Hands Headlines Blog

Ask, Seek and Knock

2006-01-30T16:38:00.000-05:00

“And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Luke 11:9
[Context of this passage: Jesus tells us to persist in asking Him because He always supplies good gifts. He promises that He is even much more faithful than a good parent who will not give his child a stone when asked for bread.] Read entire passage on BibleGateway - a great place to read the Bible online!

Our kids have a Children’s Bible Songs tape they often listen to (sometimes a little too often on long road trips! :) ). One song – Ask, Seek and Knock - captures the heart of this passage in such a pure and simple fashion. We want to have a child-like faith in asking our Father both for our needs and for His desires to be accomplished in the months ahead. Will you please join us in praying? Here are 3 specific needs. Thank you!!

1. Finding 40 New Partners
In order to move to Orlando, we need to meet about 40 more individuals and families who will partner with us through prayer and finances. This is our full-time focus and faith goal for the next 5 months. This is quite a faith-stretcher for us. Yet, we’re seeking the Lord with an abundance mentality (Eph. 3:20-21) - realizing that He already knows all the people we need to meet! Please pray for us to find these 40 new partners quickly. Could you help us by introducing us to a few of your friends? Email us and we’ll tell you how.

2. Decisions and Timing of Decisions
We will be selling our house this spring, determining how much we can afford (and should spend) in Orlando, searching for a house to buy or build (possibly), researching schooling and home-schooling options and many other things! Please pray for wisdom for we who lack it! And that the Lord’s timing will be sovereign in all these decisions.

3. With Peace
Above all else, pray that we’ll experience much joy and peace from the Lord during the midst of big changes. Pray that peace will dominate our lives as we move forward by faith – not being overwhelmed with any task at hand.

Scouting Trip to Orlando

2006-01-16T13:59:00.000-05:00

To visit our new abode of work and calling, we recently ventured to Campus Crusade’s International Headquarters in Orlando for a 3-day scouting trip. Our vision was deepened, our hearts encouraged and our bodies warmed by the nice Florida sunshine!

We met many of the staff we’ll be working with, including Keith & Kay Seabourn (pictured here with us) who have served with Campus Crusade for 30 years! Keith is CCC's Chief Technology Officer. David will be a project manager on his team.

We spent half a day with a realtor in Orlando doing some early “recon” of neighborhoods. Everyone we know in Florida has warned us: “You are moving to a VERY expensive area!” Somehow, we were hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Yet, as we drove around many varied neighborhoods – new, old, far or near – all of the prices were quite high. Most houses of equivalent size to ours here were from $300K to $350K. Basically double what our home in Mableton is worth! Next time we’ll take the pills for “sticker shock” before we travel down there!

One highlight of our trip was touring the JESUS Film facilities at Campus Crusade Headquarters. This film was produced by Campus Crusade in 1978 and has been used to introduce young and old to Christ around the world. It is the most translated movie in history - over 700 languages to date! Incredible stories of the Lord using the film in dramatic ways were shared. This is one tour well worth the trip if you're ever in Orlando! Also, fyi, you can now download the audio/video of JESUS to your ipod or other handheld device. (click here to learn more)

The photo below shows where the hundreds of translations of the movie are touching the world.

1 Billion Milestone Opens 10/40 Window

2006-01-02T13:31:00.000-05:00

According to this very interesting article by noted Web Researcher Jakob Nielsen, 2005 silently heralded a huge milestone in Internet history: the one-billionth user went online. That means that about 15% of the world’s population (more than 1 out of every 7 people) are regular Internet users. By 2015, it’s expected to grow to 25%. Particularly interesting is the fact that 360 Million of current Internet users reside in Asian countries! (Compared to 230 Million in North America). It’s predicted that in less than 4 years, Chinese speakers will outnumber English speakers on the web!

See the opportunity here? As more and more users quickly come online in places like China, India, Korea, etc., we have an open window to connect with these people – many of whom are hungry for Christ - via the Internet. A decent percentage of people in these countries already search for spiritual content online, and the Lord could swell this number even more if we as technology-and-resource-rich Christians create the right content online to bring them in. Pray with us towards this goal!

For more info see a similar article on the Web Evangelism Bulletin

Happy New Year from the Hands

2006-01-01T08:59:00.000-05:00

The Christmas Season (and the whole year) has come to a close;
Only time left to share with you a few quick photos.

Advent candles, apple cakes, gingerbread and presents. . . hooray!
All helped us celebrate Jesus’ birthday.

Time with the grandparents made it just right;
Even accented by snowfall which made things so bright.

This year in ministry has been very good, yet not without struggle;
And you, through prayer, have played a vital role for which we are grateful!

Campus Crusade featured on ABC News

2005-12-30T11:39:00.000-05:00

Ashley Parrish is just one of thousands of students in the Southeast who went off to college and struggled with her faith. Through Campus Crusade and your partnership with us, the Lord renewed her heart for Jesus and now she's growing alongside other Christians on her campus at the University of Georgia.

