Prescription drugs

I have a good friend who spent many years in the drug culture and became addicted to his drug of choice. Over the past couple of years he has shared with me how prescription pain killers are some of the hardest drugs to get off of. In fact he says they are harder than heroin. He says you can get off heroin in three days but painkillers can take much longer.
He is right. I am making progress in "getting off" the meds. Since my pain has been reduced I have made the decision to reduce the painkillers with the goal of getting off them. I have cut my meds in half, but it has not been easy. My symptoms include headaches, body chills and ache, extreme nausea and diarheaa (sorry to be graphic), change in appetite, sneezing and runny nose. I tried to go "cold turkey", but was unable to.
Why do I write this? Well for two purposes. First, through this experience it gives me a greater compassion for those I minister to that are addicted to different things. I now will be able to better identify with their battle to get free. I can see God using this time in my life to make me a more effective servant.
Secondly, there may be others who read this that may be battling to overcome their dependency on prescription drugs. I am not talking about people who are on prescription drugs to deal with physical pain. I want you to know that you are not alone. I have been spending time on a number of websites where people share their battle to be set free. Some have had to go inpatient to get set free and others have been able to do it through outpatient care or on their own. God is able to do all things and nothing is impossible with Him.
Please pray with me that God will continue to supply me with the wisdom and strength to persevere in my med reduction. Pray as well especially for the first nations in our area that have so many people addicted to things like oxycontin and dilautid.
I pray that the Truth will set them free!!!

Change of direction

Today was a great day but much different than I planned. I set out this morning to go to the reserve where the fire had killed the little boy, when I got a phone call. It was from the youth pastor at our church.
He asked me to go to a local junior high to spend some time doing grief counseling with students, they found out today that one of their fellow students had commited suicide over the weekend. I thought there might be a handful of students that would come for counsel. As we entered the school we were welcomed and taken to the library to meet the students. For the next two plus hours we were able to counsel with over 40 students. During much of that time the students were gathered in seats in a semi circle with all eyes directed at us. It was wonderful to be able to use my training to help so many kids. The guidance counselor took our names and asked if she could call us again if needed which we were happy to offer. By the way the girl had just turned 14, very sad.
I retuned home and had a friend call me from Montreal. He shared with me that a young man he has been helping was going through a hard time and had given up on life. He is 20. I talked with the young man on the phone and he shared that he had tried to commit suicide two days earlier and was planning to do so again. He said life was too hard and that he was so lonely and down. I asked him how he would describe the way he felt and he said "I feel dead." I pleaded with him not to take his life and to get to a hospital where he could be helped. He said he was so tired of living and just wanted to die. He did say he would try not to do anything until he could see a doctor tomorrow. Again, so sad.
It seems that God is giving me more and more opportunties to minister to hurting people. Tomorrow I plan to be on two reserves and share with them how we can bring people hope. It is not the hope that I can offer. It is the hope of Jesus.

Good news

• Let me say thanks to all of you who have been praying for our family, health and finances. I have felt the difference.
• My pain continues to show improvement. One of the main meds I take for pain I have cut back to one every two days as opposed to two per day. The other med which I was taking four times daily I have cut back to three a day. I am excited to see my new therapist again tomorrow as I have seen a drastic change in the last week.
• Financially it looks like the softball tourney will not be a reality. This is a bit frustrating as I can usually generate over 1,200.00. At the same time one of our supporters gave a very nice donation to us yesterday. We are still in a place of need for an increase, please pray with us for an outpouring of the Lord's provision.
• I have started to get more excercise as well these days. Yesterday I went on a one hour walk and today I just finished a one hour fifty minute walk. It feels great to get some good exercise but more impotantly it gives me that alone time with God. I claim His promises for my family and for health and finances among other things. I also pray for and thank God for people just like you, our friends and supporters.

New hope for shoulder

I have begun to see a new therapist who is convinced that he knows what my problem is and how to fix it. I have gone to him for one session and though it is painful to experience while on the table I have noticed some relief. He believes that within two weeks of aggressive therapy that I will be well on my way to recovery. I pray that he is correct.
I will confess that I have been quite discouraged lately. I have been struggling to see how God is going to work in so many areas of my life. One of those areas is finances. I am still waiting on the Lord to provide that miracle. It has been challenging to not know where this breakthrough will come. I have planned to host a softball tournament on the 26th and 27th of this month but at this point only two teams have commited to play. I need at least five teams to make it worthwhile and there are just a couple more days before I need to make a decision to cancel or not. I feel like this needs to happen as we are financially pressed to the limit.
Well I am off to the therapist. Gotta go!!

"I want to get off the drugs"

I spent a few hours at one of the local Indian reserves on Saturday afternoon. I went there to visit James who I hoped would be home. I knocked on the front door which had no doorknob and the door opened up. What I saw was filth and chaos. James was home and so was his 21 year old son.

James suggested we talk outside and we did. He shared how embarrassed he was at the condition of his home. I know that it reflects many other homes on the reserve as well. Hopeless and chaotic.

As we were talking his son came out of the house. He was so thin, his pants were tied off with a string and barley stayed on his body. He was asking for a smoke or a joint of which I had neither. As he stood before me I asked him this question, "What are your goals in life, what do you want to be?" He looked back at me and said, "I want to get off the drugs." Here he stood at 21 and his greatest desire is to get off drugs. I asked him how long he had used and he shared that he started as a young teen. He is in to all kinds of drugs and his arms show the needle marks from heroin and cocaine. He knows that he is caught in a trap.

His dad is now a Christian after many years of drug abuse. He shared that he feels much responsibility for his son as he introduced his son to this lifestyle. He smoked pot with his teenage son. He wishes he could take it all back but he cannot. He hopes that his son will see the changes he has made and be able to make the chnges in his life as well.

I asked James how many of the youth on the reserve are like his son, and he said "I think all of them." Isn't that sad. I hope that through our witness and presence and through God's power those numbers change.