Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day!  I'm thankful to be able to spend some time with my Mom today. A little over a year ago my Mom learned that she had a cancerous kidney tumor. Last February she underwent treatment on her kidney tumor. As you can see from the CT scan capture it was a large tumor. The procedure that the doctors used is called cryoablation.

Cryoablation uses hollow needles through which cooled, thermally conductive, fluids are circulated. Cryoprobes are inserted into the tumor. When the probes are in place, the cryogenic freezing unit removes heat ("cools") from the tip of the probe and by extension from the surrounding tissues.  The most common application of cryoablation is to ablate solid tumors found in the lung, liver, breast, kidney and prostate.

The concept of cryoablation is relatively new in cancer surgery for any disease.  Traditionally, surgeons have treated cancer by literally cutting it out. In contrast to this approach, cryoablation is a different concept in that cold energy is used to destroy the cancerous tissue at the exact site where it exists in the body. Cryoablation is particularly well suited to kidney cancer.

Cryoablation is a very promising new approach to kidney cancer. This kind of new treatment is why I am a strong supporter of cancer research.  I have spent the last eight years doing all that I can to raise money for cancer research through the American Cancer Society's Relay For Life.  As I was researching this procedure I came across the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Library website.  I found these words about Renal Cryoablation that were written in 2008.  "Early results have demonstrated that it may offer an alternative for the treatment of renal masses with the advantages of minimal complications, spared renal function, decreased overall costs and equivalent oncologic efficacy. Long-term results are required in order to apply this minimally invasive technique to a broader spectrum of patients".  Just six years ago the procedure that was used on my Mom was a brand new technology.  It has only been available in Arkansas for three years.

Several large medical centers have produced data demonstrating that kidney cancer is cured in approximately 97 percent of patients who undergo cryoablation with a follow-up of three years. Because it is such a new procedure , 10 year follow-up information on patients having undergone cryoablation is not yet available.  Some of the data is showing 98 to 100 percent cure rates.

I have been involved with the American Cancer Society and Relay For Life for the past eight years.  My wife and I have worked tirelessly to raise money for cancer research.  When I was raising money I didn't realize that the research that was being funded would come so close to home.  Before cryoablation was an available treatment for kidney tumors, the only treatment was to surgically remove the kidney. Over a year after her treatment, my Mom is doing good and her doctor is confident that the treatment was successful.

I know that at Relay For Life events we often hear that we are raising money to find a cure. Cancer is not just one disease, it is many many diseases. Sometimes when we see how many people are affected by cancer and how much misery suffering and sadness it causes it seems hopeless. In my work for the American Cancer Society people often tell me that there will never be a cure because cancer is a big business and the doctors and pharmaceutical companies would suppress a cure if it was found. What a sad way of life it is for these people who have no hope. One of the things that Relay For Life events around the world focus on is providing people with hope. Hope is why we Relay!

  
I like a statement that the American Cancer Society released recently.  "Together with our millions of supporters, we save lives and create more birthdays by helping you stay well, helping you get well, finding cures and fighting back against this disease. Thanks to research funded by the American Cancer Society, many cancers that were once considered a death sentence can now be cured and for many more people their cancer can now be treated effectively".

It is way to simplistic to be focusing on a cure.  The American Cancer Society is focusing on "cures" plural.  The fact that many cancers that were once considered a death sentence can now be cured should give us hope. The fact that eight years ago when I got involved with Relay For Life the treatment used on my Mom would not have been available, but thanks to cancer research is now widely used gives me hope. The 97 to 100 percent cure rates that have been seen with renal cryoablation gives me hope.

Happy Mothers Day!

Higher and Higher

When I was attending grade school during the 1960’s I had two passions that consumed me. I loved baseball. I chewed lots of really bad gum to collect baseball cards. As much as I loved baseball, what really intrigued me was space exploration.

My heroes were the astronauts in NASA’s space program. I read everything about them that I could get my hands on. In 1969 my interest in space was at a fever pitch. Everyone was talking about the race to land on the moon. When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon, the entire world was captivated. Every newspaper covered the story. I soaked it all in. I couldn’t believe what a marvelous world I was living in. The moonwalk was a part of pop culture. After watching the moonwalk on TV, the Moody Blues drummer, Graham Edge, penned the poem "Higher and Higher", which was used to open their next album.

"Blasting, billowing, bursting forth
with the power of ten billion butterfly sneezes.
Man, with his flaming pyre
has conquered the wayward breezes.

Climbing to tranquility,
far above the clouds,
conceiving the heavens,
clear of misty shroud.

Vast vision must improve our sight.
Perhaps at last we'll see an end
to our own endless blight,
and the beginning of the free.

Climb to tranquility,
finding its real worth,
conceiving the heavens,
flourishing on earth".



As I listened to these words I realized even as a boy that this optimism that space exploration would make the world a better place wasn’t the way things would be. I read in my Bible in Obadiah 1:4, “Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord”.

