A Celebration of Life…

Please join me to celebrate Daniel’s life August 28th at 6pm MT in Salt Lake City, UT. You can watch online via stream.wasatchhills.org.

A five letter word…

It’s what we live by….we are born with the ability yet we choose whether or not we develop it. It’s a choice not an instinct, yet we think it should just come naturally and we get angry when it doesn’t. It’s more mature in our childhood, yet as we age we lose it. And no matter how hard we try to obtain it, too many things block our view and then we find ourselves back at the beginning…the opposite of the goal.

If you haven’t figured out what “it” is…let me help… It’s what Noah exercised when he and his family sat in a 450 foot-long boat on dry land for seven days before a drop of rain came down. While EVERYONE else laughed and scoffed at him for wasting his time and for following instructions from a “God” he couldn’t even see.

It’s what Abraham exercised on the three-day trek up Mount Moriah with Isaac, his son, who he had not yet told why they were making the trip.

It’s what Job repeatedly exercised while tragedy upon tragedy was thrown at him…including a threat to his own life.

And it’s what the hundreds upon hundreds of New Testament believers had when they scurried through the crowds just to get close to the man they knew would heal them.

It’s what Stephen had when the first, second and third stones were thrown and he saw death’s door.

And it’s what Jesus had on the cross…the moment before He said

“Father it is finished.“

Have you figured “it” out? It’s faith…the opposite of doubt.

You see even Jesus, at that point in His journey, on the cross, did not know whether or not He would see His Father again. A curtain had temporarily separated them. It was all part of the plan. Yet His faith surpassed ALL doubt.

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we cannot see.” ~ Hebrews 11:1

Yet what do we do? We run around in our life upset, angry and fretting because “our” plan has gone haywire and we just don’t know what to do. We say we believe but then forget all about the “God’s in control” part. Logan and I often find ourselves in that position. I look at myself and others that surround me and think “oh you of little faith” ~Luke 12:28

What in the world do we know?…not much. I love the inspired quote…

” God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led, if they could see the end from the beginning and discern the glory of the purpose which they are fulfilling as co-workers with Him.” ~ Ministry of Healing  p.479

Fighting cancer part-time instead of full-time allowed me the creativity to write about some wacky, 24-yr. old brain stuff that doesn’t seem so interesting now…so I hope you do not mind if this is a little heavy for some. I feel the need to be serious as I feel we are all blindsided by the world. So just back-read for some more comical, better written material.

Fortunately Christ doesn’t seem to care about how well written our material is, He seems to care more about us doing our best, which is what I’m trying to do right now…That, combined with faith, seems to be what James talked so much about:

“What good is it my brothers , if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?” ~ James 2:14

It is my challenge to you to fight the good fight of faith. Don’t ever give up! Quit looking at the “now” and look at what is to come. Even though you may feel that you have lost a few battles here and there, you will NEVER lose the war if you put your faith in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Oh if we could just grasp and hold on to that  faith of a child.

Another Day in Paradise…

Two months ago Logan talked to Jason Merkle, who was diagnosed with a highly malignant rapid-growing brainstem glioma in 1994. After research, they chose the Burzynski FDA antineoplaston clinical trial. For four months his tumor continued to grow until Jason could no longer hear, see, or stay awake very well.

The FDA wanted to take him out of the trial but “there were people all around the country praying for Jason and our family“. Sticking it out another month they finally saw the tumor quit growing and now Jason is alive, well, and in full remission.This is obviously a lovely fairytale that many high-grade brain tumor patients do not get, yet would love to receive. However, in every case I’ve ever seen where this receiving does actually happen, two characteristics seem to be involved:

#1. An incredible faith in God/tremendous prayer support

#2. An INTENSE tenacity to live held by the patient or their family

‘It’s tough to get the whole fam together these days’

I possess neither of these qualities on my own, but fortunately I have others to help me with them. I’m learning #1 through bible study, prayer, and the spirit of prophecy and I am somehow privileged enough to posess the prayer support from a combined school, church, friend, blog, and facebook, network. Not super sure how all those came together so well. I just leave it up to God. I also try to count myself blessed that the impact I’ve been allowed has intensely increased since starting this treatment; even while posting less  –> (SEO geeks will understand).

