A Prayer for Joey

Gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we come to you now in supplication for Joseph Keller and his family. Please lead us now in this time of prayer and hear the cry of our hearts.

We thank you for bringing the Kellers into our lives and for the privilege of being a part of all you have done and continue do in and through Joey, Nick and Elizabeth.  We praise You how deeply and graciously You have touched and sustained them through this most difficult trial.  We worship and adore You as Creator and Sustainer of all life and all living things.  We honor you as Creator of the Universe and Master of all.  You, and You alone, define love, grace, goodness, mercy, and joy, and we look to You now on behalf of Joey, Nicolas, and Elizabeth in this hour of desperate need.  You formed Joey from the beginning of his conception and indeed knew him from before time itself was created or the foundations of the world were laid.  And his life and Your plans for his life are before you at all times.  We have seen Your hand at work in his life on so many occasions to keep him from the jaws of untimely death and to heal the damage to his body from diseases and treatments.  We thank You and praise You and worship You for your mercy and grace to this point.

We now ask You to touch Joey again with Your power and bring release from disease and suffering, restoration to health, and regeneration within his body to strength and long life.  And we believe completely that this is Your will for him as we have seen You move in this same way so many times before.

You have granted to us who believe, access to the awesome and powerful name of Jesus and You have commanded us to use it in battle against our enemy and his kingdom as well as against sickness and disease. And so it is in the mighty name of Jesus and by the power of His shed blood that I come against Satan now on behalf of the Kellers.  I command any and all foul and unclean spirits to immediately cease and desist all activity regarding Joey Keller, his parents Nick and Elizabeth, his doctors, nurses, and any other hospital staff, family, and visitors associated with his case and care.  You are commanded to be gone from the Keller's room along with any backups, replacements, or other such beings or devices of your use or influence and to have no further contact or influence upon these people, or the equipment, facilities, or processes associated with Joey's case and care.  I tear down and destroy any strongholds, footholds, attachments, or links that may exist to these people and objects and declare that you are forbidden to return or have any further contact or influence with any of the people, objects, places, or processes I have named.  In the name of our Lord God and Savior - Yeshua HaMashiach, get out and stay out.

Father, I ask for you to fill that hospital room, and indeed the entire ward, with your presence, power, glory, majesty, light, love, peace, and healing energy.  I ask that your Holy Spirit would descend upon that room and all those present and all who enter it.  Surround, fill, and permeate every part Joey's, Nick's, and Elizabeth's beings with Your supernatural peace, comfort, hope, trust, and faith.  Envelop them in Your love and light and holiness and cause them to rest in the knowledge and faith of Your control and Your promise to work ALL things - even THIS trial - into a pattern for good for them.

Please set your hedge of protection round about Joey's bed, about the room, and about the entire ward and post your angelic guard to the north, south, east, and west, from the floor beneath to the roof above, and at ever access point that no creature would be allowed to enter except they be about Your business.

Let your presence fill their hearts, minds, and the very atmosphere of their room with a dramatic and powerful Peace, Hope, Reassurance, Comfort, and JOY that comes from knowing You and the perfect confidence that You are in control and that You will cause all things to work out for good and in Your perfect plan for Joey and all those involved.

Father, I pray as specifically as I know how for Joey and his current afflictions.  In his body, I pray against every form of sickness, disease, infirmity, and malady.  I pray specifically against cancer - in all its forms and causes, and against the seizures he's been having - in all their forms and causes.  I ask that You would destroy every last trace of cancer, malignancy, and mutation currently in his body - in every system, in every organ, in every tissue, in every cell, in every gene, in every protein, in ever enzyme and amino acid - down to every last molecule of his being.  Destroy every malignant, mutated, or out-of-place molecule or cell and prevent them from reproducing.  Cause his own immune system to be restored and to recognize and attack and destroy every malformed molecule and cell and to rebuild and strengthen its own ability to protect him.  Cause all tissue and cellular damage to be repaired immediately or replaced with good cells and tissues.  Bring all chemical and physiological processes back into balance and proper functioning.

I pray for the other aspects of Joey's being to be healed, restored, and strengthened as well - his heart, mind, soul, and spirit.  Renew, restore, rejuvenate and regenerate  all aspects of his being and their dependencies and interactions in both the physical and non-physical realms.  Bring Joey back to complete health, vigor, strength, and life in every way he has need.

I pray too for his parents Nick and Elizabeth.  Descend up on them both in power. Open their eyes and ears to Your presence and Your work.  Fill them and guard their minds with the Peace of Jesus and remove all fear and doubt.  Give them rest - physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually ... cause them to rest in You and renew, restore, rejuvenate, and regenerate them in their hearts, minds, souls, and spirits.  Draw them to a confidence in Your power, providence, and will and willingness to heal their little boy and let it bring them to a point of rest and peace in You.  Give them wisdom and courage to stand firm in their faith, and to make good decisions and right actions on behalf of Joey and all the other burdens and responsibilities they bear.  We ask also for your mercy and grace where Nick's job is concerned that his employer would be gracious and as accommodating as possible to the family through this trial.

