Great Report on Joel!

This is Joel yesterday - less then 24 hours after brain surgery to remove the tumor from his brain stem! Looks great, doesn't he!

My flight home today was canceled due to ice & snow in Tulsa and I've been re-booked for a flight out late tomorrow afternoon! The ways in which God moved to get me out here, I can only believe that God wants me here for another day, so I'm rejoicing in the delay.

So much good news today in regard to Joel!

The pathology report on the tumor will be available tomorrow. I'd ask you to continue to pray that it is a less aggressive form than the surgeon expects - or, better yet, that it is not even cancer at all!

Amy and Ryan were told today not to be overly concerned with the very low survival rates they have seen for this type of cancer for children Joel's age. Denver Children's Hospital is one of the 4 leading hospitals for research/treatment of pediatric brain tumors - sharing treatment advances with the others four. AND - new and successful advances in treatment are moving so quickly that published statistics cannot keep up with the reality. So, even it if is the type of cancer they suspect, Joel's chances of cure are much better than we first thought.

Joel is recovering from his surgery in miraculous fashion! Generally babies his age do nothing but lay still for several days. 48 hours after surgery, Joel is rolling over, reaching for things with both hands and pulling and pushing them to and from him. He is awake and alert!

AND - he has already been moved out of ICU!

A couple of years ago, Joel's older brother Issac had to have surgery on his skull shortly after he was born. There was one nurse who was especially helpful at that time. Guess what nurse was assigned to Joel in his new room? This nurse has set the goal to get Joel eating on his own, all tubes out and ready to go home ASAP! In fact, she was going try to have the feeding tube out and Joel eating this afternoon, so that when his brothers came to the hospital this evening, Joel could be brought out of his room for them to see him!

Joel cannot go home till the fluid draining from his brain is clear. Right now it is still pretty red from the normal bleeding following the surgery. Please pray that it becomes clear very quickly! They said it could happen tomorrow or next week - just no way to tell. Pray it is tomorrow!

Twice, once the night before surgery and again yesterday afternoon, Joel was very fussy, but as I began to pray for him, he got quiet and still and fell asleep. I'm not sure if it is the power of my prayers or if I'm just really boring!!!

I cannot tell you what an honor it has been for me to be able to be here to pray over Joel!

The first few days after the news they had found the brain tumor, I felt very uneasy, even as I prayed for his healing. But, as I began praying aloud as I drove from the airport to the hospital, I began to have a peace about the outcome of this journey. As I prayed over Joel that first night and each time I have prayed over him since, I have felt more and more certain this is just the beginning of not only a long life, but an amazing testimony for Joel, which will result in many people being saved.

Our prayers have accomplished much - but now is not the time to stop, but to pray all the more fervently that our gracious heavenly Father will continue His work in completely healing Joel!

For more detailed updates - http://joelevangreen.com

If you are a FaceBook junkie (like me), you might want to become a fan of:
I'm Praying! Believing for Baby Joel's Miracle

Love in Christ Jesus,

Jim

Shall We Pray?

Stuart Shepherd, of Focus On The Family, does a weekly video commentary called Stoplight, which during this Presidential Campaign season is often political. If you are a conservative Christian, I think that you'll like his commentaries as much as I do.

His latest edition of Stoplight is titled, Pray for Rain.

Watch it and see what you think.




I don't know about you, but I think it is a pretty good idea and I'm going to join today with Stuart Shepherd and, hopefully, hundreds of thousands of other conservative Christians in praying that God will open the heavens and pour down a drenching, soaking, torrential, big time rain in Denver on August 28 just as Barrack Obama begins his acceptance speech.

Will it rain?

I don't know, but I'm going to pray, in faith, that it does, because as Caleb said when he, as a very old man, began the conquest of the promised land which had been given to him personally, a land which was mountainous and occupied by giants, "Who knows, God may be gracious!"

After all, we are not asking for God to send down fire and brimstone (although that might be appropriate), just a little rain on BO's parade!

Shall we pray?

Love in Christ Jesus,

Jim

2008 - Your Best Year Ever!

Are you hoping that 2008 is a better year for you than was 2007?

It can be, if you'll just to a few things differently.

1. Spend at least 15 minutes talking and listening to God each day.
I read that the average Christian in America spends less than 10 minutes in prayer each day, so if you spend 15 minutes, you'll be well above average. Divide the time 5 - 5 - 5. Spend the first 5 minutes praising God and thanking Him for the many ways He continually blesses your life. Spend the next 5 minutes confessing sins, seeking God's wisdom, grace and mercy. Spend the last 5 minutes being quiet, just listening for God to speak to you.

