"You get'em God!"

Pain, fear and rejection welled up within Jeremiah as he prayed bitterly against his enemies:

"...Forgive not their iniquity, nor blot out their sin from your sight...deal with them in the time of your anger." -Jeremiah 18:23 

It's not a particularly gracious prayer, but the sentiment is one that most of us have probably felt ourselves at some point. I'm guessing you have either seen or experienced one of the following:

• She is left holding the fragments of a broken marriage while he plays the fool, leaving town with another woman.
• A faithful employee is given the "pink slip" just months before he is vested in his retirement.
• A bride is left at the altar while her cold footed groom runs for the door.
• A pastor pours his heart and soul into a congregation, only to be betrayed and run out of town in humiliation.

And on and on it goes. Embarrassment. Anger. Humiliation. Fear of the future. Powerlessness. Then, in desperation, the aggrieved party prays, "God get'em." 

Certainly God doesn't give any sin a pass. All sins will be judged in time, but what He really wants is repentance on the part of the offender, not the administration of justice. Fortunately for all of us, God's patience far exceeds ours. In fact, a few chapters later in the Book of Jeremiah, God is describing the coming "New Covenant" that is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Using Jeremiah's own words from the prayer we just read (note the underlined words), God says,

"Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, ... And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." -Jeremiah 31:31, 34 

So if you've been hurt, embarrassed or otherwise mistreated by some rotten jerk, I get it. I really do. You'd like to strike back, or better yet, you'd like for God to administer a bit of justice on your behalf.

Here's the thing, the "New Covenant" that Jesus purchased with his death and resurrection make equal provision for anyone who will turn to Him. It's even available to the dirty rotten jerk who did you wrong. 

I know. I know. It's not an easy thing to do, but rather than pray a "God get'em" prayer the way Jeremiah did, it's better to ask God to bring the offender to a place of repentance. Jesus said, 

"...Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you." [Luke 6:27 ESV]

So, you may ask, how am I supposed to "love...do good...bless...pray for" that rotten crummy person? Honestly, it usually takes a little time. Ultimately Christians do the right thing because that is what Jesus told them to do, not because they feel like doing it. 

So if you are still experiencing the sting of a bad event in your life, please, let me give you a little direction on how to pray. Ask the Lord to bring your offender to a place of repentance. God is still a God of miracles and your prayer for that person just might make an eternal difference in their life.

Go ahead. Do the right thing.

Overcoming Fear.

One summer night during a severe thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small son into bed. She was about to turn the light off when he asked in a trembling voice, "Mommy, will you stay with me all night?" Smiling, the mother gave him a warm, reassuring hug and said tenderly, "I can't dear. I have to sleep in Daddy's room." A long silence followed. At last it was broken by a shaky voice saying, "The big sissy!"¹

Psa 111:10 KJV - "The fear of the LORD [is] the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do [his commandments]: his praise endureth for ever."

Pro 14:26 KJV - "In the fear of the LORD [is] strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge."

I am convinced that the reason so many Christians struggle with fear is because they don’t really know who God is. Because they don’t understand who God is, they don’t understand who they are. Because they don’t understand who they are, they live in varying degrees of fear of the world around them.

This morning, I believe the Lord has given us a word concerning fear. The capacity to fear is something that God has placed in each of us. When that capacity is in its proper place it is very healthy. When it is not in its proper place it will cripple you spiritually, and perhaps, even physically.

In the Bible I can find only four individuals that we are instructed to fear. You will not be surprised to find that the first and most important of those is to fear God. This is referenced in many places. In addition to God (or the “Lord”) I can find three other individuals we are instructed to fear.