I pray that You would continue to raise up family, friends, and other Christians to support, encourage, and share in carrying the burdens the Kellers bear during this time as well.  Whether through finances, food, caring for the house, or any other way that the Body of Christ can find to bless and support and encourage them.  But most of all, I pray that Your Holy Spirit would continue to go forth raising up even more who would pray, intercede, and fast on behalf of Joey and his family.  Place Your burden for prayer upon the hearts of those whom You would call to help and work alongside the Kellers.  Do not let Your people hear the story of Joey and walk away unburdened for intercession.  Work through these events in the lives of those who have been touched by this trial to make us better, more disciplined prayer warriors and intercessors, more other-centered, and more faithful.  Draw people unto Yourself through these events and let us all come away with a deeper relationship to You, and a deeper understanding and commitment to prayer in general.

Most of all Father, I pray that all these things would not be in vain; that there would come from these events the greatest possible good for all those involved, but most especially for You and Your kingdom.  May all the lessons available to be learned here - whether in Joey, his parents, the doctors and medical staff, the prayer team, or the casual passersby - be learned and learned well.  May each person come away changed by these events in a way that ultimately brings glory to You and draws more people to You and deeper in their walk with You and Your Word.  Let no lesson be lost.

Hear our prayer Father.  Show Thyself strong and loving and gracious - as Master over all life and death and sickness and infirmity.  Glorify Thy name before men and especially among those who would deny You or place their trust and hope in the wisdom and acts of Man rather than You.

We love You and thank You and worship You and glorify Thy mighty and holy name before all men and before the hosts of heaven.  For You alone are worthy to receive all glory and honor and power and praise.  Your's is the kingdom and glory and the power forever.

All these things we ask in the name that is above all names - the glorious, powerful, wonderful, precious name of Jesus.

Amen.

Back On Our Knees for Joey

Friends & Family;

The past 24hrs have seen another downward spiral of our dear friend, Joey Keller's health, and he is back in the Pediatric ICU at Riley Hospital for Children.  According to Nick's (Joey's father) most recent CaringBridge updates this evening, Joey is suffering from a dangerously low sodium level in the brain which is causing bad seizures.  Unfortunately, the seizures then cause the sodium levels to drop further setting up a "vicious spiral" that quickly becomes life-threatening.

It's been one complication after another for them this trip and several other things have gone wrong as well - most significantly, the drug they used to stop the sodium loss seems to be causing some kind of reaction with even more horrible side-effects in this poor little boy.

Our hearts are absolutely broken for all that they're going through.  However, we continue to pray in confidence that he WILL come through this.  We believe very strongly that there have been several indications and confirmations from the Lord that He has a definitely plan for and call upon Joey's life.  Many of us believe that there is a significant spiritual side as well as the obvious physical side to all that's going on.

I've set up a new Round-The-Clock (RTC) Prayer Vigil for Joey beginning now (early Tues morning) and continuing through to Sunday night.

Please join us by going to the following sign-up page to select one or more 1/2-hour time slots when you can pray for Joey, Nick and Elizabeth Keller.

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080944ACA62FA20-praying

If you are willing and able to FAST on behalf of Joey as well, we really encourage you to do so along with your prayers.  Remember, fasting doesn't have to mean going without all food.  Fasting is simply sacrificing (doing without) something as a personal discipline in conjunction with your prayers.  Most often it is all food, but could be a single food, or certain kinds of foods, or even something entirely different (such as TV or other media) for a period of time.  It could be a single meal, a day, a week, or a month - that is between you and God.  But we do know that God calls us to fast in Scripture AND that there are certain types of healing that Christ taught only come about through prayer and fasting.

If you have a Facebook account, I've created an "event" for the vigil to get it on your calendar and to be able to communicate with the group in that way here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/292628944180709/?context=create

Please also "like" our permanent "Prayer Team Joey" page here to keep up with future events and stay in touch with other members of the prayer team:

https://www.facebook.com/PrayingForJoeyk 

If you'd like to learn more about Joey and the Kellers and follow their status updates directly, visit Nick's CaringBridge site here:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joeykeller

Thank you for keeping up with us (I'll get out a new post on how Daniel is doing soon - but in a word, he's doing great! PTL!! :)

- Tim -

Thanks for Praying for Joey Keller

My apologies for not getting to this earlier, but I wanted to extend my personal thanks - and forward a "Thank You" from the Kellers as well to all who participated in our prayer events over the past 2+ weeks.  The Round-The-Clock (RTC) Prayer Vigils for Joey ended on Sunday at midnight. It was a fantastic success and we saw God do some truly amazing things!

For those who may not have been following closely, Joey Keller is a 9 year old little boy who is a friend of Daniel's.  His parents Nick and Elizabeth have also become friends of ours over the past several months.  Daniel and Joey met one another in our homeschool co-op and Andrea and Elizabeth knew one another through the boys' shared classes.  Joey has been fighting a severely aggressive form of brain cancer for the past few years and has suffered multiple relapses (which typically drastically reduces the chances for successful recovery.)  The odds of him beating it have been stated as less than 2%.  When Daniel was diagnosed with leukemia back in January, our paths began to cross much more frequently with the Kellers at Riley Children's hospital and eventually Nick and I met and began to get acquainted as well.  Over the past several months we've all gotten to know each other on a level that's difficult to describe, simply due to our shared journey: navigating the medical community, cancer, faith, and all the rest that comes with staring a parent's worst nightmare in the face, 24/7, for months (or in their case, years) at a time.

