down the length of the trailer when the stack inside shifted and started to crash down on top of me. I turned and tried to stop the stack but it was too late. With a weight I had never experienced before the still massive stack of steel slammed me up against the side of the trailer. Suddenly the only thing keeping nearly 1000lbs of steel off of my chest was my arms and adrenaline. In the chaos I had hollered and the Crusader had come running  grabbing the end of the pile and pushing with all of the strength in his body. However, he was at a disadvantage because he had no leverage from the end of the pile but he threw his whole self into getting this steel off of me. We struggled valiantly for several minutes but we never succeeded in doing anything more than keep the pressure off of my chest so I could breathe. To make matters worse, due to the height of the panels I couldn’t wedge my arms between the trailer wall and the panels so all that was holding all that weight was his muscle and my fear. As the minutes wore on and the adrenaline wore off the desperation of our situation began to show in the Crusader’s face telling me he was worried that what I already thought was really true – I was in real trouble. As we prayed and struggled the steel kept bearing down inch by inch. We were out in the middle of the country over 20 years ago, no cell phone, no one to hear us scream and the nearest phone was at our house a 1/2 mile drive away with real help at least 20 minutes distant after that call. I finally asked him to go get help before we were both total exhausted and I had no chance, thankfully he didn’t listen to me (I never would have made it).

Instead the Crusader mustered up all the adrenaline that his bullriding body contained and with a mighty heave he raised the panels enough to wedge his own body in between the trailer and the panels. At the time I didn’t know whether this was better or worse, now instead of just one of us in trouble we were both in the pickle. Even with the new leverage for the Crusader all it bought us was time to struggle. Things looked bleak and I was spent so the Crusader did what he does best, he took the bull by the horns in a death struggle that would end in either his death or the defeat of his opponent. Summoning an effort born of true manhood in a heart that will not quit no matter the odds the Crusader took one look into the eyes of the brother he was determined to save and gave what can only be described as a heave powered by divine providence. With that push, a push that separated some of the cartilage from his sternum, by God’s grace the Crusader shoved the panels vertical, holding them while I scrambled by and then dove free himself.

While some might have (or continue to) question his sanity in a few of the decisions in this process, I could not be more thankful for the Crusader. His willingness to jump into the bite when the chips are down is just one of many reasons that the Crusader is one of the finest men I know and for whom I am very grateful. I never like being in a pickle, there is no one I would rather have my back than the Crusader – a truly faithful man in more ways than one.