Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
7/26/2021

Pastor Dale Brooks and Mom Update.

Well, we didn’t get the good report, in the natural, we were praying for regarding Pastor Dale’s visit to Moffitt. It is confirmed, he does have the more aggressive and rare type of Lymphoma called Mantle Cell Lymphoma. He will be treated at Moffitt and his doctor is a Hematology Malignancy Specialist. He will start a weekly round of chemo starting on August 12th for four weeks and then once a week monthly thereafter. However, the harsher part of this treatment is the pill that he will take indefinitely 3 weeks on and 1 week off. It is a harsh treatment but the combination has given good results for Mantle Cell. The treatments and Pastors progress will determine what part of the treatments continue overtime and whatever adjustments needed will happen based on Pastors response.

I spoke to Pastor at a funeral last week, and he said, he was feeling good, he had the energy for his morning bicycle rides, and felt great. The good news is, he and Kaye are going to Colorado next Thursday for 10 days with some close friends for some trail riding, looking at mountains, and relaxing before this all starts. Mama Kaye loves camping as long as there is a Holiday inn at the end of the trail. And there is! They continue to walk by faith…believing that God holds them in the palm of His hand. They see healing so join with us in your faith.

My Mom Adele came home from her second bout with pneumonia on Saturday afternoon. Her third hospital stay since early June, this one for 7 days. I spoke with her Saturday night and she was praising God to be Free. She has won over an entirely new hospital staff from her hospital bed. I wonder how many people will find God due to her exuberance in proclaiming Jesus every day to all of them. Some have even given her their cell phone numbers to stay in touch. It happens at every hospital. God’s grace is amazing and she is the first to give him all the glory.

Both Pastor and my Mom have this undaunted faith that it will be OK. Both are content with whatever God has for them and both are walking in faith that God will heal them because he is not done with them yet.

Both of these saints carry with them a strength that can only come through God’s grace. "The Joy of the Lord is our strength". I cannot say that in their darkest moments that it is only a fragment of such joy – Like the man in a dark prison pulls out a tattered picture of his wife and remembers when his joy was full. I know they have had those moments like many of you. But we must remember that joy is part of your duty. Look at 1These 5:16 “Rejoice Always”. In the duty of service, it says, “Serve the Lord with gladness” in Ps 100:2 In regard to the duty of affliction, it says, “ Count it all joy” James 1;2

I know that in the midst of whatever darkness you are in that “this joy” may sound like another burden… but it is not a burden at all. Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Ask for it, Pray for it, Believe for it, Ask and it shall be given to you. It is God’s promise and support in those dark days when everything in the flesh cries… die…be miserable…there is no way out. But the truth is JOY is our duty as a child of God. Joy in what Jesus did for us at Calvary. When we know that Joy is our duty, we need to repent when we don’t have it and ask God earnestly to restore the joy as we step out in it. It may be no more than a fragment or a seed left in your soul but when you have known Christ it IS there. Step out in your gifts…give unto God the voice of triumph, be about the Lord’s work in whatever way you physically can. Be obedient to what God has called you too and he will be there for you. That is the way Pastor and Adele think in their fight for joy.

My 95-year-old Mom in a hospital bed with all kinds of tubes hooked up to her and is blessing the nurses and attendants. She is telling them that Jesus loves them. There is always a way to glorify God. Pastor has started a healing ministry in his battle for life. These are examples of faith and snapshots of God’s mercy even in the darkest of times. They have never given up their duty of giving back.

Will you pray with your family and us for one hour this week. He is listening.

casting crowns Only Jesus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eQd3K2Fxp4&list=PL3oW2tjiIxvTstLS9GlgaT_mqONT0WVDw&index=18