Fear Mother and Father

Leviticus 19:3 tells us, "Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father…”

Parental authority is derived from Divine authority. Every child needs to have a healthy fear of his or her parents. This does not mean they should run and hide in terror when their parent walks through the door, nor does it mean that a child should be abused. It does mean that a child recognizes that someone loves them enough to create reward and consequences for good and bad behavior. A child who is not disciplined will come to ruin.²

Fear the King

Proverbs 24:21 says, “My son, fear thou the Lord and the King…”

Governmental authority is also derived from Divine authority.³ If we go all the way back to Genesis we find the origin of human government established by God in these words to Noah spoken after the flood:

"Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." [Genesis 9:6 KJV]

Now make no mistake, governments may determine what is “legal” and “illegal” but only God determines what is “right” and “wrong”. When legal and illegal align with right and wrong you have good government. If those two do not align, we are obliged to follow that which is right, even if it is illegal.

"Fear not" vs. "Fear God".

If we take a look at a concordance we will see that throughout the book of Genesis as the Lord is addressing his chosen people he repeatedly tells them to “fear not”. These instruction are repeated to the people of God throughout scripture. When we move to Exodus and Leviticus we see a change of tone. The children of Israel are repeatedly told to “fear God.”⁴ So what is going on?

Throughout Genesis we see God talking to people (however imperfect) who already acknowledge his sovereignty and authority over their lives. In Exodus however, he is addressing a group of people who have just spent four generations immersed in Egyptian idolatry and superstitious fear.

In the plagues that he sent on Egypt and the miracle of the Red Sea crossing, God systematically showed his superiority over the gods of the Egyptians.⁵ In so doing he displayed his power to the children of Israel and realigned their sense of fear toward Himself.⁶ It is against the backdrop of his fearsome power that God defines sin in the form of the Ten Commandments.

Now let me throw a wrinkle in this. If the only thing you have is the Ten Commandments, you should be very, very afraid, because the Ten Commandments point out sin, but they do not give you the remedy for sin.⁷ Jesus Christ is the remedy for sin. The cross can only shine brightly when it is against the backdrop of God’s judgment.

The truth is, the only thing or person worthy of my fear is God.

The sooner we recognize this truth, the sooner we are ready to deal with our fears. Let’s go back to the Ten Commandments. I want to show you something.

- "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage."

- "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

- "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:"

- "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;"

- "And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

Exodus 20:2-6 KJV

Of all of the evil that we are capable of committing, why does idolatry top the list of God’s top ten? From a natural point of view, a neighbor who gets up every morning and burns incense in front of a statue of Buddha isn’t going to alarm me like a neighbor who gets up every morning to murder someone before breakfast. From my viewpoint, the order isn’t right, but God doesn’t look at it like I look at it.

Let’s rewind things all of the way back to Genesis.

In the book of Genesis God said, "… Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…"⁸ When God created man, he gave man characteristics that reflected the nature of God. For instance:

God can love, therefore man can love.

God can hate, therefore  man hates.

God is “jealous”⁹ and therefore man experiences jealousy.

God is self-aware, and man is self-aware

God reasons¹⁰  , and invites man to reason with him.

God is creative and man is also creative.

God is eternal¹¹ and has created man with an eternal soul.

Now obviously our finite mind and being will never approach the greatness of the infinite God. By virtue of the fact that He is Creator and I am creation, I will always exist as very limited reflection of my Creator, but his impression exists on every person. Man was purposefully created separately from the rest of creation, because he was created to have authority over that creation. You are not just a hairless monkey.

There is one thing, however, we have that God does not have. That thing is a sense of fear. So why is it, if we are created in God’s image, that we have this sense of fear, when God isn't afraid of anyone or anything?

Because...

Fear, in its proper place, is a recognition of authority.

God is over man.

God, because he is God, answers to no one.¹² You and I will answer to God.¹³ That knowledge should create a fear in every person.

2Co 5:10 KJV - "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things [done] in [his] body, according to that he hath done, whether [it be] good or bad."

2Co 5:11 KJV - "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences."

God placed man over creation.¹⁴

Idolatry reverses this Divine order, making man the servant of things created.