As a Christian I had always looked at space exploration as a way to learn more about the awesome things God had made. I was excited by the new discoveries and what they could show me about how awesome God is. As I studied science and read about space I always kept God in the picture.

While I went through High School I stayed interested in space, but there were many other things to interest me and take up my time. I realized that as interesting as space exploration was it wasn’t changing things here on earth. By now there had been 6 moon landings and moon walks. In just a few years astronauts on the moon had gone from the most exciting and talked about thing on the planet to ho hum, so you can drive a vehicle on the moon. The space race was over and pop culture had found other interests.

NASA didn’t recapture the interest of most Americans until 1981, when the Space Shuttle Columbia made the first flight of a space vehicle that returned to earth and was reusable. Once again man seemed on the verge of conquering the heavens. One of the exciting new directions in space exploration was the Hubble Space Telescope. In 1979 work was started on this new project. After many delays it was finally launched in 1990. Nothing NASA had done since landing on the moon captured the interest of the American public as much as the Hubble Telescope.

The images that the Hubble produced were breathtaking. When I first saw the images I thought of the words of David found in Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork”.

One Hubble photo in particular fascinates me. It is called The Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Astronomers picked a seemingly empty spot in the sky. Staring at the spot in the sky for ten days, Hubble kept taking pictures one after another for the entire exposure time, accumulating data. Astronomers put the exposures together into one final picture. Each time they added an exposure, the view got deeper, revealing fainter objects. When they were done they had the deepest picture ever taken of the heavens.

The image is of a small region in the constellation Ursa Major. It covers an area 2.5 arcminutes across, one part in a million of the whole sky. The image contains an estimated 10,000 galaxies. That would mean that the whole universe contains a million times 10,000 galaxies. Astronomers estimate that our home galaxy, the Milky Way, contains between 200 and 400 billion stars. How many stars are in the universe? I will let you do the math.

Isaiah 40:26 tells us “Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out one after another, calling each by its name. And He counts them to see that none are lost or have strayed away”.

The universe staggers our imagination. It is humbling to realize that our planet earth is simply a speck of cosmic dust in the great universe that God has created. David was amazed by God’s love for us. In Psalms 8:3,4 he wrote, “When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him And the son of man that You visit him?

Go outside tonight, take a look at the sky and know that there is a Creator who cares for you, who died for you and wants to bring you home to live with him.

Question of Balance

One of my favorite albums from my youth is the Moody Blues album, A Question of Balance, released in 1970. Though it was their fifth album, it was the first time that The Moody Blues used political strife as a basis for songwriting. The song "Question", dealt with the controversy resulting from the ongoing Vietnam War. The album reached #1 in the UK and #3 in the U.S.



A couple of years ago I was able to attend a Moody Blues concert at the Brady Theater in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was fortunate to be able to get seats in the third row. Being that close to the stage made for great photo opportunities.





The Moodies put on a great show. I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. The band payed songs from every phase of their career, from the 60's through the 90's. One of my favorite lines was from Graeme Edge when he was talking about having turned 70. He said, "the great thing about turning 70 is that I've lived through the 60's twice".



The song "Question" was a real crowd favorite, and everyone seemed to know the words.

Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?
With a thousand million questions
About hate and death and war.

Cause when we stop and look around us
There is nothing that we need.
In a world of persecution
That is burning in it's greed.

Why do we never get an answer
When we're knocking at the door?
Because the truth is hard to swallow
That's what the war of love is for.









If I ever have another chance to see the Moody Blues in concert I will definitely go again. It was the most fun I have ever had at a concert.




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Spirit of Freedom

Last night the owner of a local aircraft painting business messaged me and let me know that they had just restored the Spirit of Freedom. It is a 1945 C-54 that was used in the Berlin airlift. They said that if I would like to come see it and tour the museum inside it I could come out to the airport in the morning.

When I arrived at the hanger, Spirit of Freedom pilot Jason Capra was applying some final touches to the decals on the airplane.  He graciously allowed me to tour the inside of the plane.

For the last two weeks Crider Aircraft Painting at the Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport has been the home of the Spirit of America; a Douglas C-54 that was part of the great Berlin Airlift of 1948 and 1949.  The crew at Crider Aircraft did a beautiful job repainting the plane.

Before the Spirit of Freedom took off for her next destination, St. Louis, the crew that had worked such long hard hours for the last two weeks gathered in front of the plane for photo.  I was there photographing the plane so I was able to get their photo as well.  The pilots were very friendly and loved to talk about their plane.  You could tell that they really loved the Spirit of Freedom and were really excited about the new paint job.

The Spirit of America served in the U. S. military until 1975 when it entered the private sector.  In 1992 it was purchased by the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation and restoration was begun.

The mission of the Foundation is to preserve the memory of the greatest humanitarian aviation event in history by preserving several aircraft used in the great event and creating "Flying Memorials and Classrooms" with the purpose of educating the public about this pivotal, yet forgotten, event in world history.  The Spirit of Freedom flies to airshows and events all around the U.S.  Inside the plane is a genuine museum dedicated to the Berlin Airlift, filled with artifacts, displays, and information explaining this all important event in history.

