Category Archives: God’s timing

Nelson’s journal 5/6/22  

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Nelson’s poor health is lingering without improvement. But he’s hoping it’ll resolve before their summer vacation begins when they hope to drive an RV from California to the Ark Encounter in Kentucky–connecting with 28 family members there. The medical community is still describing his symptoms as a thyroid problem.

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My thyroid is in and out. Yesterday was pretty good but with lots of fatigue in the afternoon, but today was fatigue pretty much all day and nausea later on. Not the most pleasant disease in the world.

Long term sickness is no fun with an uncertain timeline. Each adjustment in meds takes 3-4 weeks to plain out, then blood work, then another adjustment. Right now I’m not taking anything other than some heartburn meds to see if that has any effect on the cough. So far, nothing has touched that at all.

Seems like the doc thinks that that will plain off once the swelling in the thyroid goes down. No sermons to prepare. Sold the blue truck the other day. Lots of good stuff is happening. Ron Ryan is looking at an RV for me in San Diego for our road trip this Summer. It’s a vintage Toyota from 1979. I hope it’s not too old.

We want to take it from California to the Ark in about 2 week’s time without going on the interstate. Slow but steady. Seems to be in good shape, but they want a little too much for it.

We met with a really sweet Kokua Crew couple to help them decide their future. They are such sweet people, full of faith. “God told me this. God told me that.” They are such a cool expression of God’s heart. Both Annso and I are more the stoic, European/Scandinavian style of people. Less emotional and more practical. Fun to see God work within the differences. Thankful for YWAM and diversity.

It’s Friday night. We’re chilling at home as usual cause it’s too much hassle taking Will anywhere. Hoping the trip works out good with all the movement. We travel well together, so that’s good.

I hope my sickness is somewhat “at bay” by the time we leave, because we really don’t have health care outside the islands unless we pay for it. But here, everything is covered.

Annso is baking again, which is cool. We are getting the parenting thing down a bit, even though we haven’t mastered anything, if that’s even possible at any point. I pray for this sickness to resolve itself and to be normal again without meds at all. I pray it happens before June 22 when we leave. No more nausea, no more fatigue, no more cough. Those are the 3 big things going on all day and night these days. Sure helps not to take your health for granted.

Lord, I have been so healthy all my life, and for that I’m super thankful. I won’t take it for granted again, being able to run, swim, exercise, none of it. If there is something I am doing to create this problem, please let me know so I can correct it.

I’m thankful I drink less coffee this way. I wanted to cut back. Hard to be super nauseous and enjoy anything food or drink-wise. I’m sure thankful I sold that old truck for $3000. Not a big deal compared to what others are doing, but for me, it was a small victory. To resurrect something that would otherwise have gone to the junkyard, to get it running and totally legal. I thought that was pretty good.

Never did take it off road, but the 4×4 worked, so that’s cool. I’m thankful for the place you put us, the freedom we have, for the end of the Little Red Church, for the end of my career as an electrician, short-lived as it was, and for YWAM days, one after another so we can spend time together as a new little family.

I’m thankful for the cool little vehicles we have, the Miata, the Civic, the Ruckus, Metro, and the Shadow. Fun to have so many wheels all in the same place. Thankful for Ron Ryan who is looking at this RV for me. Thankful for your leading even when we don’t know.

I’m thankful that I didn’t go lead the guy’s prayer room after hearing the voice of God teaching me. Lord, you spoke through that magazine that said, “Hit the Road,” and that’s how faithful you are. Thankful that people actually want to hear my testimony. For the awesome grounds crew and their submission to what I ask, and their hard work and flexibility toward me. What a blessing.

Thank you for the summer and how Greg is thinking about coming back and helping me run the grounds team while we’re gone. Thank you that we are going to have a great staff team that prays and takes care of the place. Thank you Lord that you always give us what we need and way more. Thank you for Annso and Will and how you brought that to pass, the miracle it is.

Thank you for our parents. Thank you that you make seeing them possible this Summer. Thank you that I am speaking at the Korean Foundation School next week. What a cool thing. Thank you that you have given me the teaching already. I pray for the right words and that you would help me to include what I need to and leave out things that are not relevant to little kids.

Thank you for the Titus Project and what it taught me back in the day in Montana. I pray that you would lead us on the right road from California to Nashville in the Summer, or whichever way we take.

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“O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.” (Genesis 18:3)

Nelson’s journal 4/18/22  

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Nelson is feeling better about what has been diagnosed as a thyroid problem, assuming that it’s gradually healing. Little Will is doing better with his eating and sleeping, too, and Nelson’s pastoring ministry has ended honorably. Things are looking up.

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April 18, 2022    

Finished things up at Little Red Church for good yesterday for the Easter Service. We had about 90 people including the Kokua Crew, so it was a pretty good sized group. Bob Duffer brought the word, and the Micronesians stood up front. I prayed for them to usher in their season at the place [The Little Red Church]. Hard to believe they’ve had the property the whole time and didn’t do this sooner.

My Thyroid issue seems to be calming down and my levels are lower, at least they feel lower. I have hardly any energy and no more rapid heart rate. I wonder what my fate is with this whole thing. Will it go back to normal?