2 Spend at least 15 minutes reading God's Word each day.
If you'll spend just 15 minutes reading your Bible each day, you'll read about 3 to 4 chapters a day and you'll read through the whole Bible, the entirety of God's written word, in less than a year.

3. Get involved in a ministry.
Each one of us has been not just called to ministry, but gifted for ministry. If you're not sure what your ministry area is, then try a few different things till you find it - or take one of the "gift evaluations". For the Church to function properly, each person needs to be contributing by using their gift - their calling. You'll also find yourself being more focused on spiritual matters as you beginning laying up treasure in heaven.

4. Tithe
If you don't consistently tithe (giving 10% of your gross income to the church or in support of ministry), then you need to start. God promises that if you will bring the first 10% and the full 10% to Him (the work of the Kingdom), then He will open the windows of heaven and pour out more blessing into your life than you can imagine. But, as with all of God's promises, if you refuse to do your part (the first and full 10% of everything you make) then God cannot bless your life.

5. Live a Holy Life.
You need to decide today that in 2008, you are going to live as holy a life as it is possible for a sinner to live. If you've let some little sin creep into your life, confess it, repent of it and get rid of it today! The Bible says you cannot serve two masters. You cannot cling to those little "pet" sins that we so easily justify as not hurting anyone and expect God to bless you and use you. If you want to live up to your potential, live fully and completely for God. If you want to be the person God created you to be, then honor God in all you say and all you do, all you watch, what you wear, what you listen to, the effort you give to your job, etc. Do all as if doing it for Jesus!

Want to make 2008 your very best year ever?
So does God!

All you need to do is these few small things and God will pour blessings into your life beyond anything you can imagine!

Happy New Year!

Love in Christ Jesus,

Jim

Please Don't Pray for Me!

As you may have seen on the news (or experienced in person), Tulsa suffered a major ice storm a few weeks ago. At the height of the storm, almost 90% of the city was without electricity.

We were very fortunate to only have our electricity out for about 36 hours, but many people were without electricity for a week or more.

We (our family and Sheila's mom and dad) have a total of 5 houses, several outbuildings, more cars than we can drive and a bus on about 8.5 beautiful acres with lots of trees - all of which suffered at least some damage. Literally hundreds of tree limbs, many of them very large, broke and fell during the ice storm. We were very blessed in that we did not suffer any major damage to any of our structures or anything of value, although limbs fell all around everything.

I guess another blessing is that we (by sometime this summer when we are finished cutting up all the downed limbs and taking out the trees that were too damaged to survive) will soon have a lifetime supply of firewood!

Many people were not so fortunate.

Sheila and I both work in the legal field. Sheila is the Administrator (financial and HR manager) of a law firm and I manage our business which is a placement agency for legal professionals.

One of the great tragedies of the ice storm was that a couple, both well known and respected Tulsa attorneys, had their house catch on fire in the middle of the night as they tried to use their fireplace for heat. Both of them died of smoke inhalation. He was dead by the time the firefighters found him and she passed away about a week later, never having regained consciousness.

I did not attend the funeral, but heard that at his service, the minister reported that the prognosis for the wife was very bleak and she was not expected to live, and he asked that people pray for her passing.

Now, while I think I understand what he was asking, it also really bothered me.

You see, when I read my Bible, I see a God who could heal any disease, who could perform any miracle, who could even raise the dead.

My Bible also tells me that my God is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow - that He does not change.

My Bible tells me that I should pray for anyone who is sick and that God will raise them up, that the fervent prayers of a righteous man avails much, that whatever I ask in Jesus Name will be done and that if I command, in faith, a mountain to move that it will move.

Now, I am realistic enough to know that God does not always answer prayers exactly the way I pray them. Everyone I've prayed for to be healed, has not been healed exactly like I've prayed it. God has not granted me everything I've asked in prayer and not everything I have prayed for has come to pass.

I understand that God will not heal everyone, because my Bible also says that it is appointed to man once to die and so there will come a time for all of us that we will not be physically healed and will die. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, but Lazarus is not still alive. Each of us will die sometime.

BUT - I have also prayed when God has been gracious and has provided the healing for which I and other were praying.

Last year, I prayed for a young man named Tommy whom I had never even met (and still have not) who had been diagnosed with Schizophrenia.

His mother said that about 4 years previous, he had gone from being a happy, normal teenager to being unable to function on his own, his life destroyed by this affliction and that he had to be heavily medicated just to be managed. I began to pray that God would deliver him and after a week or so of fervent prayer, I felt a real peace about the situation. About 6 weeks later, I received an email from his mother telling me that he was so much better, that it was like he had been healed. I emailed back that maybe it seemed like her son had been healed, because God had healed him.