I can experience a healthy godly fear because:

1. I know the character of God.

1. Holy
2. Righteous
3. Just
4. Merciful
5. Gracious

2. I know the power of God:

1. By observing creation,

"After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Fear not, Abram: I [am] thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward.’ ... And he brought him forth abroad, and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.’" [Genesis 15:1, 5 KJV]

2. By reading his Word.

3. In my own past experience¹⁵, such as when God pointed back to deliverance from Egypt when talking to the Children of Israel.

3. I know the love of God. The love of God is manifested in the person of Jesus Christ the Son, sent to this earth by God, for the express purpose of being the final and complete sacrifice, capable of satisfying the judgment of God against sin. So, when I know Jesus as my Savior, my relationship with God changes. To the sinner God is Judge. To the redeemed, God has become Father. Jesus told us to approach him as “Father”.¹⁶

The knowledge that I can love him because he first loved me changes the whole dynamic.

1Jo 4:17 KJV - "Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world."

1Jo 4:18 KJV - "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."

1Jo 4:19 KJV - "We love him, because he first loved us."

If I, as a Christian, am following the Lord with my whole heart, I need to realize the following:

• I am the prized child of the Creator, and the creation has no power over me without his permission.
• My body is subject to death, but the promise of the resurrection trumps death.
• I don’t have to live in fear of anything, because he trumps everything, and I am his.
• I am his child and I can ask for good things.

God did not place a sense of fear in us so that we would be perpetually scared. He placed it is us so that we would recognize his authority over us and our authority in him. When we recognize our place in him, through Jesus Christ, our fear of other things will abate.

"And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if [he ask] a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall [your] heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?" - Luk 11:9-13 KJV


To continue to the next lesson, click HERE.

End notes:

1 http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/f/fear.htm

2 Proverbs 3:12 ,19:18, 22:15, 23:13-14, 29:15, 17, Hebrews 12:7-8 KJV

3 Romans 13:3-4

4 Leviticus 19:14, 25:17,36,43; Deuteronomy 6:13,24; 8:6; 10:12,20; 13:4; et.al.

5 www.knowingthebible.net/yahweh-versus-the-gods-of-egypt

6 Exodus 20:19

7 Galatians 3:21-24

8 Genesis 1:26

9 Exodus 20:5

10 Isaiah 1:18

11 Deuteronomy 33:27

12 Hebrews 6:13

13 Hebrews 9:27, 2 Corinthians 5:10-11.

14 Genesis 1:28, 9:2; Romans 1:25

15 Revelation 12:11

16 Matthew 6:9, Luke 11:2

LESSON OUTLINE : "Brothers and Sisters"

            

“Brothers and Sisters”

Family Life Class

June 1, 2014

Tony Thomas

Dugger Family - Public Domain

 Our best and worst relationships are with those to whom we are the closest. Our relationship with God is reflected in our relationships with his “other” children. 

 “While [Jesus] was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him.   

Then one said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You." 

But He answered and said to the one who told Him, "Who is My mother and who are My brothers?"  

And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers!  "For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother." [Mat 12:46-50 NKJV]

Foundational Truth: The "brotherhood" of the Church.

Malachi 2:10, 4:6
1. Does God value family love?

John 13:34, 35
2. What “new commandment” did Jesus give his disciples?

3. Is this commandment equal in authority to the “Ten Commandments” in Exodus chapter 20?

4. Jesus is ordering Christian to love each other.  What does this tell us about the nature of love? Is love mental, emotional or both?

1 John 4:15-20
5. Is it possible to love someone who does not return that love? Who is our example?

6. Is it possible to love God and not love your brother?

7. What is the link between fear and hatred?

8. What is “perfect love”? [hint: think about John 3:16] 


Matthew 24:9-14
9. Whom did Jesus say would become the recipients of hate in the last days?

Romans 12:16-21
10. How are believers supposed to respond to hatred/anger?

