A Long Summer's Night

It's almost the end of Summer, and I feel kinda tense about it. Not in a bad kinda way, but in a perplexing kinda way.

On one hand, it's been a really long Summer. An intense one with lots of crises to walk through with people. While it's tiring, when it comes down to it, I wouldn't have it any other way. I really do love the grind of day-to-day pastoring.

Personally, we had Josh's surgery and recovery. He's doing great by the way! His next check-up is Monday morning. It will be the 5 week point. They'll x-ray it to see how the bone graft is taking. The first appt 2 weeks ago went really well. Josh is tired of the cast and wishes it could come off, but all in all, he's handling it pretty well.

Church-wise, we've had a number of situations to work through, including two people who died (one expected, another unexpected). I've officiated three funerals in the last 6 weeks.

Then, Pastor Glen Jackson (see posts below) died last Friday night. His memorial service is Saturday at 2:00 pm. That will be THREE funerals THREE Saturdays in a row, all at 2:00.

On the upside, I launched my new blog, Pastor For Life, earlier this Summer, and it's been a hoot to see that grow, and to connect with other Pastors and Leaders around the country.

I've also been involved in the launch of the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Church-wide Initiative Kit. As of today, we have 14 churches across the US and Canada who are piloting this new, groundbreaking material this Fall and Winter. Including total orders for the Kits, there is the potential of 36 churches beginning this journey toward Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, a lifestyle I very deeply believe in.

After Josh's appt on Monday, we plan to head to Buellton for about a week of camping. Looking forward to the down time and relaxation!

Pastor Glen Jackson Memorial Service

Just received an email announcing that the Memorial Service for Pastor Glen Jackson will occur on Saturday, August 16 at 2 pm at Grace Brethren Church.

In lieu of flowers the family is requesting donations be made to Faith Christian Church for support of Solome Musisi, a missionary to Uganda, who resides in Simi Valley. Please make your checks out to Faith Christian Church and put Glen Jackson Memorial in the memo line.

Pastor Glen Jackson With The Lord

Tonight at about 6:00 pm, Pastor Glen Jackson was taken off life support and he died soon thereafter. Please pray for the entire Jackson family.

On top of that, hug your family tonight. Tell them how much you love and appreciate them, and do everything you can to make sure they know that.

Pastor Glen Jackson Update

The below is DIRECTLY from the family (Glen's daughter & son-in-law):

Hi Paul,

Most of that information is off a bit. Let me clear it up for you.

The cyst was a congenital cyst that Glen has had from birth. It had absolutely nothing to do with the bleeding. The cyst was drained to provide more room in the skull for the swelling.

An MRI was done on Tuesday and revealed that the bleeding had stopped. Apparently the bleeding has been stopped for a while but that had not been clearly communicated to the family (not really sure that the doctors knew that either). The blood in the brain that has been showing up on the CT scans is coagulated blood from the original bleed.

The coagulated blood will take 2-3 weeks to dissipate.

The doctors were interested in seeing Glen's condition in the 24-48 hours following the cyst drain.

His condition is still critical. Thank you for your prayers and concern, please keep it up! :)

Also, for those wondering who Glen is, here is a picture of him with his daughter, Erin, on her wedding day.

Pastor Glen Jackson Update

I have hesitated to post updates as 2-3 sources seem to be giving somewhat conflicting information. However, here is what I have heard so far that seems to be confirmed by the sources.

Tuesday night, a cyst on Glen's brain was drained, and seems to have been related to the bleeding. Bleeding on the brain stopped once they drained this cyst. However, there is coagulated blood on the brain now constricting flow of normal brain fluids. While doctors have said that could take "months" to dissipate, they have said Glen needs it to dissipate within the next 48 hours or so.

Pastor Glen Jackson Update

The latest word tonight about Pastor Glen's condition is:

...the doctors were going to do an MRI (this morning). However, they did not do it this morning. They were able to keep all the equipment working while he was in the MRI machine except the piece of equipment that fed him the blood pressure medication to control his blood pressure. As a result they have spent the day weaning him off the medication to see if his body could control its own blood pressure. So far it seems to be working. If it continues to work, they will probably do the MRI sometime this evening.

Pastor Glen Jackson Update

Received an email this evening that stated:

The cat scan from this morning still shows that there has not been any change in the bleeding inside the brain. Be praying specifically for the bleeding to stop.

The pneumonia that was present last week is completely gone. Praise the Lord!!!

His white blood cell count has been elevated and that is now down to normal. Praise the Lord!!!

(T)here has been involuntary movement again.