Several years ago, our sister-in-law, fell into a coma following knee replacement surgery. Doctor's told us that MRIs, CT scans and brain scans showed severe brain damage. They said that there was a 92% chance that she would never come out of the coma and that if she did (an 8% chance of that), she would remain in a vegetative state, unable to communicate or care for herself in any way. There were a lot of us who refused to believe that and we began to pray. Every time I visited her, I would whisper in her ear, over and over again, "In the name of Jesus, wake up and be well." About 6 weeks later, she woke up and was immediately able to to understand us and to talk to us. It has been a long haul, more than 100 days in the hospital and much therapy, but today, other than some short term memory issues, she is fully healed.

I could list several other instances when prayers have been miraculously answered.

And, I could also tell you of times when they have not.

I don't think that any of us will fully understand in this life, why God answers some prayers just as we pray them and other time it seems in our limited view that He does not. I don't know why sometime God still does the miraculous and some times He does not.

But, I think that we must, in faith, continue to pray for and continue to expect the miraculous. I think we must never sell God short, never limit Him with our prayers.

On those occasions when God is gracious and sends the miracle, then we praise Him and give Him all the glory!

On those occasions when God, in His great purpose and wisdom, does not send the miracle (at least not as we've prayed it), then we praise Him and give Him all the glory!

So - back to the title of this post. If I am ever diagnosed with a life threatening disease, if I ever suffered severe brain damage, please do not pray for my passing, but leave that part up to God. In fact, if you are not willing to pray, in faith, for my complete and miraculous healing, please do not pray for me!

If God decides to heal me, then we can praise Him together! But, if God decides instead that it is my time to be called home, then throw me a going home celebration filled with praise and worship and great joy and tell everyone you know how good God was to Jim Rutherford!

BTW - if you ever ask me to pray for you, please know that I'll be praying and expecting a miraculous healing from God on your behalf!

Love in Christ Jesus,


Jim

My Friend Sonny!

I know it is hard to believe, but those three old guys along side me in the picture above were classmates of mine at Ozark Christian College! (Just kidding about that old thing, guys!)

We recently had a small reunion at Baker's Catfish House just north of Muskogee, OK. Our wives were with us and I've got pictures of them, too, but they all look so good, that including them would really make us look old!

From left to right is yours truly, Phillip Walton (a preacher in San Antonio, TX), Sonny Scott and Dan Wilson (a preacher in Bixby, OK.)

The picture on the left is a close-up of our dear friend Sonny Scott from that same evening. On the right is a more recent picture of Sonny with another friend from college, George Williams. Sonny has been undergoing some heavy duty chemo and has lost that beautiful head of hair he always had. George doesn't have an excuse! Actually, George shaved his head in a show of friendship when Sonny lost his hair, but I'm not sure how much hair George had to start with.

I love you, Sonny! But, I'm not shavin' my head!

Actually, I think Sonny looks pretty good with his head shaved - a little like actor Woody Harrelson - don't you think?

Sonny discovered right around the first of the year that he had cancer of the esophagus and stomach and had surgery in which they removed almost all his esophagus and about half his stomach and made a very small esophagus and stomach with what was left of his stomach. He, also, underwent chemo at that time.

Everything was going well, until about a month ago when a PET scan showed two spots on the back of his stomach and a more recent test showed four other spots.

Sonny is in the midst of 12 weeks of chemo and radiation.

I want you to join me in praying and believing that God will supernaturally and miraculously heal Sonny! The God we read about in the Bible and His son, Jesus, while here on earth, was a God of miracles - a God of healing - and my Bible tells me that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow!

I know that God will heal Sonny one way or the other. Either he will be miraculously healed, as we are praying, here on earth to God's great glory - or he will be ultimately healed with a new body in heaven.

The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 1:21 "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two; I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body."

Sonny said the other day "Either way, I win!"

Sonny's life has been one of "fruitful labor" as a minister of the Gospel and one of Oklahoma's most progressive prison wardens. He even gave the okay for this old outlaw to go into prisons to preach the Gospel! And, I have a feeling that Sonny still has a lot more to accomplish before God calls him home. So, while it would be better for him to be with the Lord now, I'm praying that God will be gracious and that Sonny will be with us for a long time to come as a living testimony to the fact that God is still doing miracles today!

I have two other friends going through similar trials with cancer and I'm going to ask that you also pray with me on their behalf.