On the evening of Monday Sept. 24th, after having posted a fairly positive report of Joey's health and progress, Nick posted a single line that nearly stopped the hearts of all of us who follow his CaringBridge site with these words,

"Joey either had a stroke or seizure. Just took EMS to Riley. Going to get ct scan. Gotta go."

(You can read the history of journal entries here:  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joeykeller)

I have set up to get notifications from the Kellers' CB site on my phone and in email, but somehow I missed this and a couple of follow-ups until the following morning when Andrea texted me about it.  I hurriedly read through the past few hours' posts and was in tears at the situation that was being described.  My heart always misses a couple of beats when the Kellers post a CB entry (not a great demonstration of faith there is it?) but this time just hit me like a truck.  To the best of my knowledge, nobody, to this day, knows what actually happened.  While sitting in the bathtub that evening, Joey became unresponsive.  He was alert & moving, but acting very strangely and not responding to Nick's voice or actions.  They immediately called EMS and rushed him to the hospital.  His situation went downhill quickly and soon he was nearly catatonic, having seizures, and then stopped breathing altogether.

Every test they ran came up blank as far as causes.  The cancer in his brain stem had been causing partial paralysis in various parts of his body recently, but an MRI & CT scan showed that it had not progressed at all.  There was no sign of seizure activity in his EEG even though they were watching it happen.  In short, they were all stumped but doing all they could to keep him alive.  The doctors in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) told the Kellers they should expect the worst and to being making "preparations".  At one point, they were even telling Nick and Elizabeth that they needed to start considering "pulling the plug" on Joey's life support.  But Nick and Elizabeth refused to give in to this loss of hope and continued to pray and pray and pray.  Their CB posts during this time convey the desperation during those dark hours.

Even with as much as Andrea & I have been through this past year with Daniel and the initial ups and downs of the doctors assessments of his "survivability", I know I cannot begin to imagine what the Kellers have been through.  The doctors were regularly conferring (i.e. "guessing") about causes, offering widely varying theories and just as differing treatment ideas to the Kellers.  All this was compounded for them by having gone days ... up to at least 5 at one point ... with virtually no sleep at all.

Early in that first week, I felt a burden within my own heart to rally praying people for Joey.  Now let there be no mistake about my meaning here - there is an absolutely GINORMOUS team of people, literally from around the world, praying for Joey on a full-time basis.  The vast majority of them have no clue who I am and many have known the Kellers better and longer than we have.  But the burden I had was to see something "formal", something "organized" to get people plugged-into so that we could be sure (and the Kellers could also know) that there was actual Round-The-Clock prayer coverage for Joey ... every second of every day.  I asked around to see whether something similar already existed or if there was any single point-of-contact for the veritable army of people around the world collectively known as "TEAM JOEY".

Though a few people had previously organized different events: T-shirt sales (yes, Team Joey even has their own T-shirts!! :), food ministries, and other things, I was unable to find anyone organizing prayer (though many, MANY were praying.)

A couple more days slipped by and then I remember very clearly hearing the Lord's voice telling me that nobody else was going to do this and it was MY JOB to get it done.  "OK, OK, OK! ... I have no idea how to do this, but I'll do what I can."  I was thinking that I really didn't know how to get in touch with people and wondering whether anyone would even care about what I was trying to organize since no more than a handful even knew me from Adam.  Now God never actually said this, but at that point, there was definitely a kind of "If you build it, they will come" moment. :-)  Corny, I know, but it at least gave me something with which to move forward.

The only place I knew to start was Facebook - that amazing source of communication, information, and (as often as not) GRIEF most of us have come to love and hate.  However, it was clearly the best (and possibly the only) means of trying to connect with the hundreds - possibly thousands - of Team Joey members out there who had no idea who I was.

Now if you're following this blog of mine, at this point, the story is probably starting to connect for you with what you've seen here over the past couple weeks.  Without going into a lot of detail, I setup a Facebook "event" to invite people to in order to pray for Joey.  I divided up the first 30 hours or so (Sat evening through Sunday night) into 1/2 hr time slots and invited people to sign up for a specific slot.  I posted notices on Facebook, in our CaringBridge site, and here in this blog and asked others to pass it on as well.

We didn't get them all filled in time, but we did pretty well as word began getting out and others reposted the info and invitation.  Sunday morning I set up 5 more such "events" to get through Friday of that week (10/5).  It was a clumsy way to do the sign-ups because people could only request what slots they wanted in posts & comments and then only Andrea & I had to manually edit the event info to add their names.  It was a VERY busy weekend for the two of us and we scrambled all day Sat and Sunday to keep up with the requests.  But it was a WONDERFUL burden to bear.  The entire week filled up in just a few hours really, and we were simply in awe of watching God work as we saw the news spread and people respond.  Something like 292 half-hour time slots were filled and many had multiple people in them.  It was abundantly clear that this was God's work from the beginning, and my part was more like just pulling the cork out of the hole in the dike.  He did the rest and we were more like bystanders as people clamored to get behind Joey, Nick, and Elizabeth in this organized prayer event.