Last week they tried taking him off the body cooling machine but his body temperature started rising. They need to be able to take him off this machine because there is a limited number of days that he can stay hooked up to it. Pray that when they disconnect this machine that his body will stay at 97 degrees on its own without assistance.

Pastor Glen Jackson Update, Etc.

Two update emails today have said that Pastor Glen Jackson's condition remains the same. There will be no tests done over the weekend unless something were to change considerably. Please continue to pray for a miracle in this situation!

It has been a long week! Knowing that Jackie Morris' Memorial Service would be today has been emotional for me. Not just in her sudden passing three weeks ago, but Colleen and I (especially Colleen) have a strong emotional tie to the Morris'. Jim & Jackie were childhood neighbors of Colleen's. Their daughter, Barbara, was one of Colleen's closest friends growing up.

Pastor Glen's circumstance has been wearing. I feel for what Nicki and their family are going through. Glen has been one of the true "elders" of our city as a Pastor here for more than 28 years. He has been a stalwart, faithful Pastor and a powerful unifier.

Then, yesterday morning, after the last few months of struggling with Congestive Heart Failure, Chuck Koher passed away in the early morning hours. Elaine called me about 7:00 am to let me know he passed away peacefully sometime between 2:00 and 4:00 am.

She said he was feverish about 2:00 am. She placed a cold washrag on his head and fell asleep beside him. She woke up about 4:00 am and discovered he had died. That is actually a very beautiful thing, as Elaine had labored so hard to make his last days so comfortable. For him to pass away so peacefully as she was sleeping beside him is just the way it ought to have happened.

Chuck has an amazing story of life and service. A World War 2 veteran, he served all over Europe. He fought in the infamous Battle of the Bulge and was the ONLY member of his unit to survive that fight.

So, next Saturday at 2:00 pm, we'll celebrate Chuck's life with his family, at NewHeart. If you know of anyone who knew Chuck and/or Elaine, please pass the word on!

In the morning, we have Mike Barker speaking. That will be a slew of fun! Mike is one of our former Youth Pastors, and is Pastor of CityLife Community Church in Austin, TX, a church he planted five years ago.

Time for bed. G'nite all!

Prayer for Pastor Glen Jackson

The latest update on Pastor Glen's condition, received at 5:00 pm today, is from his son-in-law, Lance:

Pastor Glen's condition is pretty much the same as yesterday. The doctors are finally using a consistent term to describe what happened, the are calling it a "bleeding stroke." His condition is still critical. Please remain in prayer.

Prayer for Pastor Glen Jackson

Thursday evening, I had the privilege of spending some time with family and friends of Pastor Glen. After receiving news that Doctors had asked Nicki if she was prepared to make the decision to take Glen off of life support, I was able to head over to the Hospital.

The outpouring of support for Glen at the hospital was tremendous. There were a number of family members, church members and friends present. I had the opportunity to spend some time with some of them, and it was extremely uplifting.

Near the end of my time there, Nicki came out from Glen's room. She shared that the Neurologist clarified that they are not asking for her to make a decision right away. He believes it is too soon to make those decisions. He encouraged her to wait through the weekend at least to see how he does over the next few days.

While the bleeding in the brain is persisting and is happening faster than it can be drained, Glen's body is reproducing the lost blood supply, which means he hasn't to this point needed any transfusions. On the other hand, the Neurologist also said that bleeding of this type usually does more damage to the brain the longer it goes on.

Clearly, the Jackson's really do need a miracle from God for Glen! Please continue to pray that God will bring healing and peace to Glen over these next days. Pray for peace for Glen's wife, Nicki, and their daughters, Erin, Ashley and Christina, as well as extended family.

Prayer for Pastor Glen Jackson

Just received this latest update regarding Glen:

There has been some encouraging news through the night. The neurologist is encouraged because he noticed some involuntary movement in Glen's leg last night. This definitely shows signs of brain activity and that is a good sign.

Glen's brother says that Glen responded to directions for movement last night also. All these things are good news.

The doctors did another cat scan this morning but we will not have the results on that until this afternoon. Glen is still bleeding.

Pray for the bleeding to stop, pray for complete and total restoration of Glen's health and mental capabilities. God is able and willing to come to Glen's rescue. That is His specialty.

Prayer for Pastor Glen Jackson

As of 8:30 pm Pacific Time, Pastor Glen's condition is still listed as critical, and he is still in a coma. This morning's CT Scan revealed that considerable bleeding in the mid-brain area is still happening. They have ruled out the bleeding to be the result of a stroke or an aneurysm.

They are likening the bleeding to the bursting of a water main. There is nothing they can do to stop the bleeding. The Jackson family needs a miracle!

