For Joey

For Joey;

All of us know grief.  This world and this life are filled with it – for some more than others it seems but we have all been touched by it in some way.  I have lost immediate family members and been close to many others who have as well – even just this past weekend.  I know the grief that feels like a 200 pound weight on your chest and wrap your soul in a darkness that seems both unbearable and inescapable - but I don’t know what it’s like to lose a child. 

Unfortunately, I have imagined it a thousand times - probably more like two thousand actually, but I'm not counting.  About a year or so after my son Daniel was born, I began having nightmares about losing him – not just here and there but every night!  They were terrible, graphic, vivid dreams about not being able to save my son and having to watch him die.  I would wake up each morning in a cold sweat and shaking from having experienced some new and horrifying way of losing my son that was somehow my fault.  Every gray hair I currently have appeared over the next few years, not as a result of having a son – being a parent – but as a direct result of those dreams of losing him I am convinced.  There was a lot going on spiritually that I won’t take the time to go into here, but let’s just say the warfare was intense, and I now have a lot of gray hairs to prove it.

Until those dreams started, I had never experienced any fear, horror, or grief like I did during those thoughts and dreams.  For the several years that it lasted, it was the darkest and most difficult period of my life … until January 2012 … when Daniel was diagnosed with cancer.  I tried to describe a bit of what I was feeling in those early blog posts.  It had been awhile since I had finally overcome the bulk of the nightmares, but suddenly every one of them came back home to roost in that moment sitting in the recovery room with the doctor and the test results.  The initial estimates were for a 65% chance of “successful treatment”.  My ears roared, my vision closed in, my heart pounded, my stomach flipped, my throat closed up, my soul screamed in agony, and the world stopped turning

Though there were several ups and downs in the early days of his diagnosis and treatment, we eventually discovered that his form of leukemia was in fact one with a much higher (around 90-95%) success rate and the clouds began to clear a little.  Yet 2012 has been a year filled with constant wrestling against fear and struggling to hold on to faith and learning to trust God for every single second.  I watched my mom die a long and painful death from cancer the year I graduated college.  I've watched aunts, uncles, cousins, my mother-in-law go through it - some successfully, some not.  My wife Andrea was diagnosed with leukemia in 2010 and then my only son Daniel in 2012.

I hate cancer!

As my world began to spin again - in an entirely new direction - one filled with oncologists and hematologists and a new language of medical terms and procedures and protocols and charts - I found myself immersed again in the world of cancer and the people affected by it.

It was then that I met the Kellers and their son Joey.  As it happened, Daniel and Andrea had already known Joey and Elizabeth for some months.  Daniel and Joey had shared classes together at our homeschool co-op and Andrea knew Elizabeth from there as well.  As we began to cross paths more often at the hospital - both as in-patients and at the out-patient clinic, I got to know Joey and Elizabeth and eventually Nick, Joey's father.  Nick and I hit it off immediately.  We recognized in one another the same depth of passion, compassion, and willingness to do anything to save the lives of our sons.  Andrea and Elizabeth shared the same kind of connection as mothers.

I'll not tell the much more of the story here except to say that the four of us discovered in one another not only a deep love for God and His Word, but also a shared journey ... a quest ... to learn all we could about how to appropriate God's supernatural healing power for the sake of our families.  Though we didn't often get a chance to talk face-to-face, when we did we often commented on each other's blog posts, shared experiences, compared notes about what other people said and did and their comments, etc.  Without really knowing one another that well, we became very close in a way that I believe only God can orchestrate.

As late Summer and early Fall of 2012 began, Joey began to have serious problems again.  We prayed and prayed and prayed.  Joey, Nick, and Elizabeth and all they were going through grabbed my heart and wouldn't let go.  When Joey started having seizures in late September, I organized on-line round-the-clock prayer vigils for him and we saw truly amazing - I believe "miraculous" - results.  Dozens if not hundreds of people and families and prayer groups were praying for Joey constantly.  My own family - the 3 of us - were praying together with fervency and regularity like never before.  And for awhile, Joey rallied and we hoped and prayed hard and believed that God would grant our thousands upon thousands of requests, and spare Joey's life from this awful disease.