Life Application Questions

11. Do you have to “like” someone before you can love them?

12. How does fear affect our family relationships? 

13. List three common fears people face in family relationships?

a. 

b. 

c.

14. How do we demonstrate love to our earthly families?

15. How do we demonstrate love in the family of God?

Further Reading: Bible siblings

Read about Peter and Andrew, and James and John in Matthew 4:17-22.

Read about Jacob and Esau in Genesis chapters 25, 27, 28, 32, 33.

Read about Cain and Abel in Genesis 4:1-17

Read about Lazarus, Martha and Mary in Luke 10 and John 11. 

TO VIEW THE NEXT LESSON IN THIS SERIES PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Little Things, Big Things

“I can’t find my pink socks!”  

“I want Rabbit!”

“I don’t want to sit in the middle!”

If you’re a parent, I guessing you have, on occasion, been frustrated by such phrases. Perhaps when you’re

• leaving home on vacation… 
• or late for church…
• or just trying to go to the grocery store with two preschoolers… 
• or going to the park…
• or grandma’s house.

You have a goal in mind. You have someplace to be. You are trying to do something or go somewhere important, and the little ones around you had no concept of the “big picture”. Sometimes it seems their entire world, their horizon, is within the reach of their little hands. Those socks you put on them against their will have the gravity of a nuclear arms race.

Frustrating isn't it? It’s especially when the “Big Thing” you are trying to do is for their benefit or enjoyment. We are beyond the toddler and preschool years in my house now, but not that long ago I was there, and the phrase “little things, big things” was coined in my family.

After a little explanation, my kids came to understand what “little things, big things” meant. It was a simple way of saying,

 “We are trying to do something you will like, but you are getting hung up on little things that really don’t matter. Leave it. Forget it. Get over it.  Let’s go do the ‘Big Thing.’”  

It worked. They got it.  They have learned, for the most part, to sidestep the minutia and keep their eyes on the big picture, much to my relief.

The whole concept of “Little Things, Big Things” makes me wonder if our Heavenly Father sometimes has the same frustration with us. Certainly we can find such frustration in the Bible. In Numbers 13 and 14 we find God quite frustrated with Israel. He has led them to the threshold of the Promised Land. He has already began the process of giving the land to them (13:1).

Victory was within reach…and they choked.

They look past God to see the bounty of the land.
Then they look past the bounty of the land and saw the obstacle:

Big, fortified cities filled with big strong people with scary names:

• Sons of Anak
• Amalekites,
• Hittites,
• Jebusites, 
• Amorites,
• and Canaanites.

Now, impenetrable fortresses filled with corn-fed Canaanites could look scary  to be sure, but only because they lost sight of  “The Big Thing”. They forgot to look up. Had they looked to God, what seem like a “big thing” would have become a “little thing”. They forgot about God’s promise. They forgot about his gift to them. Above them was a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. They had seen God part the Red Sea with a wind. They had seen an entire Egyptian army stand back in fear of the fire of God. They had seen the plagues that struck Egypt and the work of the death angel. They had seen the glory of God and heard his voice at Sinai. Then, standing at the threshold of promise, they choked.

To bring this a little closer to home now, I wonder how often God is at work in each of our lives and in our churches. He has a plan to lead us into a land of promise, a land of peace, and we get hung up on the details. We lose sight of God's big picture for us. Rather than allowing God to bring us to a place of victory we get hung up in an endless cycle of "wilderness wandering" just like the children of Israel.

So, let me encourage you, friend, figure out what is hindering you in your walk with the Lord. Jesus wants you to live life in a place of spiritual victory, not defeat. The magnitude of your biggest obstacle is diminished if you look at the greatness of your Savior. Look to Jesus, and follow his leading. He will take you to "Big Things."

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." [Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV]

A parent's journey in the sickness of a child.

I would like to share my heart with you about the events surrounding my son's battle with epilepsy, surgery and continuing recovery.