I always liked my metabolism and normal mode of operation. It’s hard not to take a couple naps per day on days like this. I just feel so lethargic.

The baby Will is growing and doing really good being just over a month old now. We’ve gotten better at feeding and sleeping him, so that’s encouraging. Still gets up a couple times in the night, but we don’t mind.

It’s hard being in ministry. Just today, I asked a guy to leave the Hale Ola property who sort of just came out of nowhere as a self-proclaimed fix-it man, asking for all these favors and making the Kokua Crew nervous.

People get mixed up about what YWAM is and think that because they were once here, they can just show up and pick up where they left off. I felt sorry for him, being an old guy and all, no doubt a Christian, but a dinosaur who doesn’t fit into the world of today.

Not that I really do either.

But a guy like that who flies in and wanders around begging for favors is about as close to homeless as you can get, without actually being that. I’m sure it’s not the first time he got asked to leave a place for similar behavior. He also invited himself to stand up in front of our group at devotions and share, and I let him do it. Poor guy.

I’m grateful for how things went to close the church down and pass it along to the next people. I’m glad it was a church moving in instead of just us closing it. Thank you for the 6 years I was there. I pray for direction going forward in another season or tenure at another church or whatever you have Lord. I pray we can see what it is you have and not miss it.

I’m thankful for our son and how healthy he is. I’m thankful for the light he is in our lives and how you didn’t have us deal with not having children, which it looked for a while like it was a possibility.

I pray for our Summer plans to travel in a camper and see more of the country as a family. I pray for the right RV, something we can resell or use later. Thank you that you haven’t given us riches so far to distract us from you and serving here. Thank you that we are still able to do it.

I pray for our Kokua Crew and their lives, that they would be protected from lies and comparison. I pray for Judy’s speech tomorrow and that her words would have an impact on the girls especially.

I pray for continuing upward progress in my health and with the Thyroid problem that came out of nowhere. I pray that you would heal me completely and that I wouldn’t need meds going forward or surgery or anything permanent. You can do it.

I pray for eventually a pill-free life without meds and just a healthy routine of good food and exercise. Thank you that this has kept me at home with time to spend on our little guy and being together as we get started [as a family]. You are so good to us, giving us insured health care here in Hawaii. What a blessing. Amen.

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“Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” (Colossians 3:15)

Nelson’s journal 4/13/22  

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As time passes, change always comes, and Nelson is analyzing where he and his little family stand with the changes now happening—with his pastorate, his health, and his baby’s discontent. He’s also making plans for their future, trying to hear God’s counsel accurately. Over it all hangs a dark cloud of poor health for him, though doctors have assured him it’s just a thyroid malfunction that will eventually disappear.

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April 13, 2022    

Derek sat at our table yesterday and told me to read the gospels with the perspective of authority. How much did Jesus submit to what the authorities said in his time? When the government says you can’t sing in church, do you obey that?

How would Jesus and Paul have responded to that command in their day? The ones who were jailed and killed for disobeying the rules of the day? What would they have done? So I started in Matthew today. I am to the point where Jesus was tempted in chapter 4.

I got up with Will to maybe feed him and put him back to bed, but I swaddled him without the food and he went right back. It’s funny how flailing arms keep him up and running. Thank you for that, Lord.

On another topic, I am not an inclusive person and I don’t tend to want a lot of staff around me, people to motivate, referee, and manage. People who have been in YWAM long enough to not take instruction anymore. Maybe I’m one of them.

 

I don’t go to meetings I probably should attend, but I do have a 1 month old baby who needs me, so I use that as a pass for now. Our last service at Little Red is this Sunday’s Easter service. Most of the Kokua Crew will go at 6am. The last hurrah.

I told Tim I wasn’t going to be an electrician anymore. He was super cool about it. I dreaded that conversation, but it was just a simple text.

My Thyroid issue is pretty steady and bad. Sometimes i think it’s improving. Then It’s like now, and I can hardly motivate myself to do a simple thing. Annso is at small group right now, and I’m watching Will. He’s a tough little guy, but he’s sleeping, which makes my life easier while she’s gone.

I hope the Thyroid clears up, because apparently it was a blast of the hormone that brought on an attack or something. I don’t need meds or an operation to straighten it out. I pray that, Lord. You can do anything. Sometimes I imagine being like I was before, no pain, no fatigue, being able to run and swim again, feeling good with energy. It would be amazing, and I wouldn’t take my health for granted again.

It’s easy to somehow take credit for things like money or health when you have them, but when they’re gone, you realize you’re a fragile little man walking the earth for a short time, and not many of the things we focus on matter, and lots of what we take for granted or don’t pay attention to, does matter.

What matters? The way we treat people, whether we love them, how much time we spend, not how much money we make or how seriously people take us. It’s hard not to get caught up in that stuff and miss the main stuff, but we can try.

My season as a pastor is over for now. God, you are merciful the way you went about it. The time at Little Red was so unique. It never turned into anything big or multiplied, but we did our best.

I’m so thankful for the Summer to leave the island and travel and camp out across the country like we are planning. I’m thankful for Annso, who wants to do it, and a little guy who we can take along. Our first family vacation. I couldn’t be more stoked for the time. We’re looking at 13 weeks.

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“If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:15)