Cheryl Thompson is a wonderful Christian woman, wife, mother and grandmother! She is a member of our church and the grandmother to two of my families favorite young men, Kyle and Kory Miller. Christian young people today are under constant attack from every side and it can be really tough on the ones striving to live a life which reflects Jesus Christ. It becomes even more difficult when Satan has the opportunity to whisper in their ear "If there really was a God, how could He let something like this happen? You might as well not even bother praying because God's not going to answer." I know with all my heart, that God has great things planned for both Kyle and Kory, but right now, those boys still need their grandma and I know that they need to see a miracle from God and so I'm praying as much for them as for Cheryl. When you get as far down life's road as I am, you can look Satan in the eye and say "I know my God is able, because I've seen Him do miracles again and again and again, so even if He doesn't do one now, I'll trust Him still." But, when you are just 16 years old, your faith is not supported by that foundations of miracles and it is far more easily shaken. Join me in praying for Cheryl, and also for Kyle and Kory.

Jo Burchett is a long time friend of my wife, Sheila, and has been like a grandmother to our daughter, Savannah. Jo has been battling lung cancer for the past few years and I'm going to ask you to pray for her, as well. Jo's husband, Tom, is also one of our favorite people and it would do that old cowboy a lot of good in a lot of ways to see his dear wife miraculously healed.

You pray - and I'll pray - and I'll keep you posted!

Love in Christ Jesus,

Jim

A Mother's Love

If you've not seen this music video by Sara Evans and Brad Paisley, you need to watch it. It is a duet over video taken from the Mel Gibson movie "The Passion of the Christ".

I remember that as I watched the movie for the first time, that these scenes were the most touching to me. I'm not sure I had ever thought about the incredible pain and sorrow which Mary must have felt watching her son beaten and crucified.

Even though I am a father, I don't really believe that I can fully understand the depth of love that a mother has for her child. It is just not the same. God just did not wire us up that way.

We often talk about how great is God's love for us in that He sent His one and only Son to die for our sins that we might have forgiveness and eternal life with Him in Heaven, but just as Jesus was God's Son, He was also Mary's son. There is no question that it must have broken God's heart to see His Son rejected, beaten and crucified by the very people He'd been given to save, as He watched the sins of the world be placed upon His perfect, sinless Son. But, as Jesus was beaten and crucified, God knew that His death was not permanent, that the grave could not hold Him, that in three short days, Jesus would walk out of that tomb more alive then ever and would be restored to the full glory and honor that were His.

But what about Mary? As she had seen Jesus rejected in his ministry, as she watch him be arrested, beaten and crucified, as she went with the others to place his beaten, broken, lifeless body in the tomb, she must have be certain that it was the end, that her precious son was dead, gone, that she would never see him again - that it was over, finished. How her heart must have broken? There must not have been an once of comfort. She must have asked "God, how could you let this happen?"

If you are a mother, maybe you can imagine the pain she felt over those next few days. They must have been the longest, darkest days of her life. Imagine the sorrow and the tears. Imagine the questions. God had selected Mary above all other women to be the mother of Jesus, so we know she was a Godly woman, yet, in her sorrow and pain, she must have questioned God.

I do not think it was by happenstance or chance, but by God's great love and mercy, that Luke records that Mary was with the other women who were the first to arrive that glorious Sunday morning to find the tomb was empty - that her precious son, Jesus, was risen! And, in that moment, everything that had been so wrong was made so right - all the pain and sorrow was, in an instant, replaced by overflowing joy.

If you are a mother (or father) and your heart is broken today over your child, remember Mary and her broken heart. It may seem to you today that your child has turned their back on home and on God and that all hope is lost and the pain and sorrow are unbearable. Maybe it even seems to you that God is doing nothing, that He has not heard your prayers and your cries. Maybe you are questioning how God could have let this happen. It may seem that not only has God deserted your child, but that He has deserted you as well. But, the truth is this: God's heart is broken over your child! And, God is heartbroken by your pain and your tears. And, even though He may seem to your eyes to be doing nothing, God is working in ways which you cannot see, ways that you cannot understand and He will make right all that is now wrong, because that is His promise and God is faithful!

My precious mother must have prayed many prayers and shed many tears and her heart must have broken again and again as I wandered in that "far country" for 18 years. There must have been many times that she was tempted to give up hope, that she must have questioned if God was hearing her prayers and she must have wondered how God could have let her son go so far astray. And, yet, through it all, God was still working in my life, always protecting me, always calling me back to Himself, always working to bring me to my senses. I guess that I must be pretty stubborn, because it took a long time, but I finally did come to my senses and made my way home.

My mom just saw the beginning of my coming home, but there has not been, nor will there be, one time that I preach, that I do not think of my mom and the joy that must fill her heart as she looks down from Heaven at her son who has come home! Her son whom she will see again and for all eternity!

I love you, Mom!

Jimmie