On Tuesday (10/2), we (the Millers) were all at Riley for the start of Daniel's Maintenance Phase treatments and decided to try an impromptu visit to the PICU to see if we might possibly make contact with Nick and Elizabeth (they had no idea we were coming, and we weren't even sure we could FIND them, much less get into the ward.)  But as grace would have it, we did find them, and although Daniel wasn't able to come in, Andrea & I were able to spend nearly an hour with them, discuss all that had been going on, and even pray with them.  Their exhaustion was so evident that all of us were in tears during much of the visit.  But it was such a blessing to connect with them, to see first hand what was happening and get a real "inside" report of what they'd been going through and what they needed.

Perhaps the most important thing we took away from that visit was that the prayer "war" we were fighting for Joey's life seemed to be far more spiritual than it was physical.  This was an important revelation to us and, again, we understood that God had orchestrated the visit for a specific purpose He had in mind.  (We actually probably shouldn't have been able to get into to see them as non-family members - but when we showed up, a series of "coincidental" events transpired to get us right in to see them and none of the staff even thought twice about our being there.  Amazing!)  But we needed to get the word out to the prayer team that they must focus on the spiritual aspects at least as much as the physical ones.  The Kellers described a "darkness" and depression and negativity that permeated their room and the attitudes of most of the doctors when they came in.  It was having a visible effect on Joey - even before he was conscious, and the words of Scripture in Eph 6:12 became a rallying point for us and we tried hard to communicate this to the others in the prayer team.

Not surprisingly, as we posted the information from the Kellers, many people resonated with it and several had even stated that they had been sensing the same thing in their prayer times.  This kind of "resonance" and other such confirmations were a common experience during the setting up of the prayer vigils as well - I got several really appreciative notes from people who'd also been burdened with wanting to see something more organized set up to rally people around the Kellers in prayer.  So again, we were given a little glimpse into God's work "behind the scenes" that had been going on for quite awhile.  He just wanted someone to do something as simple as raise up a banner for the troops to rally behind and they came flocking.  In this case, the banner consisted of a few Facebook events with titles about praying for Joey.

We saw people from all over the world and all walks of life - most, complete strangers to one another - come together for a common purpose under a common banner and FIGHT ... on their knees ... for Joey's life, health, and well-being.

As the days went by, we all waited on pins and needles for Nick's CaringBridge posts to hear how things were going.  They were excruciatingly far between (for certainly understandable reasons), but we all kept praying anyway.  And very quickly (though I know it seemed like an eternity to Nick and Eliz), we saw Joey move from a point where nearly everyone close to him thought it might really be "over" - to a nearly full recovery against all odds and a great deal of medical "advice".  We saw an entire medical team astounded by his miraculous recovery.  We saw dozens and dozens of people step up and volunteer for time slots as individuals, as couples, and as families - from late at night, to the wee hours of the morning, to commutes back and forth to work, to evening family times ... people filled up the slots and prayed and prayed and prayed.  And most importantly, we saw Joey recover from about as close as anyone could come to death and then back away.

Near the end of that first week of the prayer vigil (week & 2 for the Kellers), Joey was doing much better, and by Thursday, he was finally off the ventilator and breathing on his own again ... but we wanted to see him HOME!  Several people began to ask about continuing the vigil for another week - "praying him home" as it were.  I'd been thinking about the same thing and was grateful for the confirmation that I should continue for another week.  This time though, some friends pointed me to a website that would make the process MUCH easier on Andrea & I so that we didn't have to process all the requests manually; rather, people could sign-up themselves for the slots they wanted and see the results immediately (it's called SignUpGenius.com - it was free and really a big help for Andrea & I!)

The 2nd week of the vigil though, never completely filled up. That was disappointing, but it was also clear that we had moved though the worst of it and Joey was doing MUCH better and we were confident that God was working through all that prayer to bring Joey back out of this horrible ordeal.  The fact that so many were willing to sacrifice of their time for a whole week - long enough to get Joey off the ventilator and back on the road to recovery - was amazing and enormously appreciated.  Those that continued with us through the second week were, I believe, instrumental "participants" with God in getting Joey the next step - which was to return home.  Now we do know that MANY others were praying as they often as they could but were unable to sign up for specific time slots for various reasons.  We know also that MANY, MANY others pray for Joey regularly and either aren't Facebook subscribers or simply never got the word of our prayer vigil.  And we know that God most certainly worked in many OTHER ways than these particular events.

When Nick posted a new update on the following Tuesday (10/9) that Joey was intentionally "messing with" the nurses by holding his breath to set off the monitor alarms just to watch them all come running in the room, and then laughing mischievously at what he'd done, I laughed till I cried.  It was such an incredible relief, such a JOY, to see Joey "back" among us (and as Daniel frequently noted to us, Joey's name is strikingly close to the word "Joy" and often pronounced in a way that is indistinguishable from it!)  The doctors had told Nick and Eliz at one point that there was almost certainly irreversible brain damage after the seizures and that, even if he did recover, "it wouldn't be the same Joey".  This of course was DEVASTATING for the Kellers to hear and all of us as well.  But Joey's journey has been an exercise in faith from beginning to end, and once again, they refused to accept that prognosis and prayed all the harder.  Seeing Nick's post on Tuesday 10/9 was nothing short of miraculous for all of us who had been watching them.  God didn't really seem to care about the doctors' prognostications and seemed to delight in demonstrating to us all that medical "odds" and the wisdom of Man mean nothing to Him.

