SHAWSHANK REVISITED!

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POP TEAM!

What is so awesome about the ‘Power of Prayer’ is that it lives…every day. The Power of Prayer lives through OUR LORD, who does not take days off. HE does not take vacations. God is on call 24/7…and for that we are all grateful. Being a member of the POP TEAM gives us community and accountability to pray for each other. As we take days off and vacations this summer, our challenge is to make sure we don’t take time off from prayer.

POP TEAM members, we need to be able to count on each other for prayer support. We need our backs covered during travel and fun time. We may think we need to take a vacation from prayer, but that is the furthest thing from the truth. Continue to PRAY, take GOD with you on vacation! It will end up being the best vacation you have ever experienced. “ Every Christian needs a half an hour of prayer each day, except when he is busy or on vacation, then he needs an hour!”

We have praises and more requests from the Power of our Prayers this week. Please remember that one of the unwritten rules of the POP TEAM is that we ‘Praise Him for the Good Days, and we Praise Him for the not so good days.” OUR GOD NEVER LEAVES US NOR FORSAKES US.

• Shirley Fairley is seeing much improvement from the tumor removed from her eye. (Excuse the pun) • Kathleen Kennard met with her doctor this week and they have an encouraging plan for treatment. • Jeff Carr, my brother –in-law sent the family an email praising God for his continued recovery! • Dennis Palmer in Texas continues his treatment. Pray for his insurance coverage. • Chiho Miyazaki and her Emory doctors have put a plan together for treatment.

We have two patients that need extra POWER OF PRAYER from all of us. We need prayer for miracles. • Please pray for Matt Holland, his wife Cindy, and 5 year old Leah. Matt came home from the hospital yesterday and hospice is there to help. Cindy asks us to pray for a miracle, peace, strength, and comfort. • Art Hiabel in Michigan is in the final stages of his battle with cancer.

“The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.” Psalm 29:11

Notes from our Journey this week:

Father’s Day was the best ever! Matt, Mandy, Cal, Rett, Paul, and Lindsay came to our house at 5:30 pm. Mary Frances divided us into two golf carts; male vs. female. We each had scavenger hunt type instructions to pick up food, and we all met 40 minutes later for a picnic at the lake. Yes, I am grateful for all your prayers and that we have the opportunity to be alive today to enjoy family and friends.

On Monday morning, we were asked to speak to a class of 30 graduating nursing students. The theme was ‘Good is the Enemy of Great’! The message was ‘what are the qualities of a great nurse, as compared to a good nurse. These young people were totally engaged, and rather than just me talk for two hours, we had a great group discussion. We were very impressed with the questions that were asked and the focus these students exhibited. We used examples of my interactions with nurses from POP – A Journey in the Light. Each student was presented a book at the end of the class. Please pray for them as they are in their final 6 weeks of study, testing, and clinical work. This was our agenda:

QUALITIES OF A SERVANT LEADER/ GREAT NURSE

• SEIZE THE DAY – Good nurses are busy and seize the day. GREAT NURSES are productive and seize the moment! • ENGAGE – Good nurses communicate. GREAT NURSES connect by finding a common thread with their patient. • REINVENT – Good nurses are those who don’t know, and don’t know they don’t know. GREAT NURSES seek feedback, listen, and change accordingly. • VICTORY IS THE JOURNEY – Good nurses live in the past and for the future, GREAT NURSES enjoy the journey, then the destination. • EMBODY VALUES – Good nurses have a job. GREAT NURSES have a career based on values.

If you would get your ‘POP – A JOURNEY IN THE LIGHT ‘book out, and turn to day 27, page 72. (If you don’t have one you need to order one from http://www.popthebook.com or from amazon.com. Order several copies and give them to people you know who are facing adversity). The top of the page is titled “BILL, RED, AND SHAWSHANK”. After 26 days in the hospital, I was told we were being discharged. I was excited about going home, but for those 26 days, I had someone“check my blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing rate every four hours. The staff monitored everything I drank and they monitored the amount I peed. I had blood taken from me every day. They flushed my lines for me. I was hooked up to an IV every day I was there except two. They checked my blood count every day…red blood, white blood, platelets. This just touched the surface.

