Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

Daily prayer: Father, may holiness and truth continually flow from our lives and the words we speak. Help us to be obedient to Your commands and faithfully proclaim Your truths, making no concession to please the hearts of men rather than the heart of God.  Some will turn away while others may carefully listen to the gospel message we proclaim. Above all may we be faithful to the Gospel message and not be deterred by lack of receptivity. For, we seek Your approval above the applause of others. Amen.

Further musing: In the providence of God Stephen was slain early in his ministry. Saul (whose name was changed to Paul) was present at his stoning where he is first introduced in the Bible, "And Saul approved of his execution" (Acts 8:1). I wonder, given Stephen's brief time of effective ministry, if he had not been martyred, might he have had the role Paul had?

Before His ascension Jesus had talked about persecution that would come for the believer and even warned His disciples. Yet this first martyrdom was surely a shaking in the early church. Following Stephen's death we read, "Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him" (Acts 8:2). All through the church's history those who follow Christ have endured what really can't be understood or well-explained, but in faith they stayed true to the Lord. That's still happening today. In fact, many of you have had experiences that can't be well-explained, yet in faith we still believe. The words of an old song sum up such thinking about the matter, "We'll understand it better by and by".

Here are several life lessons from Stephen's life for all of us today:

Ester’s Health Update:  Many of you have asked about Ester’s health following her six day hospital stay from May 6-11 due to chest pain, shortness of breath and low oxygen saturation which resulted in a heart cath. She had a follow-up visit with her cardiologist’s assistant on Monday and is doing well in her recovery, though it’s been slower and tougher than previous recoveries. Her oxygen saturation has increased which was encouraging as well. 

When a critical care paramedic visited our home two days after her release from the hospital he discussed with us her heart failure and additional steps needed to assure that she does not get into serious trouble. His visit and conversation alarmed all three of us. I presented this to Ester’s assistant cardiologist and she was somewhat reassuring but also informed us that Ester does indeed have heart failure. Thirty six years of living with a heart that is defective (resulting in pulmonary atresia) and required surgical intervention (fontan repair) takes its toll the longer one lives; her words, “The disease is taking its course”. Ester is a walking miracle scientifically through modern medicine and supernaturally through God’s miraculous intervention following several surgeries in her very young years where she almost died.

The cardiologist assistant explained that Ester’s diagnosis is that of “controlled heart failure” vs. a patient with “uncontrolled heart failure”. Controlled heart failure is that of a patient like Ester who is under the care of a cardiologist, takes required medication, and gets treatments or surgeries as required to live as normal as possible. “Uncontrolled heart failure” describes a patient who self-abuses (unsubscribed or illegal drugs, smoker, etc.) and does not follow the doctor’s advice.  So, we are thankful that Ester is doing as well as possible given her health difficulties and she returned to work today. Thank you all for your interest in and especially for your prayers on her behalf.