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Isaiah 53

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.

He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.

But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.

All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.

By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.

Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.

I don't know where the time goes - mea culpa - I repent and will endevour to do better in updating the site

David is doing well overall - his health is good overall (though he had a cold at the first of September and is still "draining" from that). He has not made any dramatic improvement (but we are thankful for how far he has come. We do have several items to report and several prayer requests:

1) He continues to eat well and consumes 3 large meals per day, each meal takes from 45 minutes to 2 hours to feed him. We are hoping to have a "swallow study" at the outpatient therapy clinic soon so he can eat a greater variety of foods
2) Speaking of outpatient therapy clinic!! We finally have our "new-to-us" van (actually a 2000 Dodge Ram van 1500 conversion van with 35,000 miles that has been modified for David with high doors, power doors, wheelchair lift, Easy-lock wheelchair restraint system, etc.)
3) So, Jenny takes David to the clinic on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We have also used the van for doctor visits and
4) Ta -Da!!! We took David to Second Presbyterian last Wednesday and this past Lord's Day. He did very well both times. Jenny even said he stayed awake more than he did before the accident when he was in morning worship!!! I was preaching at the morning service and asked a rhetorical question and then I paused… and David said, "Uh-Huh!!"(His way of saying "Yes")
5)Prayer Requests:
a) Pray that the paper work will arrive soon so we can properly title, register, and tag David's van
b)Ask our Lord to bless the eye work that will be done on Thursday (we have to be there at 5:30 am) to insert the frontpiece on his artificial eye
c) Ask the Lord to give David the ability to sleep through the night (he hasn't been and that is very tiring!! - esp. for Jenny)
d) Ask the Lord grant David the use of left arm, hand, leg, and foot
e) Ask the Lord to give David the ability to speak and to walk again
f) Ask the Lord to give us love, wisdom, patience, and diligence
g) Ask the Lord to settle the insurance issues and settlement issues so that we will have the financial means to do more things for David.
h) Express to the Lord thanksgiving for the progress that David has made so far.
i) Ask the Lord to bless David Spiritually!! Thank you for reading, caring, praying, giving, writing, and loving us!!!

PS - We met with David's therapy team today and they were very upbeat in their assessment and seemed to us to be fairly agressive in their therapy plans over the next 3 months - pray that all they want David to accomplish will come to pass!!!

PPS - September 16 - David's eye "surgery" went well - the front piece of the artificial eye is now in place, there is a little swelling, and we are waiting to see how David looks once the swelling goes down. Please pray that David will sleep at night - he is driving us, esp. Jenny, to extreme tiredness because he doesn't sleep at night.

We are also considering hiring other aid workers. Pray for our wisdom and discernment!!!

Deuteronomy 5:12-14 "Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. ‘Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.