I was fearful of leaving and it reminded me of the movie‘Shawshank Redemption’. When the inmates left prison after being there a long time, they couldn’t deal with the real world…they had become institutionalized! This was me. I was Red from the movie. I had become institutionalized.

I walked down the hall and talked to Bill. Bill was already back for a second treatment and he had been out before. I asked him“what was it like when you leave?” He shared with me the same fears and anxiety that I felt, and more. He was a gift from God. We had prayed for peace, Bill was that peace.

The nurses talk was in Griffin, Ga. and after we finished, I drove downtown to a law firm where I knew that Bill had worked. It was my lucky day. Bill was in the office and we went to the conference room and spent about 30 minutes reminiscing about our times together at Emory Hospital 8th floor 3 years ago. It was an encouraging visit.

The message that I want to leave us with today is this: During most of our conversation, Bill and I smiled because we were both alive and able to share this time together. But right before I left, we both looked each other in the eye and agreed; “As tough as this journey was and still is to a degree, we would not trade the experience for anything! It was a time of total dependence on God and family. We both thank God for this adversity. Our walk with God went to the next level. That’s the way it is for a Christian facing adversity. If we had not had leukemia, we wouldn’t be where we are today. It just goes to show us that as a Christian, not all bad things are bad! (Romans 8:28)

 

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Need Wisdom? Ask God!

Hello POP Team!

We have been extremely blessed the past three weeks as we have focused as a group on praying for each other, and for specific people who are facing adversity through cancer and other life threatening diseases.

NEW PEOPLE TO PRAY FOR:

• Chiho Miyazaki.  Chiho is the wife of Toshi,  our pastor of Care, Senior Adults, and Japanese.  Her diagnosis is lymphoma and they are at Emory Winship Cancer Center today to determine what the treatment plan will be.  Their doctor is Dr. Hefner, one of the doctors who treated me.  Please pray for healing for Chiho and wisdom for Dr. Hefner.
• Kathleen Kennard.  Kathleen is a ‘charter member’ of the POP TEAM.  She is employed at Wellspring Living and her diagnosis is breast cancer.

CONTINUED PRAYER NEEDS:

• Matt Holland.  He is back in the hospital having tests run.  Strength of wife Cindy.
• Shirley Fairley.  She is at the doctor today getting results from the tumor removed from her eye.
• John Mueller.  John lives in Arkansas and has been in hospital with infection.
• Ella Barna.  9 year old.   She is at MD Anderson.  Complications this week with her lungs.
• Praise.  Ray Sluk was back at MD Anderson for tests.  He got good results.
• Jeff Carr.  My brother-in-law.  I spoke with him yesterday and he is improving.
• Dennis Palmer lives in Crosby, Texas.  He has cancer in esophagus/abdomen.
• Art Hiabel has cancer and lives in Michigan.

POP TEAM:  Continue to pray for these special needs.  Also, pray for your team members.  We all have our burdens and needs.  We all know the POWER OF PRAYER, especially when we have prayer warriors interceding for each other.