For nearly six years my little boy has battled this disease. During this time several people have told me that they felt God had assured them that Levi would be healed. As badly as I would have loved to have heard those words in my soul, I cannot say that I ever had God make that promise to me. Instead, all I could ever sense was a whisper in my soul that said, “Trust me.” Try as I might, I could not pray loud enough or long enough to force God’s promise. I fasted many days for my son to be healed, hoping to hear the reassuring voice of God promising his healing. And God was silent.

The early days of his sickness were the worst. I ate pounds of antacid tablets. I tried to bargain with God, to swap my life or my health for the life and health of my son, but it doesn’t work that way. I tried to “do more” for God. Hoping, I suppose, to buy God off--to purchase a healing through works. I begged and pleaded . I didn’t care if he healed my son spectacularly or quietly, but I wanted for him to be healed, and quickly.

God was and is under no obligation to promise me anything. Promises have been made through this ordeal, but they are promises from me not to me. Early on, I had to come to a place of submission. One night in 2006 I was sitting in the yard in one of my children’s swings, looking at the stars and pouring my grief out to God. I knew what he wanted me to say but I so did not want to say it. Finally, I prayed, “ Lord, you know what my will is. I want my son to be healed, to be whole… Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done. Regardless of what you choose to do, with your help, I will still follow you.” Then I wept, and I have wept that prayer many times since.

For about a year, God gave us a respite. Then the seizures returned with a vengeance. I was in Granite City, Illinois ready to leave on a missions trip to Mexico, but the trip fell apart at the last minute. A few hours later Levi went into a tonic-clonic seizure that lasted for half an hour. We wound up in Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis.

In February 2008 I posted a blog which read in part:

Lessons in faith are brutal.

"There is something I have never disclosed in my blogs or on my bio. I have a 2 year old son with a seizure disorder. We discovered the seizures when he was four months old and he has been on medication ever since.

"Have you ever watched in horror as your baby stopped breathing and turned ashen? Have you ever had your life turn upside down in a matter of hours? One morning you have four healthy children and by the next morning you are 100 miles from home with a child in ICU with problems you don't understand. I know some of you know exactly what I am talking about. In the last two years, he has been hospitalized twice. Both times were no less than terrifying.

"I used to have an erroneous vision of faith. I used visualize the trial if my faith with me being hunkered down between two rocks while the thunderstorm raged above me. My view has changed. I now see myself on a small ship with the hurricane looming on the horizon. The captains stands at the helm and tells me to climb into the crows nest. I don't want to be in the crows nest, but I go anyway. The storm rolls in, the waves get larger, the ship slides down one wave and up the next. Lightening flashes. The wind howls. Rain pelts my face without mercy. My knuckles turn white. I am soaked to the skin. I am sick and scared.

"I can either look at the storm or I can watch the captain.

"Eventually the storm subsides, perhaps it is over, perhaps it is just the eye of the hurricane passing over.

"To my surprise, I am still in the crow's nest.

"I have learned that you aren't pretty after your faith has been tried. It is okay to scream. It is okay to be scared. It is okay to have white knuckles and even ulcers.

"Peter walked on water only after he had been up all day and all night and was half scared out of his wits. God doesn't stretch us by having us do the things we know we can do. He stretches us by making us do more than we think we can.

"Right now the waves are just gentle swells. Perhaps the storm is subsiding. Perhaps it is just beginning, but I am learning to trust the captain."

That respite was in fact the eye of the storm. The seizures returned. Dr. Greg Sharp at Arkansas Children’s Hospital tried to help us manage them. Levi went from taking one medication, to two, then three. The third one had a bad side effect on his eyes and increased his eye pressure dangerously high. We discontinued that medicine and went to yet a fourth medicine.