I should note here that this is not to say that we are not all immensely appreciative of modern medicine, doctors, and the technology available to us.  We certainly are.  Both my wife and son have been direct beneficiaries (and myself secondarily thereby) of the astounding advancement of this technology in recent years as they both go through chemotherapy as well.  In this case however, I have been pretty critical of some of the things that the Kellers' medical team said and did ... some really stupid things in my opinion ... things that should be criticized and from which several lessons should be learned.  But this is not to impugn medicine or the medical community as a whole and I want to make that clear.  Nevertheless, as wonderful as this technology is, it is nothing in comparison with the power, and will of God our Father and Creator.  And that is perhaps the greatest lesson any of us can take from the events of these past few weeks.

Joey was released from Riley the following day (Thurs 10/11). Though he's still on a feeding tube due to difficulty swallowing, he's been breathing fine and slowly regaining his memory (a great deal of which was lost during the worst of the ordeal in the hospital.)  Most of this seems to be confined to fairly short-term memory, but in the picture below, Joey is instructing some family members (by memory) how to rebuild a rather large and complex LEGO set of his.  God is good. :)


If you're still with me - thanks for reading.  I know it's been a long entry, but I wanted to capture a few of the amazing details of these past two weeks - at least from our perspective - and bear witness to all that we've been privileged to watch God accomplish.  I know it's been very beneficial for our family as well!  After 9 months of being pretty focused on ourselves with all that Daniel has been going through, it's been good to get the focus off of us and onto helping and serving someone else.  And few others are as near and dear to our hearts and our own journey as the Kellers are.  I must confess that we've never been very good at praying together as a family - despite many attempts to make this work over the years.  Yet the past two weeks have been a wonderful way for us to rally together over an important cause at least once each day.

We've watched Daniel grow in his own prayer life by leaps and bounds through this and establish a special kind of "prayer connection" with Joey that only another cancer survivor can really have.  One of our prayers throughout this ordeal has been that the lessons God has been teaching ALL of us through this time, would not be lost.  We pray this for Kellers, for ourselves, for our prayer team, and for all of TEAM JOEY moving forward.

Thank you for your prayers.  Thank you for your kind words and encouragement to us.  And thank you for your willingness to give - whether thoughts, time, or that special part of your heart that goes out to others with true intercessory prayer.  We especially thank those of you who have been our own family's regular supporters and intercessors and may not have known the Kellers previously, yet joined forces with us to pray for Joey.  Thanks also for putting up with my continual pestering for more prayer for them!  And as always, we thank you for all you've done in praying for and following our story as well.

ONE FINAL NOTE:
Though the Round-The-Clock Prayer Vigils have ended, we have established a more or less permanent page for those praying for Joey.  We'll use this to help get word out for specific prayer requests, share our thoughts, info, experiences, and "praise reports" in interceding for the Kellers, and post any future events if the need arises.  So please be sure to "like" this page if you'd like to continue with us or just follow what's happening with the prayer team.  https://www.facebook.com/PrayingForJoeyk

A similar group was formed by friends of ours for Daniel here:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/305553332819553

And you are always welcome to join either our or the Kellers' CaringBridge sites here:  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joeykeller

and here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/danieljmiller

Grace and Peace in Jesus,

- Tim -

Prayer Requests for Joey: A Call For Intercessors

Daniel finally had his counts high enough today for us to get started on the long, final phase of his Chemo treatment (Lord willing!)  Phase 5 or "Maintenance".  This is planned to take us to mid-April of 2015 with monthly (instead of weekly) clinic visits.  Still a very long road ahead, but it's very nice to be past the most intensive parts of the therapy barring a (God forbid) relapse or other set-back of any type.

As Daniel came out of the anesthesia from the spinal tap procedure and we prepared to leave, we discussed stopping over at the Simon Tower to see if we could possibly get in to see the Kellers before leaving.  I was kind of skeptical that we'd be able to get into the ICU at all since we aren't family and hadn't even contacted them about it ahead of time.  But it was worth a shot.  Something I've learned about hospitals in general is, it's usually best to just pretend like you know what you're doing and are supposed to be there - don't ask if it's OK, just tell them what you've come to do. :)  Well, despite a few "looks", I basically walked right in - got a nurse to show me to their room, got suited up (gown, mask, gloves, etc. - we know this drill already) and walked into a room FILLED with people.

The first thing I noticed (other than the unexpectedly large number of people in the room) was that Joey noticed me and looked right at me. I gave him a big smile and said, "hello!" and then moved over to where Nick and Elizabeth were conferring with someone.  We spoke for a few moments but then decided to move out of the room to a small conference room across the hall.  This gave me a chance to let Andrea in but Daniel had to wait outside the ward in the waiting room.  However, between his "healies" (shoes with wheels) and the wheel chair I'd gotten for him, he found plenty to keep himself occupied.