Prayer for Pastor Glen Jackson

I wanted to give you the latest news I have heard and to request continued prayer for Pastor Glen Jackson, founding and current Pastor of Faith Christian Church here in Simi Valley for over 25 years.

This morning, Glen collapsed and was rushed to Simi Valley Hospital. He was diagnosed as having a brain aneurysm. He was then airlifted to Holy Cross Hospital for further diagnosis and treatment.

His current condition is still listed as critical, and he is still in a coma from bleeding in the brain. An angiogram was performed just a few hours ago in an attempt to find out where exactly the bleeding is occurring in the brain.

The angiogram revealed a blood clot near the brain stem, but they were not able to find the spot(s) where bleeding is occurring. They will perform another CT scan in the morning to try and identify any of those places.

I will continue to keep you informed as I know more. For now, please keep bringing Glen, Nicki, and their families before the Lord. For those who may feel led, fasting may even be appropriate.

Josh's 1st Post-op Appointment

Took Josh to the Dr. today for his first post-op appointment. The x-ray shows that everything is healing normally. The Doc reports that the pain and even mild fever at times (none in last several days) sounds pretty normal.

Turns out the reason for the 8 weeks in cast (rather than hoped-for 6) is that TWO procedures were done and need to be considered. One was the fibroma removal and bone graft. Other was the holes drilled in growth plate to arrest the growth of the left leg. Gives the right leg a chance to catch up and even out the legs.

Since he had both done, Doc wants to go slow and give plenty of time for healing and such. Makes sense, but Josh is still bummed about going to school for a couple weeks in a cast. Pray for his little heart when you think about it, would you?

Pastor Greg Laurie's Son Killed In Car Accident

Pray for Pastor Greg Laurie's family tonight. His 33 year old son, Christopher, was killed in a car accident this morning in Riverside. You can leave condolences here.

Twitter Hits USA Today

For those still wondering what the big deal about Twitter is, click here to read the story in USA Today.

For those who finally want to get on the bandwagon, click here to follow me on Twitter.

Simi Valley Starbucks Set To Close

In case you haven't heard the news yet, the Starbucks at the corner of Royal & Madera is on the hit list. Starbucks is closing 600 of its stores nationwide, and this location is the only one in Ventura County on the chopping block. That's going to change this stat big time!

In case that's your store, my condolences.

In case you're wondering if a store near you is closing, click here.

Sad news. Sad, sad news.

Roller Coaster

The last few days have been BOTH invigorating AND draining. How can that be?

It's been INVIGORATING to take a week off to be available for the needs of my family. Josh's surgery went well, and that's invigorating! Most of his recovery so far has gone well, and that's also invigorating to me. At times through the week, we've SLEPT a lot ..... you know it .... invigorating. And, just being together as family ..... in-stinkin--vigorating!

Then, church this morning was incredibly invigorating! "Interactive Worship Sunday" for the first time and Katie Miller and the team did an amazing job leading us to the throne of God, not just in "song worship", but in various forms of worship. It's downright good to regularly remind ourselves that worship is not about US, it's about GOD! It was Katie's awesome idea and one we will do again!

It's also been a DRAINING week. Taking care of each other is a LOT of work! 3 am pain med checks are no fun on the body! It's great when recovery is going well, but when it's not? DRAINING! I can NOT imagine what God the Father went through watching Jesus suffer. Seriously, NO comprehension here whatsoever.

I know it's true for any parent, but it HURTS when you watch your kid hurt! Today turned out to be Josh's worst day of pain so far. The anesthesia must have worn off overnight, because up until today we were thinking this was gonna be cake! Not to be, and that's draining. He and I took a nap this afternoon trying to calm some of his hardest pain. When I woke up less than two hours later, I seriously thought it had to be Monday morning. I guess that's how drained I was.

Anyway, it's been a roller coaster!

Joshua Recovery Update

Having been home almost 24 hours now, Josh seems to be doing well. Slept well (we were all pretty exhausted!), waking up only for the pain med rotation. His pain level has been pretty good today. Colleen has been working with his meds to curb some nausea and dizziness he's dealing with. We've kept it to rest and relaxation today, and that's actually been really nice!!

Joshua's Surgery Update

We don't have internet access at the hospital, so I am posting from my phone. The doctor was very pleased with how surgery went today.

So far, Josh has handled the pain really well though the doctor did say he put quite a bit of anesthetic into the bone and muscle area.

It is 5:30 pm now and the anisthetic seems to be wearing off. Josh is making his own comments about the pain but is still handling it well. We anticipate going home within the next couple of hours.

I'll post again once we're home.