When Two Out of Three is Not so Good

“Two out of three ain’t bad,” in regard to a baseball batting average, when a player gets two hits for every three times at bat, but not so good if you’re talking about biopsy reports. My six-month skin cancer check-up this past week resulted in three biopsies. While the lab report showed one to be pre-cancerous, it showed the other two to be cancerous – one basal cell (on the cheek), one squamous cell (on the upper lip). Two out of three – not so good. So I will endure another couple of MOHS surgeries, #8 and #9 for me. It is not something one wants to get used to. I confess, when the Dermatologist put the needle in my lip, I thought, “I wish I had scheduled a root canal today instead of this.” However, the Apostle Paul wrote, “In everything give thanks” (I Thessalonians 5:13), and in most things, I do. I’ve been “giving thanks” for my condition as I have been proof-reading a manuscript of a former student who has endured four rounds of malignant melanoma cancer. So what is your condition this week? Look around. Someone’s average is not as good as yours.

Join me in praying for the following global concerns:
• Today, February 8, is Chinese New Year. Pray for those who minister among Chinese people around the globe.
• Give thanks that Don and Pam have successfully completed language classes. Pray for them as they begin working with the Flemish speaking people in Gent, Belgium.
• Pray for Craig and Ellen in Vancouver, Canada, as they venture with their children “through the difficulties of mental and emotion distress involved in chronic anxiety.”
• Pray for Tommy & Beth and Tom & Bonnie, and hundreds of others who have taken the early retirement package offered by their sending agency, and are now back in the U.S. seeking God’s next plan for their lives.