But in the end, it was not to be.  If human beings could, by force of will, influence the health of another, or if there were some inherent power in prayer itself, Joey would most certainly still be with us today.  But prayer is never about changing God's mind or somehow "forcing" God's will to bend to our own - though many seem to think this is so.  The Word tells us to ask God for what we want and to "pray believing" that He will grant us what we ask, but it is abundantly clear that God is sovereign and perfect in His wisdom and knowledge and power as well as his grace and love.  The Word is clear that God always does what is right and best and good, whether we understand it or not.  In this case, it is now clear that God's will was to "graduate" Joey from this life to his reward far sooner than we all would have liked.  And as absolutely heart-wrenching as it was to lose Joey, all those of us who know the Lord are, despite the grief, immeasurably happy for Joey and the perfect, "ultimate" healing that God granted him.  Shortly after the news of his loss, I found a picture through which God spoke directly to my heart and brought me some measure of peace for Joey.  Actually, I found several, but this one in particular ministered to me powerfully and continues to do so.  I still cannot look at it without breaking down.  It allowed me to "release" him into the arms of my Lord and to find some measure of peace and even joy for Joey's sake.

However, with that said, I can also state that this has been one of the 2 or 3 worst weeks of my entire life.  Because although I can actually bring myself to be happy for Joey, my heart is tied so very deeply to Nick and Elizabeth and their parents that I have felt utterly devastated - crushed under the weight of their loss and the future they must move into without their precious little boy.  I'd like to say I cannot imagine what they're going through, but the fact is, I have imagined it - a thousand times.  And yet I know that even my worst nightmares can never compare to the reality our friends are going through.  After all, I woke up from every nightmare I ever had.  Yet there is such a deep connection to their journey, their faith, their struggles, and their loss, that I was barely able to function for days afterward and still find myself in tears as often as not.  I wish there were something - anything - I could do to ease their pain, to share the load of their burden, or to bring comfort to them in these dark hours.  But only God can do that, and so I continue to pray ... for their comfort, peace, strength, courage, and faith to remain strong.  We remain committed to the Kellers and their parents to stand with them, pray for them, and serve them in any way that we might be able.  And though I realize that they will never fully recover from being separated from their son so early and in such a terrible fashion, we do pray that the Lord will bind up their broken hearts, wipe away their tears, strengthen their marriage and their relationship to Him, and help them to find a positive way to honor Joey's memory and legacy until they are reunited with him again.

Were Our Prayers in Vain?
No.  Absolutely not.  No prayer of honest concern and desire to help another is ever given in vain.  And no prayer by one who belongs to the Lord goes unheard.  Though I do remain confused about some of the things I had believed that I and others (including Joey Himself) heard about God's intent to heal Joey back to health in this world, I also believe that our prayers were effective in many ways in God's plan.  Without question (in my mind) we saw God answer our prayers for Joey MANY times over the past year (and many others have been praying for Joey much longer than that).  We saw cancer disappear from his MRI scans entirely. We saw him healed from the seizures despite the medical staff stating that they didn't know what was causing it and didn't know what to do for him.  We saw him rally back multiple times in multiple ways over the course of these last several months and I believe that in each of those cases, God was working through the many, many prayers of the faithful being offered on Joey's behalf.  I know that I personally felt a strong burden for prayer and was, like several others, awakened even during the night to pray for Joey and his parents during particularly difficult times.  For me personally, it really wasn't until the last few days that I even had any trouble praying with faith that God was going to continue to heal Joey and keep him with us.  I don't know or understand what changed at the end. Perhaps someday we will, perhaps not.  But I am tremendously happy and blessed to have had the privilege of having been burdened for Joey these past several months and to have put in the many hours of prayer on his behalf.  I believe every one of the prayers offered by members of Team Joey were effective and used to Joey's benefit and God's glory.  And ultimately, God provided Joey with a perfect healing from his suffering and disease in a way he could never have enjoyed in this life.