 

“Because  Chiho, Kathleen, Matt, Shirley, John, Ella, Ray, Jeff, Dennis, and Art cleave to Me in love, I will deliver them.  I will protect them because they know My name.  Whenever they call to Me, I will answer them.  I will be with them in trouble.  I will rescue them and honor them with long life.  I will satisfy them and show them my salvation.” — Psalm 91:14-16

 

I am a very blessed man.  One reason is that my 5 year old grandson Cal and I have an ‘almost weekly’ routine.  We take a ride on the golf cart and this is our typical agenda: (PTC has close to 100 miles of golf cart paths that weave their way through the 20% green space of the city.)  We ride to the playground, we eat lunch, (Our favorite places are Chick-fil-A, McDonalds, Dairy Queen, and Mimi’s (they serve pancakes that look like Mickey Mouse).  Next, we ride to the ‘TARGET’ store and shop for a $1 toy.  Cal will grow up to be a great attorney!   The rule is always one toy, but he begins negotiating for two as he walks the isle making his decision.  We finish our trip by stopping at the frozen yogurt store.  Cal always chooses vanilla, but the challenge is choosing from over 30 different toppings to add to the treat.  You weigh your cup, and pay accordingly.

Riding together for 30 minutes or so gives us a great time to bond.  We have a word game we like to play as we ride.  I will call out a letter of the alphabet – ‘C’ and then Cal will give me two words that start with the letter ‘C’.  (Cat, Crocodile).  The challenge is I ask Cal to make a sentence with the two words –  and he replies “one day when I was walking down the street, I saw a crocodile and a cat playing in the yard, they were acting crazy.”  We are not only building vocabulary, but imagination and Cal definitely has an imagination.

Last week we were riding in a very secluded part of the cart path system, and the golf cart quit running.  It started slowing down, and within a minute we were ‘stranded.’   I am not mechanically inclined, so I was not sure what happened.  The cart was charged when we left, so it should have had plenty of power.  Always looking for ways to teach Cal, I suggested we pray. We prayed a simple prayer, ‘God, please help us or send some people that would help us.’

After about 5 minutes, it was very evident that our prayer had not been answered.  Cal looked at me, and with all the sincerity of a five year old said; ‘Granddad, I think we should pray again.’  What should I pray now to teach Cal and to help us?   I was divinely reminded of a lesson from the bible study that Mary Frances and I are studying by Beth Moore.  It is on the book of James.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”   James 1:5.

 

Aside from medical adversity, we all have issues with employment, finances, our marriages, our businesses, our children, our parents.  Of course, the list goes on and on.  I remember when we were in the hospital with leukemia, we many times got to the point where we wondered; what should I pray?  I’m all prayed out.  I have prayed ‘God heal me’ a thousand times. Why do we pray for these things if God knows what we want.

What we learned from the bible study was when we pray and ask for help, we need more than the help that man can give.  WE NEED THE WISDOM ONLY GOD CAN GIVE –NOW!

The key to this verse is ‘ASK’!  ASK God.

In our challenges with prayer when facing adversity, we many times wonder; ‘why do we always need to ask?’  God already knows what we need.  Why can’t HE just give it?

As Beth explains; “The King of the Universe wants a real live relationship with us.  He’s not interested in just being a mind reader.  He’s not even interested in just being a provider.  He’s both of those things, but the role He relishes most is FATHER.  He wants us-frail mortal creatures- to connect with Him and communicate with Him as the dearest relationship in human existence.  He rejoices to hear our voices.  He delights to be our sole and holy source for all things in life, to be totally dependent on Him for everything.”

So Cal and I prayed for wisdom!    We were inspired to put the golf cart in reverse, and the cart was able to move in reverse.  We were able to get back into a neighborhood and into a friends drive-way just as the cart would no longer move in reverse. Mary Frances came and picked us up.  She had checked our cart charger in our garage, and the electric outlet we had it plugged into in our garage was not working.  The battery was dead.

Lessons learned by Cal and I— ASK God for wisdom. Depend on man for knowledge, Depend on God for wisdom.  Depend on God with FAITH and let Him be Our Father!

PS.  As we were driving home, I said to Cal; ‘That was sure an adventure we had today!’  He looked at me and firmly said; ‘No granddad, that was an un-adventure!’

Thank you for your faithful prayer support.  My hip recovery went to another level this week.  You all know how much I like to walk…we were able to walk 1.5 miles yesterday at the track!

 

Let Go! Let God!