We talked with Nick and Eliz for quite awhile - I'm thinking it was about 45 minutes or more - I was SO happy to have the opportunity to really hear from them what was happening and to relay to them what everyone was doing with the prayer vigils.  They were really encouraged to hear about the round-the-clock coverage and emphasized that, by far, prayer is the most coveted gift they needed right now.  Believe me, I know the feeling exactly!!  It's difficult to put into words just how precious is the knowledge that others are praying for you when you're in such a dark and helpless place as they've been in for the last 5 days or so.

As I write this, Nick has just put out another post which also helps to tell the story that he's titled "Mixed Bag".  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joeykeller

It's increasingly apparent from his writing just how tired he really is - so obviously that's a huge prayer request by itself.  Elizabeth is not far behind though I think she shows it less ... she is a rock! :)

As we all began to talk, Nick unfolded the past 48hrs or so of events, discussions, conundrums, differing ideas between doctors as to the causes (and possible solutions), and the unimaginable saga they've been living through for nearly a week of watching, literally, every breath their precious son takes ... or doesn't.  Praying for hours at a time, coaching him like a prize fighter to initiate every breath when they put him through their daily "breathing tests" and searching fervently for any sign of improvement, hope, and the spark "Joey" still inside the mass of tubes, wires, monitors, and all the nightmare that is a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

I won't take the space to go through all the different conversations and test results and opinions and options here, but I think I can summarize the whole thing into two vitally important points:

1. The medical staff doesn't have a clue as to what's going on.  Those who know me at all aren't surprised to hear me say that anyway - but in this case, it's literally true.  Nobody really has any idea what caused these episodes or how to fix it (medically).  The ideas being offered, as Nick has communicated a couple times now) are as different and varied as night and day.  And for something this big, that is nothing short of astounding.  To date, as best I understand it, no test result has shown ANYTHING that could be causing this.  And consequently, no clear path forward is available either.

2. What I'm about to write is MY opinion, but based on what I heard and saw today - in my opinion, the medical staff working Joey's case is, itself, a big problem.  Many of the ICU doctors are not cancer doctors and quite simply don't even understand Joey's background, his case history, much less the nature of what is happening now.  But they seem very quick to offer their opinions to Nick and Elizabeth about their need to prepare for the worst.  As Nick's latest CaringBridge entry highlighted, they seem to be in a hurry for some reason to bring about a resolution - which to them looks very dark - and seem to even be setting deadlines for Joey's recovery.  Admittedly, I have only bits and pieces of information and likely have some of this wrong, but I can tell you - and this is the main point - there appears to be a very important, very dark, and very powerful spiritual dimension to what is going on here.  It is weighing heavily on all 3 of the Kellers, and could (and I emphasize "could") be just as important, if not more so, a part of the problem as any of the physical problems (which, again, have yet to be identified).

What follows is really targeted for those readers who have some experience or at least knowledge of what the Bible calls "spiritual warfare" (yes, I'm talking Eph 6 "principalities, ... powers, ... rulers of the darkness of this age, ... spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.").  So if that's not your bag, this may be a good stopping point.  Thank you so VERY much for your continued thoughts and prayers for the Kellers. Please keep up the great work!!

Blessings,

- Tim -

For the Intercessors & Prayer Warriors 
(And those willing to learn!)

For the "initiated", I'll pass on a bit more info that Nick and Elizabeth shared from a non-medical perspective.  First, it's easy to get angry at what I heard some of the doctors have been doing, saying, implying, and worst of all, saying right in front of Joey.  They described more than one occasion when these statements about "end of life" had a visible effect on Joey as well as on his breathing.  Personally, if it were my son, I'd probably have these doctors removed from the room and from the case.  As far as I'm concerned, that's not just a lack of courtesy and even decency, it's actually malpractice.  But OK, I'm not gonna get started on that.  I don't even want to focus on that because I think this has Eph 6:12 written all over it ... "FOR WE DO NOT WRESTLE AGAINST FLESH AND BLOOD..." but against all those bad guys I mentioned earlier.  That applies to Joey's physical body as well as to the doctors.  I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say I believe something much bigger is in play here.  Nick and Elizabeth didn't come right out and state this, so recognize you're hearing MY assessment here and any disagreement / criticism can be leveled at me. But they DID describe enough details and specific examples for me to come away pretty certain that there is, at the very least, a strong spiritual dimension to this that requires direct intercession and FASTING (but I'll come back to that part.)

Nick and Eliz described frequently feeling a darkness, heaviness, a sense of "depression" and "giving up" atmosphere within the room and sometimes specifically associated with certain of the doctors.  They described some of the conversations I described earlier being held in front of Joey (which the Kellers are now trying very hard to enforce that they happen OUTSIDE the room).  Nick physically illustrated to me Joey curling up into a ball, and used the word "withering" when a particular doctor began talking about "pulling the plug" or designing "end of life" care.  He stated that there are certain doctors that, when they just come into the room, Joey has a reaction - sometimes with physical movement, sometimes setting off the respirator alarm because he suddenly has trouble breathing - but it's associated with specific people.  Conversely, he described how, a day or two ago, they played praise music and remained in prayer for 4hrs straight, uninterrupted and Joey didn't have a single alarm the entire 4hrs ... and he was asleep at that!  i.e. It's easier for him to breathe consistently when he's awake and people are encouraging him & coaching him. To go 4hrs asleep, with no alarms, is a really positive thing.  And it happened while there was worship music and prayer going on for him.