How I Knew, And Will Remember Joey:
I regret that I never knew Joey when he was healthy.  The only images I have of him are without any hair and most often in a hospital bed or wheel chair.  But far stronger than those images of his illness, are the impressions I have of his maturity, especially spiritually.  Through my own direct experience as well as through conversations with Nick and Elizabeth and their parents, and through Nick's various CaringBridge and Facebook posts, I came to realize that Joey has a wisdom and maturity WAY beyond his years.  He has developed a profoundly deep and personal love for Jesus and it was frequently Joey who brought encouragement, strength, and balance to conversations and worries of others around him - even his own parents.  In Nick's CaringBridge post announcing Joey's passing, he made the statement, "I can only hope to run a race as strong, and focused, and effective as you. In spiritual terms, I look up to you."  I know he meant every word of it because he said the same thing to me on more than one occasion.  And even for as short a time as I've known Joey, I feel the same way.  Joey is for me and for so very many others, a model of strength, wisdom, and maturity in many ways.

We know that God uses adversity in our lives to mold and shape us - as a "refining fire" through which we are purified and mettle tested.  It is my opinion that the sheer volume of adversity that Joey went through in his short time on this planet was probably sufficient, in God's hands, to accomplish all the work in him so often takes God an entire lifetime to accomplish in most of the rest of us.  Though I initially thought of Joey's passing as being a race "cut short", further reflection on who he is and how he behaved caused me to think that, perhaps, he just finished his race that much faster than the rest of us!  Certainly he has finished his race well and will receive a reward for this valiant fight that most of the rest of us will only be able to look upon in awe.  I am confident that God will continue to work through Joey's legacy in this life for many years to come and will bless countless other children through it.

Though Joey barely knew me, he has already had an enormous impact on myself and my family in our prayer lives, my understanding and experience with prayer and healing, and even our conversations and experience with cancer and hospitals ... an area that we will continue to look to his example in the months and years ahead of us.

As this Thanksgiving Day draws to a close, I realize despite the enormous grief I have been under this week, how very thankful I am to know Joey, his parents, his grandparents, and so many of the other friends from around the country and around the world that comprise "Team Joey".  And though in my own limited wisdom, I would so much rather have had him around with us for much, MUCH longer, I am grateful that I will carry these memories of him him as a great soul - someone who at barely 9 years of age, ran the race so as to win - and won.  And one day soon, I'll see him again in Glory, as a man, full of life and health and unencumbered by the trials he faced in this world.  If I can finish even half as strong as Joey Keller, I'll be a happy man when I meet my Lord face-to-face.

- Tim -

On "Thankfulness" This Thanksgiving Day

Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!

-- Psalm 107:8, 15, 21, 31 --

It's been a real joy this month to follow those making posts on Facebook each day about something for which they are thankful.  What a wonderful example they have set.  One thing I have noticed though throughout this month is that not much has been said about to WHOM we are being "thankful".  And while I think it is largely implicit in many such posts, I'd like to take this time to make it explicit!  After all, by definition, "thanks" is something given to another person in gratitude for something they have done or given to us.  Being "thankful" (filled with "thanks" or gratitude) is not something that we can be or think or feel simply within ourselves ... thanks and gratitude are given to another person or persons.  And while there are no doubt MANY sources of blessings and other people in our lives who are deserving our thanks and gratitude, I would like to point out that that is not what this day is about.

I was pleasantly surprised today to discover no less than 3 references to "God" or "Creator" in President Obama's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation.  He spends far more time thanking our troops than our Creator, but in all, not bad. Considering the source and his history with these sort of things, I'd say really well done!  Thank you Mr. President!