Good Evening POP TEAM!

We hope and pray the team had a blessed week! We continue to get requests for new POP team members and friends who are affected by cancer; either personally or close friend or relative. Please email me if we can send a POP BOOK or personalized Scripture prayers to anyone in need.

We have new cancer prayer requests this week; • Dennis Palmer in Texas has cancer in esophagus/abdomen. • Art Haibel has cancer and lives in Michigan. • Jerry Williams has lymphoma in Georgia. • Ella Barna, 9 year old, had tumor removed at MD Anderson in Texas. Improving. • Glenn Henry, lives in Alabama and has cancer. Treated at MD Anderson. • Shirley Fairley in Georgia has tumor removed from her eye. She is charter POP team member. • John Mueller in Oklahoma has colon cancer. He just graduated from seminary. • Jeff Carr in Pennsylvania, my brother-in-law is coming home tomorrow!

THIS IS OUR PRAYER THIS WEEK: “This is Jeff’s, Dennis’s, Art’s, Jerry’s, Ella’s, Glenn’s, Shirley’s, John’s comfort and consolation in his/her affliction; that Your Word Father God revives them and gives them life.” (Psalm 119:50)

OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD! We had several things planned for last Friday, but at the last minute, they all fell apart. We were divinely reminded early Friday morning that there was a Silent Prayer Retreat being held at Ignatius House in Atlanta. This is a Jesuit Retreat Center on 20 beautiful acres on the Chattahoochee River. The retreat was from noon until 4 pm. As you know, I have been unemployed since January, and my revelation was that this would be a good time to spend in Silent Prayer, asking God what is the plan for my next Journey. We know that we are to BE for the Lord, but what should I DO Lord to let you work through me.

The first thing we saw when we arrived was one of the POP Team’s favorite Scripture’s written on the wall; Psalm 46:10. We know this Psalm as ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ What caught my attention very quickly was that their writing just said “BE STILL AND KNOW”. That hit me on the nose and made my eyes water! This was my first assignment — BE STILL AND KNOW!

There were about 20 people there, I did know several of them, and the retreat began with a short devotion and group prayer. Becky, the facilitator, passed out two items. ( I was still in awe of the bible scripture that was on the wall) and now I receive a small card with a quote on it. The title of the quote said ‘Time to Let Go’. She also handed us a little flat stone to write what we would like to focus on during the next 4 hours.

My initial plan as I drove the 45 minutes to get to the retreat was to ask God for wisdom, direction, and to point me where HE wanted the next phase of my life to go. We were beginning to get anxious about my next journey, our life was beginning to get busy, but not productive. We were trying to make things happen, rather than get to know God better and HE would make things happen.

In the first 30 minutes, I receive the Scripture to BE STILL AND KNOW, the card that said; “To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help everyone in everything, is to succumb to the violence of our times. TIME TO LET GO!” — Merton.

Guess what I wrote on my stone? ‘TIME TO LET GO’ TIME TO LET GO(D)

It gets better. We were in a small library of the Jesuit priests. Not knowing exactly how to start praying, we began browsing the books. In just 2 minutes I opened a book called“Breathing Under Water” by Richard Rohr.

Here is what I read, learned, and prayed the next three hours and through this week! • Mature Spirituality is about letting go and unlearning. Subtracting, not adding. • It is the imperial EGO (Edging God Out) that has to go, and only‘powerlessness’ can do the job correctly. • Power is at its best in weakness. It is when I am weak that I am strong. • Grace – You don’t learn to draw upon God until your resources are depleted, and you realize it. That is grace.

Our prayer came from Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 – “My grace is sufficient for you, for MY strength is made perfect in weakness (powerlessness). Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

As I drove home and tried to ‘unpack’ this awesome 4 hours that God so graciously gave me, I realized three things; 1. It is better to know God than to know the answer. 2. While we do not miss our ‘Journey with Leukemia’, we were reminded how we learned first- hand of the JOY we receive when we live every day knowing that ‘God’s grace is sufficient and HIS strength was made perfect in my weakness. 3. Prayer does not have to be asking God for something, but asking God to help you LET GO of people, places, things, and activities that are keeping you from HIM!

