It is a cold, snowy day today here in Louisville, Kentucky, and I am thankful to God for the warm and comfortable place in which I live. I love the winter, but I am also aware of the hardship, and even danger, that it presents for many, so I pray God’s blessings on all during these winter storms.
As many of you know, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December. With all the doctors’ appointments and such, it was a very busy time at the end of the year. I am sorry I was not able to get a report to you in January.
I had my first radiation treatment this morning. These will run through the end of March, for a total of 45 treatments. I am optimistic as to the outcome. Certainly if the Lord’s purposes are accomplished, that will be a good result, whatever the specifics may be for me personally. I would love to go home and be with the Lord, of course, but if it is His will for me to stay and work some more, I will accept that and do that work as enthusiastically as I can.
I was able to drive down and be with my brethren in Meridian, Mississippi last weekend. Lord willing, I will go again the last weekend of this month, and this time my good friend Jeff Hilycord, from Columbus, Indiana, will be going down with me. It is such a refreshment of my spirit to be with the church at Seventh Street in Meridian, and I always look forward to giving back something of myself to the congregation that got me started loving the Lord.
I am actually pondering and praying about moving to Meridian to live and work there full-time. I wouldn’t be “the preacher” at Seventh Street in Meridian (anymore than I have been at Douglass Hills in Louisville); Meridian would simply be the place where I do the work I am doing (writing and meetings). The work that you support me to do wouldn’t change; I would just be living in a place where the congregation desperately needs encouragement, perhaps more than any other congregation that I know of.
The members of the church in Meridian are extremely excited about the possibility that I might move there. They know the idea is tentative, nothing more than an idea at this point (very much depends on my health situation), but they are excited that I would even consider it. Rarely do any of us ever get the chance to do something in life that other people appreciate as much as these people would appreciate my moving to Meridian. So we are all praying about it. Needless to say, it would do me good personally to be appreciated as much as I would be in Meridian.
If I moved to Meridian, one of the “perks” would be that I would be closer geographically to most of the congregations that support me. It would be a great blessing for me to be able to visit my brethren in Pasadena and College Station, Texas and Greenwood, Arkansas more often and maintain a closer personal connection to those groups.
If you have any thoughts on these matters (particularly those of you who support me financially), I would be happy to hear from you. It will be a hard decision, perhaps one of the hardest I have ever made. But I am excited about the future, whatever happens. There is much to do, there is work on every hand. I am eager to get past the distraction of this cancer. But it remains to be seen what the Lord’s will is going to be. So let us pray, increase our faith, and stay as active as we can in His kingdom, for as long as we can. It is a privilege to be on His team, in any kind of way.
Gary Henry — WordPoints.com + AreYouaChristian.com