While it is entirely appropriate to be thankful for all our men and women in uniform every day (and if you know me at all, you know I'm a huge fan of our armed forces!), yet again, with deepest respect, that is NOT what this day is about.

From the first thanksgiving(s) at Plymouth Plantation in 1621, to the founding of our national annual observance by President Lincoln in 1863, and throughout most of our nation's history, this day has been about recognizing that all we have, and indeed "all good things" (Jas 1:17) come from our Great Creator, Redeemer, and Lord - Jesus Christ as those first Puritans fully recognized.

We all have many, many things to be thankful for on this and every day of the year.  Blessings come to us in many forms and through many sources.  But this day was designed and intended to be focused on the One "from Whom all blessings flow" ... Jesus Christ.

President George Washington made the first official proclamation of a (single) "day of thanksgiving" in 1789 at the urging of the newly formed United States Congress (though it was not to become an official annual observance until 1861).  Washington's proclamation read as follows:

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed;-- for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish Constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted;-- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge;-- and, in general, for all the great and various favours which He has been pleased to confer upon us.
...

He goes on to implore each of us to repent of both personal and national sins and to continue to solicit God's  help in securing a good and sound government both here and for all nations and to promote "true religion". (See link below for full text)

When President Lincoln officially created "Thanksgiving Day" as an annual national observance in 1861, he wrote these words within the presidential proclamation:

"... No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union."

Although he did not write the following words specifically for Thanksgiving, President Lincoln summed up - perhaps better than any other author I've encountered - what I believe should be the true spirit that should drive all Americans to Thankfulness - ANY day, but especially this one.

On March 30, 1863 President Lincoln, in his Proclamation for a Day of Prayer and Fasting, called the nation to find spiritual strength through prayer with these words:

"Whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord:

And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness... All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessing no less than the pardon of our national sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace."

And so I pray that each of us will this day remember, not only those many blessings for which we are so thankful, but even more importantly, let us also explicitly direct our thanks and gratitude to Him from Whom each one of them has come - our gracious and loving Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ: the Author and Mediator of all good things.

"Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people." 

-- 1Chron 16:8 --

- Tim -



General history of "Thanksgiving" in America:
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/firsts/thanksgiving/

President George Washington's first official proclamation of Thanksgiving by the U.S. Government:
http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/firsts/thanksgiving/thankstext.html

Original sources regarding the event regarded as the "First Thanksgiving":
http://www.pilgrimhall.org/1stthnks.htm

President Lincoln's official founding proclamation of an annual, national day of Thanksgiving:
http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/thanks.htm

President Obama's Thanksgiving Proclamation 2012:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/11/20/presidential-proclamation-thanksgiving-day-2012

Joey's Fight Has Ended - Prayers for the Kellers

At 9:35pm tonight, Joey's fight against cancer ended and he graduated to meet His Lord face-to-face.  Joey grew more, had more faith, and touched more people's life in his brief 9 years of life than most of will in 90 or more years.  His legacy and ministry will live on in many, many ways.

While we rejoice that his suffering has come to an end and for the unimaginable joy that is now his, we are still in shock ourselves and cannot begin to imagine what his parents are going through.  Your prayers are still very much needed for them for the days and months ahead as they begin an entirely new battle with grief and loss.

I've never seen a group of people come together - literally from all over the world - to rally around one person the way Team Joey has done for Joey Keller.  God has worked, and will continue to work through the many lives touched by Joey.

His father's posting on CaringBridge from a few minutes ago reads as follows:

"Joey finally met in person (face to face) the person he's loved, trusted, admired, talked to, talked about, and worshipped for years, Jesus, tonight, at 9:35p. Buddy, you loved that song, I'll fly away....you beat me there. Which is not the way it's supposed to be. I will be there soon. I never knew I could love someone like I loved you, son. My heart will be broken until I see you again. You are awesome. I told you often how much I loved you and thought of you. I can only hope to run a race as strong, and focused, and effective as you. In spiritual terms, I look up to you. I love you and am a fractured, torn up person without you. I'll never be right. But I will see you soon. One more time, "Dad thinks you are awesome! You make me happy! I am so proud of you." I'm coming buddy. Pray for me."