We thank you for your prayers as my hip regains strength! We praise God for the POP TEAM, and your continued Prayers for each other!

Day 3 Page 20-21 – POP A Journey in the Light!

‘When they started the IV, I finally realized that my life had changed.”

PRAYER: “Lord, give us all the wisdom, courage, and strength to not focus on our problems. If we focus on our problems, we can’t see the real solution, YOU. Show us what no one else sees, what everyone else chooses not to see out of fear, conformity, and laziness. Teach us that in ALL things God, you work for the good of those who love you, who have been called according to your purpose.” From page 21 of ‘POP’ A Journey in the Light. www.popthebook.com

The purpose of this post is to inform you that the book; “POP  A Journey in the Light’ is complete and ready to ship!  The story of the POP TEAM, the Power of Prayer, and the messages, blessings, and miracles that we experienced can now be shared with others.  God wrote the book.  He let me be there when HE wrote it!

The POP TEAM experienced something only God could have orchestrated.  Recently, HE showed me a Bible verse that is now one of my Purpose Scriptures:  “I will not die but live, and proclaim what the Lord has done.”   –  Psalm 118;17

Three weeks ago, I recieved the first copy of the book in the mail.  A day later, I was informed that my job with Thomson West was being eliminated on January 1, 2012.  I have been selling law books for 26 years.  Our awesome God had the plan all worked out for us!  The minute I stop selling law books, HE gives me a new job selling HIS book…and HIS message!  That gives me chills.  God’s timing is perfect and good!

We will be taking to the streets in January to share the message and the book.  I am not sure where we are going, but I do know whose road I am on.  Everybody knows someone with cancer.  Everybody knows someone who is a caregiver.  This is just one focus group that will benefit from the messages of POP!

When we were first diagnosed with leukemia in October 2008, the first thing we said was; “we can’t do this alone, we need your prayers.”   We are making the same plea now; “we can’t get the message out alone, we need your help.”  We need the original POP TEAM to help us with this new God given project…sharing what we have experienced with others.

The first way, of course, is through your continued prayer support.

The second way is by purchasing the book and sharing the message with others.  Buy those who need hope, encouragment, and inspiration a copy and support them with your prayers.  The book is now available on our website at www.popthebook.com.  It is also available at Amazon.com.  A kindle version will be available on Amazon in a few weeks.  By purchasing from our website, the books will be signed and the funds will be used for the POP ministry.  At this time of the year, the book would make a great Christmas present.

The third way to help is through social media.  Jessica Smith has partnered with us.  Here is her plan:

“I have some exciting news.  I have created 4 seperate social networking accounts.  We are asking for your help!  I need followers, supporters, and subscribers!  Here is how you can get involved:

Twitter:   Follow us on Twitter: @POPtheBook

Subscribe to our blog:        www.popthebook.wordpress.com

Check out our website:       www.popthebook.com

Like us on facebook and check out our status updates:    POP!  A Journey in the Light

Please HELP with POP the book online!  Re-post, Re-tweet, and Subscribe to our accounts!  Let’s get the word out about what the LORD  had done and will continue to do throught HIS book!” — Jessica Smith.

If you have any contacts or sources to help us share the messages, please respond or email me at popthebook@gmail.com.  We already have opportunities in January for speaking at churches, hospitals, and other organizations.

 

 

Welcome to POP’s Official Blog!

Thoughts and reflections of Dick Bowley’s journey as a  Leukemia survivor and a disciple of Jesus Christ will be coming soon!

Also keep on the look out for POP the book’s new website: http://www.popthebook.com.

Email popthebook@gmail.com for more information about purchasing a signed copy!