Then, in 2011, an MRI showed that he had a condition called “cortical dysphasia” . Basically, he has a deformed brain, and this deformity was causing the seizures. The answer was brain surgery to remove a section of his left temporal lobe and much of the left hippocampus. Within days of the MRI findings, Arkansas Children’s hired an excellent pediatric neurosurgeon, Dr. Gregory Albert, from the Hospital for Sick Children in Ontario, Canada. This, it seems to me, was one of a series of small miracles.

Surgery was scheduled for the week of January 9, 2012. The surgery would occur in two phases. During the first, a section of Levi’s skull about the size of an adult’s hand was temporarily removed and a series of electrodes was placed on his brain. This would map both his seizure activity and any critical brain functions that might be located in the affected area. In 90% of people, this area of the brain controls much of the speech function. If the doctors got it wrong, surgery would result in a little boy who could neither speak nor understand speech. When the technicians brought their equipment into his room we realized that ACH had just purchased tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment to improve the brain mapping process. The timing of all of this was another small miracle.

As Dr. Sharp performed the brain mapping, still another miracle (and answer to prayer) became evident. Levi’s speech area was not on the left side of his brain, at least not in any of the area near the surgery. The second thing that became apparent was that portions of his brain were experiencing near constant abnormal activity. Surgery was both possible and needed.

That Friday Dr. Albert, with the assistance of Dr. Sharp, removed the portions of Levi’s brain that were showing abnormal activity. A few hours, later my wife, Darla, was beside his bed in the ICU when he woke up, looked at her and said “Mama”. He was awake and he was talking.

As I write this we are approaching one month since his surgery. He has not had a seizure since the surgery. Admittedly, we are not completely out of the woods yet. He has some catching up to do, and we have began the process of reducing (hopefully weaning him off of) his medicine. This process may take a year or so to complete. We are still some distance from the doctors being able to declare him “cured” .

The big question is this: Why has my son endured all of this? I am still not sure. Was it to teach his mother and me the meaning of “trust”? Is it to teach us empathy for others? Is God teaching us to how to graciously receive help instead of always being the ones trying to give it? Is God’s purpose to teach my other children compassion, selflessness and responsibility? Was it the plan of God for this illness to lead us in paths we otherwise would not have known existed? Or did God choreograph an entire series of actions and reactions of which I am not even aware? I do not know why we have traveled this path, but I do know we have not walked it alone.

Friends, strangers, family and acquaintances nearly forgotten have rallied to our aid. Old friendships have been renewed. We have found new friendships in the strangest places. We have discovered friends who were not even Christians when we knew them years ago that are now standing with us in prayer, calling out our names in churches hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away.

I do hope this journey has in some way been profitable to the Kingdom of God. I hope we have shown the love of Christ to someone who needed it. I hope we have demonstrated Christ’s strength during our weakness. I hope that our temporary suffering will somehow, someway yield eternal benefit in the life of at least one person.

I would be a hypocrite and a liar if I led you to believe that through this journey we have been the picture of serenity. There have been nights that we would lie in bed when no one else was around and sob and shake with grief. I have spent many midnights under the stars walking, pacing, talking to God, sobbing in grief for my little boy.

That God has heard my prayer all along, I am certain. That he has a grand design and plan for us all, I have no doubt. Seldom do I have a full understanding of what God is doing, for he is under no obligation to explain himself to me. Often I have no idea what he is up to.

I do know two things. First, I and my family belong to him, and, if we will let him, he will be glorified in us. Secondly, regardless of the path he lead us down, I can trust him.

Thank you for you love, your friendship and your continued prayers. May God bless all of you a hundred-fold for the kindness you have shown to us.

ADDENDUM 
1/15/2017
Today, five years after his surgery, he has not had a recurrence of any seizures and he is off all anti-seizure medications. He continues to recover from the setbacks caused by the epilepsy and side effects of his surgery. We are prayerfully hopeful that eventually his recovery will be complete, and we are extremely grateful to both God and the medical professionals used by God in his recovery thus far.