I'll try to write more in the near future - but we're all still reeling here. The first thing we did as a family was to thank God for having known Joey and the Kellers and for ending His suffering, and to bring comfort and peace and continued faith to the family.

You can visit their CaringBridge site here to leave a message for them:
        http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joeykeller

- Tim -

An Update on Joey & Request For Prayer and Fasting

I was able to get to the hospital last night and spend some time with Eliz, both sets of grandparents, and a couple other prayer warriors.  I never did get to see Nick & Joey, but we prayed together in the Family Room on the same floor and had a really sweet time in prayer and fellowship for awhile.

Nick put out a CaringBridge post a short time later titled "Update (iPad)":
          http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joeykeller

One thing I did learn that I think I can share is that Joey is NOT intubated (not on a ventilator) as I had thought.  That was good news.  Per Nick's post though, there's not much other good news right now.  As he stated, things are continuing to decline - quickly.  Without a miracle, it could be a matter of days or even hours from a medical perspective.

What we need, pure and simple, is a touch from God - exactly what He has done so many times over the past many months (years!) bringing Joey back from the brink.  The episode with the seizures a few weeks ago where Joey had become completely unresponsive and some of the doctors were even recommending "pulling the plug" at one point, is powerful evidence of God's divine hand upon our little brother Joey.  Only a week later, Joey was back home and the doctors were stumped as to why there was no brain damage showing up in test results from the seizures.

The Lord definitely showed up last night as we prayed.  The sense of peace and power that filled the room in which we prayed was amazing and wonderful.  We can ALL be assured that our God is well aware of Joey's need, of all our thousands of requests and petitions on his behalf, and He is most surely at work in the situation.

Knowing what He is up to - what His will and His plan is - is another matter sometimes.  But we can ALWAYS rest in absolute certainty that our Father has all our best interests in His heart and plans for us ... especially Joey's. 

I want, with all my heart, soul, mind, and spirit, to see Joey healed.  And I have absolutely no reason whatsoever, at this moment, to believe that God wants anything different.  So unless and until He reveals that His plan is anything other than a complete healing for Joey, I intend to continue to pray, fast, intercede, do spiritual battle, and pronounce healing to him with all the faith and "belief" I can muster ... and to encourage as many others as I can to do the same.

We recognize, of course, the possibility that God's will may very well be different from our own or at times, even hidden from us no matter how hard we seek to discern it.  He's God, and we're not. He is not constrained or in any way obligated to tell us all His plans and intentions.  In fact, it is absolutely staggering that He chooses to do so at all!  Yet it is often His pleasure and desire to reveal Himself to us that we may know Him and trust Him better.  But even in those times when we do not understand His will or His actions, we can rest with absolute certainty that He is planning and working for the best possible outcome for Joey and all involved.  We know that God is perfectly, completely, and consistently good, loving, gracious, and holy in everything He does.  Period!  We often mistakenly state that God's attribute of "omnipotence" means He can do ANYTHING.  But that is not true.  There are many things God cannot do.  He cannot lie, He cannot sin, He cannot learn, in fact He cannot do anything that is inconsistent with His nature - which includes perfect love and perfect grace.  So when we find ourselves disagreeing with God's choices or actions, that speaks only of our fallibility and limited understanding of the situation.

Unfortunately, that does not mean that we'll "feel good" about everything that God does.  There will be grief, pain, suffering, hardship, and death in all our lives.  We are promised this (John 16:33, Matt 13:21, Jas 1:2, 1Pet 1:6, etc.).  Our maturity comes when we learn to trust God through the midst of these hardships and still know that "... in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." -- Rom 8:28

I have not spoken much about this line of thinking because, frankly, I really do believe that God will yet heal Joey.  And I want to do my very best to pray BELIEVING that he will recover (Mt 10:1, 8; Mk 16:18; Lk 9:1-2, 10:9, etc.)