So again, not focusing on the doctors or any other "flesh and blood" - I have enough experience in this realm to be convinced that it is well worth our while to be focusing on the spiritual side of this battle.  Those who have followed Joey's story for any length of time know what an extraordinary little boy his is.  God CLEARLY has a special call on his life and I have no doubt that the enemy knows good and well that this is a threat that he wants "taken out"!  The darkness, depression, heaviness, talk of death, and mysterious illnesses with no medical explanations are ALL the enemy's calling cards.  And the fact that things improve ... dramatically ... when an atmosphere of praise and worship fills the room is also a powerful indicator of what's happening here.

Nick and Elizabeth, having these kinds of thoughts as well, are trying desperately to fight this battle on their own ... providing their own round-the-clock prayer coverage and intercession on their son's behalf.  Clearly, that's not humanly possible and they're running on fumes as it is.  Those of you who expressed to me that you'd been feeling a similar burden to mine about doing round-the-clock "organized" prayer over the past few days should be recognizing that God has been calling us together to battle this along side Joey's parents ... to "hold up their arms" if you're familiar with that story from Moses' life (Ex 17).

So those of you who understand the concept of "Intercessory Prayer", and know how to use the authority given to believers in the name of Jesus Christ, need to be focusing your prayers in this regard ... coming against and tearing down the schemes and strongholds of the enemy, setting up perimeters of protection, and binding / casting out foul spirits wherever they may be attempting to affect the Kellers, the medical staff, or even the equipment & facilities of the room and ward where Joey is.  Let the Holy Spirit guide your prayers, and if you're familiar what I mean when I say "let the Holy Spirit pray through you", then get on that too! :-)

My last point here is something I believe the Lord led me to specifically this evening during my own prayer time.  I don't yet know exactly how this will play out, but He is also calling apart a certain delegation of "fasters" to add some extra firepower to this battle.  If you're familiar with fasting and you feel God's touch on your shoulder to participate in that, please do so as soon as you're directed.  I think God will be touching a lot of "shoulders" in that regard in the near future. I just need to figure out a way to kinda pull that effort together as well (pray for me too! haha).

Thank you for your steadfastness, your self-sacrifice, and for all the interceding you're about to do on behalf of Joey and the Kellers.  I don't know exactly what's in store for us in the next few days, but I do believe that God is moving in His people and will be bringing this battle to a climax soon.  Keep your spiritual "ears" open to how He leads, and I'll try to figure out a kind of "forum" for the "prayer warriors" / intercessors to keep in better touch with in the very near future.

Grace and Peace to all,

- Tim -

Praying For Joey

I suspect that most who will read this entry will have no use for it as they are much more accomplished pray-ers than I am.  Yet over the past few days, I found myself enormously burdened regarding prayer for Joey Keller.   My times of lifting him up along with Nick and Elizabeth have been extraordinarily powerful, emotional, raw sometimes ... often very specifically pointed at some aspect or other of what's going on or even something completely unrelated.  But what hit most recently was the desire to know that there was continuous coverage for all that has been going on with the Kellers this past week.

(For those not familiar with Joey or his story, please click here for a summary and all the updates: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joeykeller.  In short, Joey is a friend of Daniel's from his homeschool co-op and has an aggressive form of brain cancer.  In the past week, things have taken a turn for the worse and frankly, the medical team hasn't a clue why. He is in desperate need of a miracle and there are literally THOUSANDS of people all over the world praying for him - including all us Millers!)

I tried briefly to find some "coordinator" for Team Joey maybe already had something like this, or knew how to put it together, but it quickly became apparent that God was giving ME this task!  I put it off for a day longer than I should have (there's that discipline thing again) until I couldn't stand it any more and came up with a really clunky way of trying to organize it using "events" in Facebook.  Well, to make a long story not quite as long, I created 1/2hr time slots stretching from this past Saturday night through this coming Friday at midnight for which people could sign-up and pray.  I figured we'd be scrounging for volunteers most of the week - especially for the early morning hours - but in a spectacular show of what "TEAM JOEY" is all about (and what God apparently had in mind all along!) Andrea and I were absolutely deluged with people wanting time slots to pray, and we filled up the entire thing ... all 292 slots in less than 1/2 a day. And many slots - even the early morning ones - have multiple people in them because the requests were coming in faster than Andrea & I could update the events!

I'm blown away at what God did through this.  But the goal was of course NOT just filling up time slots, but in providing powerful, comprehensive, round-the-clock supplication ... beseeching ... BEGGING before the throne of God for Joey's life and health and restoration ... so the REAL work lies with those who are signed up - and all the rest who are still praying even though they don't have their names on a list in Facebook!

It is with that thought in mind ... and thinking that there might be some out there who struggle a bit with prayer ... or might even be intimidated at the thought of filling up an entire 1/2 hour with prayer on the same topic ... that I wanted to offer some ideas / suggestions for how to pray for Joey.

If you are an experienced pray-er, or have no trouble filling up an entire 1/2 hour, then what follows is not for you.  PLEASE continue to pray for Joey as loud, long, and often as you can ... and Thank You!

