Rogers Update 12/9/2023
December 19, 2023
Hi Everyone,
Counseling in ministry is always challenging, especially when you deal with conflict. More than once I have walked into a room charged with tension. I remember one time entering a meeting that was called to resolve a serious conflict in a church. Not only was everyone mad at everyone else, but they were also mad at me for not solving the problem right away. I remember praying the night before, hoping Jesus would come back before morning.
In a way I just described the first Christmas. When the Lord of Heaven came to earth to be born in a manger, He was arriving at a world emersed in conflict. People hated each other, and they would hate Him as well. Jesus came to bring peace to a planet at war. It was no casual journey from home. He knew what He was getting into, and He still came.
In Hebrews 4:15 we read, “For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” I remember my uncle, the preacher, saying, “Jesus knows!” The baby in the manger would grow up experiencing the hardship of living in a fallen world, a world that tried to kill Him shortly after He was born. I have been told that it is not fair to compare what Jesus faced with what we face. After all, He is God, and when He lived on earth, He still knew who He was. That is true, but a great comfort for all believers is we know who He is also. When we face pain, uncertainty, and even conflict, we are able to do so because we know the Lord of Power who will sustain us even in our weakness.
I have to admit this has been a tough year. I never planned on canceling meetings, going to emergency rooms, spending quality time with doctors, living days in pain, or fighting multiple infections. None of these items were a possibility in my mind as I looked forward to 2023. However, God was fully aware of all these things before He made the first grain of sand. He also planned the outcome of all this even then.
I met with a spine specialist this last week, and I find myself very encouraged as a result. God has led me to a doctor who apparently understands what has been happening to me and is able to provide potential treatment that could actually help with the damage in my spine. He informed me that surgery was not even an option. I have had five spinal surgeries in my life, and my spinal column displays it. He said that surgery could cause more problems than it might solve. What the doctor said lined up with what another surgeon had told me twenty-five years ago after my first spinal surgery. That surgeon informed me that at the age of forty-two, I had a sixty-year-old spine. He even asked me for permission to use my spinal column as an example in classes he taught at a university. Alas, the joys of fame!
Thank you for all your prayers! Please pray especially for the next few weeks. This new doctor will be doing additional tests including an extensive MRI before any treatments can start. In addition to that, I will be seeing another specialist concerning the infections. Don’t forget to pray for my wife, Beabea. After all, she has to put up with this “old man!”
Some very exciting news. I had the privilege of leading one of my grandchildren to the Lord recently. He is the last one of my grandchildren to come to Christ. Amen and Amen! Pray for my grandchildren, in fact, pray for the children everywhere on this planet, growing up to what the world has become. They are facing real dangers that involve genuine evil. May God send a spiritual awakening to the children of earth. God is still God, and He will show that to be true in the days ahead.
Finally, I have a Christmas present for you. Years ago, I taught a conference on Biblical Relationships in a church, and they did a good job of recording it. Harvest Productions took the audio recordings, and professionally edited them and put them on CDs that I gave away on a donation basis. I asked Dennis Schermer, the good friend who edited the recordings, to put the messages on YouTube for me, and he has done that. They are now available to listen to freely. It is my hope that they will be a blessing to many people. BEM plans to put the links on our website sometime soon. I also plan to create a study guide to be available in the near future.
Here are the Biblical Relationship Links:
The first 12 minutes of Session 1 explains the BEM Ministry…
Happy Birthday, Jesus!
John (and Beabea) Rogers
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