So if you believe that our God heals, I continue to exhort and encourage you to stand with us fasting, praying, and pronouncing God's healing upon Joey.  Things have once again become desperate in that little room in downtown Indianapolis - and from a human medical perspective, even "hopeless".  But there is no such thing as "hopelessness" in Jesus Christ.  And as Nick has said so many times before, if it weren't impossible, it wouldn't be a miracle when it happens!! 

                *  *  *            *  *  *           *  *  *

So if you consider yourself a Christian, please join or continue with us:

FASTING:
If you are willing, we highly encourage you to fast along with your prayers.  I hope to create another blog post on the subject in the near future about fasting in general, but there's lots of info out there if you're not familiar with this spiritual discipline.  Remember that it doesn't have to be a "total fast" (all food) - a "partial fast" (certain foods or kinds of foods) can be effective, and it doesn't even have to be food.  We can fast TV or media, or a hobby, etc.  Please pray about where God would lead you in this regard.


PRAYER:
1. Complete and immediate healing for Joey.  Again, I hope to create another blog about my thoughts on healing prayer in general in the near future - but let me sum up in this way.  I believe there are two kinds of ways to pray for healing.

1. Intercessory Prayer - letting our "requests be made known to God" (Phil 4:6-7), 
2. True "Healing Prayer" - this may not technically be a "prayer", but rather an exercising of the authority that Jesus gives to His disciples when He sends out both the 12 on one occasion and 70 on another occasion commanding them to "heal the sick" "in My name" (along with casting out demons, raising the dead, and preaching the Kingdom.) (Mt 10:1, 8; Mk 16:18; Lk 9:1-2, 10:9, etc.).  If you are a Christian, then the authority of Jesus' name is given to you to do these things. Of course it must still be in-line with the will of God, but this teaches us how we should pray for the sick.

2. All damage caused by cancer, infection, or treatments would be healed and those tissues and systems strengthened and made whole and functioning properly again.

3. Similar to the "Healing Prayer" above, Jesus gave His followers (in the same verses) authority to drive out evil spirits. His followers returned rejoicing saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name."  Use this authority given to you to drive out any such spirits that may be involved in what is happening to Joey and destroy their works.

4. That ALL of Joey's being would be renewed, refreshed, rejuvenated, and regenerated - Body, Heart, Mind, Soul, and Spirit - to total health, wellness, peace, and joy.

5. That God will continue to raise-up, "burden", and work through faithful Christians through whom the Spirit can minister to Joey and the family - through prayer, through laying on of hands, through encouragement, ministry, helps, and all the other spiritual gifts that can be of benefit to the family.

6. That God would be glorified through all this.  That many would come to know Him or know Him better and learn to trust in Him and commit their lives to Him.


As always: THANK YOU for your prayers, encouragement, and faithfulness on behalf of the Kellers.

- Tim -

P.S.  I was really taken with this posting by Joni Earekson Tada this morning.  Seems to speak directly to the situation at hand in a way that she is uniquely qualified to do:
http://www.joniandfriends.org/radio/5-minute/enter-storehouses/#.UKaNmvxqD3M.facebook

Prayers Needed for Joey Keller Urgently

PRAYER TEAM JOEY:

Just a quick note to get the word out as broadly as possible.  Our Lord has provided miracle after miracle to bring Joey back from death's door in times like this.  We have an enormous army of intercessors assembled on his behalf and we need to rally to his aid right now.  There has been much prayer on his behalf and increasingly so recently.  But in the past few hours, Joey has taken a turn for the worse.  The doctors believe it is the cancer itself again causing these now life-threatening symptoms.

