August 2005 - Our Letter From Wilmington, Delaware

August 22, 2005
Wilmington, Delaware

Dear Praying Friends,

It seems like a long time since we last wrote. Indeed, it has been! We did not expect such storms and pouring rain when the dark clouds of sicknesses moved over our blue skies.

In less than 7 months, we have visited hospitals, seen doctors, consumed medicine, had treatment and gone through many tests. In less than a year we have experienced these things that could compare to a lifetime of health problems. My biopsy of the liver, along with exams that confirmed serious diabetes, eyesight problems, arrhythmia and hypertension... was like a bolt of lightening that knocked us for a period of time.

And just as we were struggling to cope with those issues, Ruthie developed back pain, requiring an MRI that revealed recurring cancer (after 14 years) that had traveled to the bones in the spine, the pelvis, the shoulders and neck... and even into the skull.

But our Lord, who knows all of these things, has seasoned our struggles with our Nathaniel's graduation from Covenant College, (he was elected to speak on behalf of his friends)... and then with his subsequent marriage to Alicia Skrivan. The Lord has moved an army of doctors, nurses and friends to come to our aid and He has provided in a marvelous way for our needs as we've traveled over the U.S. in what is a short HMA... lasting till the end of September.

There is no question as to the fact that we face life-threatening diseases. Diseases, (as circumstances) do not make a person: but they reveal a person - where a man stops to evaluate what he is and what he does and either accelerates or slows down the pace of his activities. It is with humble gratitude we thank the Lord that we do not have to do either of these two things. We will keep on doing the exact same things that we have been doing and will continue to be the same people we have been. We have come to conclude that our Lord is not in the business of teaching us new things in this time of testing as if He had not already taught us what He wants us to be and to do.

We know the Ten Commandments, the Golden rule, the four Gospels and the book of Acts. We have a good grasp of the Scriptures, and we have training coming out of our ears, as well as a heap of books that we haven't finished reading. Our problem is not lack of learning. Our problem is, as Oswald Chambers has put so beautifully, that the problem is to 'un-learn' the many things that have come into our minds and hearts that keep us from trusting, focusing and depending on the Lord and on Him alone. Nothing like "good ole crisis" to accomplish that. For, if "sin is independence from God", the contrary is "dependence on God." We are discovering the joy, as Mother Teresa has said, that "You donŐt know how much you need Jesus until Jesus is all that you have."

Our children are marrying, there is trouble in the town, our health is going to pieces, my mother is half paralyzed from a sudden stroke, there are aches and pains, but we do not want to run from them. As Ann Graham Lutz says, "Just give me Jesus".

In regard to the work, the oldest to the youngest of our sons and daughters is involved in the work of the Kingdom, which gives us joy.

Second, most of our orphans are aggressively involved in church planting and witnessing.

Third, in regard to mentoring, it is the best thing in which we have ever been involved. The mentees are developing their own visions for their future service.

Fourth, the congregation is steadily growing.

Fifth, new groups and churches are being born.

Now for your prayers... we are targeting a large university in the next town. Pray us back to Peru as soon as possible. We would rather work ourselves to death than to "work to death" for a little health. Should Ruthie respond well to the once-a-month intravenous application of "Zometa" (not chemo-therapy), which is hopefully expected to fortify her bones and relieve the pain, along with the medicine she takes on a daily basis, we will continue treatment in Lima, Peru.

Nothing will change our time of departure or our appointment with God, which has been set from the beginning. Till then, we remain immortal, indestructible, invincible, untouchable... learning new dimensions of grace and the meaning of being "more than conquerors" in Jesus.

Gerry Gutierrez