BST's Blog

You may recall me mentioning David and Becky Rubio. David is a good friend and on staff with me at OC, and Becky is one of Sheryl's best friends. They are the ones Sheryl organized the "While You Were Out" thing for. A few months back, David experienced a weird virus that attacked his heart. They thought it was pleurisy. He was experiencing some pain over the weekend and went in on Monday to get it checked. The CT scan showed a large mass between his heart and lung in the pleura.

Tuesday night, David sat out on the back porch of The Ross's house. Tony, also and Otter Creeker, is his doctor (and mine too). Tony shared the difficult news with David and told him that this was not a good place to have a growth (is there any good place to have a growth??). No matter whether it is malignant or benign, it must be removed which means a very difficult surgery.

Yesterday morning, David shared this news with the staff. We were shocked and immediately prayed over him. Afterwards, he came in my office and we talked about a lot of stuff...some of which involved how to talk to his 6yr, 5yr, and 6 month old kids about this. YUCK.

Sheryl and I met David and Becky at McDonald's (thanks, Julie, for also coming for a bit. I know you're presence was so encouraging!). As our kids played we just sat and stared at each other not really knowing what to say. Basically, they are in this limbo of being worried and not even knowing the full extent of the problem. That stinks.

Last night after the speaker was through David addressed the church and told them about his condition. As he was speaking, his parents (from Memphis) came in the back door. Fred Ewing came up with the Elders to lay hands on David and Becky and pray for his healing. He called the entire church down. People crowded as close as possible while Fred took some anointing oil and anointed David's head. He said something like, "This oil represents the healing power of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit that covers you, and this church's commitment to support you through this journey." It was beautiful. I had not seen anyone do it quite like Fred. He rubbed it all over David's forehead, his neck, and even into his hair--giving the visual picture of saturation. It was so very powerful. I can't even type this without crying about it.

David has a biopsy tomorrow. Will you join me in praying for his health? Many of you know David. Pray for him this next week. He and his family moved into the dorm last night at Lipscomb because he is one of the people in charge of the Impact camp there every summer. As he tends to do, he is charging full-steam ahead. Please pray for his strength and for peace for Becky.