Joey's father Nick just posted these words to their CaringBridge site at about 11:15a:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joeykeller

Desp need prayer. Things have gotten worse very quickly. Labored breathing, can't move his tongue, not responding. This is very bad. We need a miracle. Thinking of Lazarus. Please pray and believe with us. This is not denial. This is faith. To the best if our ability. Never been here before. We are doing our best. 

It's clear that our medical science has reached the limit of its ability to help in Joey's situation and we need nothing short of a supernatural touch from God.  But we've been here several times before and God has consistently answered our fervent prayers and spared Joey's life.

Please join us now in lifting up our little brother to the Lord in intercession and in "warfare" against enemies (both spiritual and physical) who are intent on taking his life.

Suggested Specifics:
1. Pray specifically against the cancer. That it would be stopped (from spreading and inflicting any further damage), destroyed, and eliminated from his body.
2. Pray specifically against any and all spiritual forces that may be set against Joey - command them to cease all activity regarding Joey and his family and to be gone from Joey's room and not to return in the name of Jesus Christ. (Christians are given the authority and the commandment to use His name in this way against evil spirits.)
3. Pray for complete and comprehensive healing and regeneration of all damage and effects of the cancer - or any other form of attack against his body, soul, or spirit.
4. Pray for God's peace, comfort, rest, and strength for Joey and the family.
5. Pray for God to be glorified in all that happens.

On behalf of the Kellers and Prayer Team Joey - THANK YOU!

- Tim -

Staying the Course for Joey

I've updated this blog from its original text after Nick Keller posted some additional information on Joey's MRI.  The news it communicated was even worse than the original posting and frankly, after all the events of the past week nationally as well as some personally, it's been a real challenge to stay positive about anything.  But I found encouragement in my own words here in this post from yesterday so I thought I'd update the info on Joey and repost it in the hope that someone else might benefit also.

Nick's post from Wed morning @ 12:40a:

"We saw the MRI. Major growth on lumbar spine, brainstem, and in temple regions sort of growing towards the center of his brain. It WAS in CSF kind of "on" his brain, now it seems its growing into and through his actual brain cells and tissue. Wicked, evil disease. We discussed hospice and the reports from all relevant medical teams was, "anything else we could do will cause more harm and damage than any potential for help or therapeutic upside." They do believe his unusually high heart is do to the cancer spot/tumor/lesion on or in his brain stem. We flat out need a miracle. Otherwise, what he will have to endure, systematic loss of brain and organ function, system failure, ventilator again, it's unthinkable. They were especially concerned looking at this MRI vs. the one just a month ago (brain) bc Its really moving quickly. We have got to pray. All those scriptures I looked up and listed in previous CB postings on faith and healing, haven't changed. The promises regarding healing...haven't changed. We've exhausted every medical option that exists (due diligence.) Now, We look to God to do what only He can. All day long I kept thinking about the Israelites looking at the Red Sea, the Egyptians racing to basically cut their throats or put them back into slavery. They thought they were dead. Or at best, had no idea how God would get them out this, this time. Slaves for 400 years, finally free, and now this??? To die here, like this? All day long I've been getting texts from buddies and pastors from those very chapters. Don't believe it's a coincidence. The thought keeps going through my head, if its not impossible, it's not a miracle. Thx for praying for our Joey. "

We Christians should see this, NOT as a sign of defeat by any means - but a call to more fervent prayer and fasting on behalf of Joey.  Do not be discouraged.  Do not be disheartened.  God is much bigger than all of this!  What appears like a setback from a worldly perspective is in fact an opportunity for God to show Himself more powerful, more loving, more gracious from a heavenly perspective.  It is often God's "M.O." to ensure that all human means of "fixing" the problem have been exhausted so that, when He does move, there is no doubt to Whom the praise and glory belongs.