On the other hand, if you could use a little extra help filling up your time slot, or maybe just some different ideas from how you've been praying, then I offer these for whatever worth you might find in them.  There's nothing special about them or the order or the wording ... in fact ... what matters most is that whatever you pray comes from your heart ... not someone else's words or formulas ... God wants to hear from YOU.  But I do believe I can defend each particular statement and its form Biblically if you have questions about how/why some of these appear the way they do.  Normally, I'd have written this out long-hand, but as you can see, I figured it was long enough even in "bullet" form, so I spared you all the book that would have resulted. :-)

May the Lord pray through you and bless both you and the Kellers through your prayers.  Thank you all!

- Tim -

Praying for Joey 

“Be anxious for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."  (Phil 4:6-7)

General:

• For God’s presence to be powerful, prevalent, and FELT throughout the hospital room and the ward where Joey is
• For God’s peace, power, grace, comfort, hope, and joy to be tangible and “overpowering” in each of the Kellers and to anyone who walks into Joey’s room or deals with him or his parents in any way
• Protection against all enemies – physical, spiritual, emotional, or worldly – that Joey, Nick, and Elizabeth would be firmly surrounded by God’s “hedge”, His own hands, His host, and their own spiritual armor.

Pray AGAINST:

• All forms of cancer, sickness, disease, infirmity, illness, trauma, and stress affecting Joey in any part of his being (body, soul, or spirit)
• Any attack, stronghold, device, or scheme of the enemy affecting Joey, the Kellers, the hospital staff, or any of its equipment or procedures associated with Joey

For Joey:

• That Joey would sense, feel, and experience – in a powerful way – the presence of Jesus with Him and in him at all times comforting, protecting, ministering to, and strengthening him through these trials … to hear His voice, to feel His touch, to see His glory, and to know His peace
• Direct, immediate, complete healing from all cancer, its causes and effects
• Repair or replacement of all damaged tissues, organs, and processes
• Restoration of normal processes & behaviors in every part of his being – body, soul, & spirit
• Destruction of all forms and any sources or causes of cancer or other diseases, infirmities, afflictions, abnormalities, or mutations – physical or otherwise
• Healing from any and all damage caused by recent trauma – physical, emotional, mental, spiritual
• Healing from all the side effects of the medications, procedures, trauma, and stress he’s been subjected to since ALL of this started (years worth)
• For renewed physical strength, health & vigor
• For renewed and increased strength, faith, hope, love, patience, perseverance, joy, and courage
• That he would be a powerful witness in all that he says and does, as well as simply in what God does to him and through him in the presence of the hospital staff and visitors – many of whom are unbelievers
• That all this would bear fruit in a powerful ministry through Joey.  What a testimony he will have!!

For Nick & Elizabeth:

• For renewed and increased strength, faith, hope, love, patience, perseverance, joy, and courage
• For unshakable, child-like, perfect trust in God regardless of what doctors say, test results indicate, or events unfold
• Supernatural wisdom and knowledge to make the right choices; to override doctors when necessary; to know and do what is best for Joey as his God-ordained parents.
• For the discipline and presence of mind to continue to take care of themselves and each other through these ordeals – and to accept or even ask for what they need from other members of the Body of Christ that we may help them bear these burdens

Doctors, Nurses, and other Medical Staff:

• For supernatural , God-given knowledge and wisdom of what to do (and not to do) medically for Joey that is right for him, and in keeping with God’s plan to bring him through this.
• For them to treat Joey, Nick, and Elizabeth with respect, empathy, and sensitivity in how the express thoughts and opinions
• For them to not make errors in diagnosis, treatment plans and execution, following procedures, and protocols
• That they would be open and touched by what God is doing in front of them both to and through the Kellers and the vast “cloud” of believers surrounding and supporting them.
• That they too would feel the power and presence of God in all that is going on in and around Joey and the Kellers … to know and experience the very hand of God upon each of them whenever they enter Joey’s room or the presence of Nick and Elizabeth … that something special is going on here – something vastly bigger than what they’re trying to do with medicine

The Support Team:

• That God would continue to burden the hearts of those who can participate in what He is doing here – through prayer, through visits & encouragement, through providing meals or other services to the Kellers directly, or any other ministry by which we can support, encourage, teach, or help share the burdens they are carrying right now.
• That the Holy Spirit would powerfully pray through those who have committed to specific time slots in the prayer vigil such that the “covering of prayer” would:
• Not be broken
• Would be most effective toward Joey, Nick, and Elizabeth as well as others God intends to touch through these events
• That God would work IN the lives of all those He raises up around the Kellers during this time as well – to bless and encourage them, to draw them closer to Himself and deeper in their relationships with Him, and to more power in their own prayer and service (i.e. deeper into discipleship)
• For God’s blessing and protection upon all those who would give of their time & resources for the Kellers

Over All:

• That God would be glorified in and through these events
• That many would come to know, or know more deeply, His power, love, grace, and holiness
• That the Kingdom would be furthered
• For all those touched by these trials, especially Joey, Nick, and Elizabeth, to receive the maximum benefit from having persevered through the midst of these trials (Rom 8:28) – that God would turn all these horrible things into good in each of their lives, and no lesson would be lost, lest any of this have been in vain.