After World War II the city of Berlin was split into four sectors, with the Allies taking the western part of the city and the Soviets the eastern. In June 1948, The Soviets attempted to consolidate control of the city by cutting off all land and sea routes to West Berlin in order to pressure the Allies to evacuate. As a result the western section of Berlin and its 2 million people were deprived of food, heating fuel and other crucial supplies.  The Berlin Airlift was the Allies response to the crisis.

During the Berlin Airlift, an average of 2,500 tons of supplies were flown into the city every day. Planes landing at Tempelhof Airport every four minutes, round the clock.  More than 1.5 million tons of supplies were flown into Berlin during the airlift.

On their website, The Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation extended "a sincere thank you to Roger Crider for taking on the job of painting the C-54 and for doing all he can to reduce the labor costs to help the Foundation".  When the Spirit of Freedom flies around the country educating thousands of people about the Berlin Airlift, it will be taking a little bit of Mena and our fine craftsmanship with her in the form of a beautiful new paint job.

On the flight from Mena to St. Louis this afternoon, pilot Jason Capra shot this amazing photo from the cockpit window.

If you are interested in learning more about this incredible plane and the story of the Berlin Airlift, you can go to the Berlin Airlift Historical Foundation website.

Jump - The Mena Star

This is my article as published in the May 1, 2014 issue of The Mena Star.

JUMP

One night a house caught fire and a young boy was forced to go to the roof. A fireman stood on the ground below with outstretched arms, calling to the boy, "Jump! I'll catch you." He knew the boy had to jump to save his life. All the boy could see was flame, smoke, and blackness.  He was afraid to leave the roof. The fireman kept yelling: "Jump! I will catch you." But the boy protested, “I can't see you." The fireman replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."

In life each one of us finds ourselves in the same situation as the young boy on the roof.  We will be destroyed unless we do something. If we stay in our current situation we will be destroyed by fire.  The biggest question in our lives is, what must I do to be saved.  In the little boy’s situation the answer was jump.  What is the answer in your life?

In Matthew 19 the Bible tells us that a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”  The first thing Jesus told him was keep the commandments.  The man said to Jesus, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?”  Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

This man asked the all-important question – What must I do to be saved?  But notice how he asked the question.  The way he worded the question tells us a lot about him.  What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?  I think that many of us can relate to this man. I’m leading a pretty good life.  What other good thing do I need to do to be saved?

The man wasn't expecting that kind of answer he got. He liked the “limited realm” of righteousness where people stop doing things. He was good at it.  He stepped back when Jesus pointed him to the “continuous realm” of righteousness where there is no limit and no end of really caring for other people.

Many of us are very uncomfortable with this whole concept of being a Christian as Jesus explained it. We tend to be Pharisees by nature. We are very happy with negative approaches to law because we like to know where the limits are.

We feel more comfortable when we can see the extent of our obligations. Jesus wants us to see that his true followers aren't trying to see what the limits of their obligations are.  He taught this lesson to Peter in Matthew 18. “Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

Rabbinical law said that you were to forgive three times.  Peter thought he was really expanding on that.   Jesus told him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven”.   Once again, Jesus points out that his true followers aren't trying to see what the limits of their obligations are.

In actuality Peter was not asking “How much can I love my neighbor?” but “When can I stop loving my neighbor?” That’s a very human question. I like that question. When can I stop loving my neighbor? That is where we are as natural people.

When can I stop all this niceness and give people what they deserve? I don’t like grace. Grace is giving people what they don’t deserve. I don’t mind getting it, but I don’t really like passing grace on to others.

Jesus taught Peter that there is never a time when he could stop loving his neighbor or stop passing on God’s grace. Jesus taught that there is no limit to Christian love.  Like Peter, we are much more comfortable with the negative than the positive approach to law. We want to know when we have fulfilled our quota of goodness so we can relax and be our normal selves.

How I treat my neighbor is the acid test of Christianity. Out of that principle comes a meaningful keeping of God’s laws.  Because I love my neighbor, I will not covet my neighbor’s car, house, wife, or husband. Because I love my neighbor, I cannot use him or her as a sexual object for my own pleasure.  Because I love my neighbor, I will not take things that belong to him. Because I love my neighbor, I will not kill or even hate him.

Love to God and neighbor is the centerpiece of Christianity.  “By this,” said Jesus, “all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Let’s go back to the story of the boy on the roof.   The fireman called to the boy, "Jump! I'll catch you." But the boy protested, “I can't see you." The fireman replied, "But I can see you and that's all that matters."

What must I do to be saved?  I need to trust Jesus so much that I will jump into his arms.  He can’t save me if I don’t trust him enough to jump.  He can’t save me if I am busy trying to save myself.

It’s time for us to really believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Believe enough to surrender our will and jump into his arms.  Will you jump with me today?