It is of course true that God does not always heal people of our diseases and infirmities. We live in a fallen world where sickness and death reign because of the existence of sin and evil.  One day all of that will be done away with.  In the mean time, we are commanded to pray for the healing of others in many places in Scripture ... to lay hands upon, to anoint with oil, to pray, and to fast for them to recover.  Ultimately it is God's decision whether, how, and when to heal someone.  "Prayer" has no power in itself and changes nothing on its own.  We must never credit "prayer" (which is to say Our Efforts), for that which God alone can do.  But we know that He commands us to pray, and we know that He chooses to work THROUGH our prayers.  So our role here is as clear as it has always been.  We must pray BELIEVING.  We must pray for what we (and others) need, and we must pray for those things that are consistent with God's nature - life, health, wholeness, joy, and freedom from pain and suffering.  These things are ALWAYS in God's will for us (and especially for 9 year old little boys!!)  [Matt 7:11, Luke 11:13, etc.]

I don't claim to have an inside line on God's will in this matter - but I do believe very strongly that He has indicated on MANY occasions in the past 2 years that His will is to heal Joey.  I have neither seen, heard, nor felt anything that would indicate the contrary at any time.  And so I will continue to pray, with all the confidence and faith I can muster, for Joey's complete and immediate healing.  If things do not go the way I believe they will, it will not shake my faith in God or in what I believe about His nature.  He is God, He is good, and He is faithful.  I am not qualified to judge Him to be otherwise, and no event in this fallen world that I can perceive through my limited and sinful existence can prove Him to be different.  But if such a thing were to happen, I am determined that it will not be because I did not steadfastly believe, pray, fast, or intercede often enough on behalf my friends Joey, Nick and Elizabeth.

I praise God for Who He is, for His goodness, and faithfulness, and grace and perfect love for all of us.  I praise Him that He has opened the way for me to come before Him and present my needs and to intercede on behalf of others, and that He has promised to hear our prayers.  I also thanks and praise Him that He has promised to always do what is best - even if I pray amiss - and that all things will ultimately work together into a pattern for good for those of us who are The Called.

Father, I thank You and praise You that You are good and holy and loving and merciful.  I thank You that You are in control and for all You have done for Joey and the Kellers to this time.  I ask You now to once again reach down into that hospital room and intervene on behalf of this precious little boy - Your creation - upon whom You have had Your hand and over whom You have kept special watch these many months.  Touch him now again and let your Holy Spirit move upon and within his body to bring healing, wholeness, and freedom from this disease of cancer.  In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, by Who's stripes You have purchased our redemption and healing, I ask that you destroy every single cancerous molecule and cell in Joey's body.  I ask that you prevent every cancerous cell from reproducing and cause every damaged organ, tissue, cell, protein, enzyme, and molecule to be repaired and healed.  Restore balance to his chemical systems and eliminate all unhealthy, damaged, and malignant elements from his body along with any and all sources of such damage, disease, and illness.  I also come against any outside forces - be they physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual - that would affect Joey in any way other than bringing him back toward total health.  I ask that You hold Joey and the Kellers in the very palm of Your hand and set Your hedge and Your guard around them to keep them safe and secure.

I ask You Father, in the name of Jesus, for Joey's life, for his health, and for his immediate healing.  Let your light, love, power, and glory fill Joey, his family, and his room.  Let your supernatural peace descend upon them and guard their hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and let Your armor remain strong and fast about them protecting them from the flaming arrows of the enemy ... doubt, despair, fear, and discouragement ... let them have no place in their hearts and minds.  Send forth Your angels and Your Holy Spirit to raise up an ARMY of intercessors, oh Lord, on behalf of Joey and his family that we may participate in turning the tide of this battle.

Thank You for hearing my prayer and for Your healing power as it moves forth to Joey even now.  You are worthy of all glory and honor and power and praise both now and forever.

In the mighty name of Jesus I ask all these things,  Amen.

If you are a Christian, please continue to pray, fast, and believe with me!

- Tim -