I’m also not super sure as to where God is going with this whole thing or how He will work it all out, That is why I shared Jason’s story; My first MRI report obviously shows growth, but the clinic sees that in most all their cases.

It is easy to become discouraged in any trial of life, mine included, however, spending the time with Christ daily allows us to recognize His leadings (small as they may be). This is helps  me get through. I learned this again multiple times this week.

First off, it was something as small as a comment a friend left on my last post about recognizing God in a cell store. Second, my wife Logan had another great experience from God when He showed her His presence a few days back:

After learning of the MRI (which we somewhat expected) ) the devil disheartened and discouraged her.  As she sat on the couch before going to sleep,  reading her bible, a few tears fell as she prayed for God to cast the devil from the room. The day before she’d started reading Psalms 1-5 so that night, where we’ve been sleeping on the couch,  she read

“Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. But you, O Lord-how long? Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise? I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.”

My eye wastes away because of grief; it grows weak because of all my foes. Depart from me, all you workers of evil, for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. The Lord has heard my plea; the Lord accepts my prayer”~Psalms 6

My providential experiences seem to happen on a daily basis, and I choose not to discuss many of them because they are so bizarre. If you have any sort of Western medical training background, you simply will write off my discoveries and probably quit reading this blog. Let me give one example:

I have seizures 3-4 times a week. They range from left hand/arm twitches to facial as well. I can change the type of seizure depending on what I’m breathing in (certain rooms, airflows, etc.).

Valium slows them but doesn’t always stop them and takes a lot of time to kick in.Last week  I was in the middle of a bad seizure that would not stop despite all our attempts. Logan grabbed  eucalyptus oil, put it underneath my nose and the seizure immediately quit.

I’ll be honest, I feel like a Jason Merkle with my left hand/arm and balance beginning to slightly fade, seizures, head pressure, and MRIs attacking me on every side. However, I know whose weapons these are, and as I learned on my honeymoon from the Bahamanians, you just gotta ‘Shut de door, keep out de devil, shut de door, de devil in de night’.  Besides, everyone has problems. Call them symptoms. Whatever. All I know is that each day is a gift. Regardless of what happens. Each day is another day in paradise.

And being a bible-based Christian with a wonderful wife and family is a total WIN-WIN situation whether you have a high-grade glioma or not. You either get to spend another day in paradise with your gorgeous wife and supportive family, or simply fall asleep and wake up seeing Christ coming in the clouds of glory. You really can’t lose once you understand how simple this truly is. And gaining that simple assurance really isn’t hard: it’s simply a relationship with Christ. I stole an illustration for this blog, (Quitting or Sitting…) that sums the simplicity up quite nicely, if I can say so myself. Feel free to check it out.

I would like to make it very clear that I do my best with #1 and #2 above, but I leave it all in God hands. I have NO IDEA  how this whole thing will work out, I just  recognize He’s providentially opened the doors for this treatment and  simply take it one day at a time , (HARD AS IT IS!!!!!) thinking of it as another day in paradise.

Ways to Help… (Due to the clinical trial being done at a private clinic; enormous monthly costs are involved)

1. Pray. Pray. Pray!

2. Tax Deductible! You can now make tax deductible donations by sending them to the Georgia Cumberland Academy Church at 351 Academy Dr. SW Calhoun, GA 30701. If you have any questions about donating this way you can contact Nancy Gerard at 706-629-4591.

2. Email loganehlert@yahoo.com for and address or information on how to donate to a Harper Cancer Fund that has been set up through Bank of America. This can be done through an in-bank transfer, wire or by visiting your local Bank of America branch with the account and routing number, which she will provide. We tried to make this tax deductible but it is not possible.

3. Visit http://prayfordaniel.com and purchase “Pray for Daniel” bands through Paypal (credit cards etc). Or send as “payment owed” through Paypal to danielgharper@yahoo.com.

4. Repost this blog on your Facebook page and pass it on.