ABC's Good Morning America recently did a profile story on "Faith on Campus" and chose Ashley to show how "Many Young People Turn Away from God in College, But It Doesn't Have to Be That Way"

You can read the ABC news article and watch the video from Good Morning America in its entirety (just over 5 minutes) on the ABC site.

Although we don't completely agree with ABC's commentary for parents of students away at college (at the end of the video), the video and article are overall, quite positive towards Christianity and Campus Crusade's activities on campus.

Thank you so much for your prayers and partnership which made it possible for literally thousands of Ashleys to experience life change through the gospel in 2005!!

Oxymoronic

2005-12-27T11:13:00.000-05:00

I drove past this local restaraunt a couple times last week and kept thinking, "What's wrong with this picture?!"

Just had to stop and snap a picture!

Well, Fat Boy could actually have a slight marketing angle here:
"Trying to watch your diet after the holidays? Try our lowfat shake with your double-chili-cheeseburger!"

The New StorySpot

2005-12-15T09:53:00.000-05:00

StorySpot.com has been upgraded, and although there's still some work left to do on it, there are a LOT of cool new features.

This site is a good teaching tool for anyone who wants to learn how to naturally share how Christ has made a difference in their lives. It also presents the whole concept of God’s history with man from a story perspective.

Here's the link: www.StorySpot.com

Here's a screen-shot of the site and few of the new features:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

~ Enhanced writing process, featuring Claire — the animated StorySpot assistant.

~ Authors can select 5 different basic storylines when writing their story and examine Bible examples for their stories.

~ We’ve also added spell checking, a friend-review feature, and even a “Christian-ese” checker.

Update

2005-11-24T20:35:00.000-05:00

Last month we wrote about the Lord’s leading us to move to Orlando to serve in the Global Technology Office. Since then we’ve fielded some questions about the move from a few of you so we wanted to send a quick recap of move details.
This is all we know so far:

~ We’ll be moving sometime in 2006. We don’t know exactly when. Probably not until mid or late summer. Possibly later.

~ Our ministry support level (financially speaking) is significantly lower than where it needs to be to allow us to move to Orlando. We’re trusting God to bring many new financial and prayer partners on our team. This could take some time, and we are comfortable with this possibility. Until our support increases a good bit, we can’t move.

~ Although we are sad to leave the Southeast Regional Office and friends in Atlanta, we are very excited to go where the Lord is leading us. If left to our own whims, we probably would never choose to live in Florida. Yet, by far, we are more eager to live where our calling is rather than live apart from our calling.

~ For the past several years, we’ve sensed the Lord building within us a vision for using Technology to Connect People with the Gospel. The opportunity to serve in this role will fulfill and expand this vision. Ultimately, the result will be that exponentially greater numbers of people will have exponentially more chances to say “Yes” to Jesus and come to know Him.

A new role. Moving to a new place. Meeting new supporters. All of this forces us to move forward by faith, asking the Lord to do what we cannot do. With that in mind, please pray!

By His Grace and Through Your Support,
~ David & Shannon + Avery, Addison & Toby
www.HandsHeadlines.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Hands

514 Benson Hurst Drive

Mableton, GA 30126
770-944-0036

Contributions: HandsHeadlines.com/give.htm

Or, by Postal Mail - please make checks payable to “Campus Crusade for Christ” and mail to:

Campus Crusade Contributions

Account # 0438803

100 Lake Hart Drive

Orlando FL 32832

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Click here for the homepage of our website, HandsHeadlines.com

Current Prayer Requests

2005-11-24T20:16:00.000-05:00

Please continue to talk to God on our behalf. “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16

1) StorySpot.com Re-Launch
Pray for God to reach millions through StorySpot.com. Due to be re-launched (upgraded from its original version) sometime before Christmas, this exciting website is just one example of how technology can help connect people with the gospel. Its purpose is to give Christians a ‘spot’ online to share with non-Christians a personal story of how Jesus has changed their life. David and a team of CCC staff in Orlando have been working hard to upgrade the StorySpot system. It hasn’t been easy. Please pray for all the technical “bugs” to be squashed and for the system to work effectively. Pray for over 2,500 stories to be shared in 2006.

2) Transition to Support-Raising
David will be wrapping up his responsibilities at the Southeast Regional Office here sometime in January. After then, our full-time responsibility will be to trust God for new support by asking many people to join with us as a financial partner in ministry. Please ask God to quickly raise up at least 30 new individuals and churches who can join us. Then we should be free to move to Orlando.

Fall Family Snapshots

2005-11-24T13:08:00.000-05:00

Well, today is Thanksgiving and we are finally getting around to posting some pictures from September through yesterday.

Perhaps at this rate we'll have Thanksgiving photos posted by Christmas!

For other kids pictures this year, check out :
Fun Family Pics
Miss Andrea's Wedding

. . .Enjoy!

Sept 29: Ready to blow some leaves?

October 8:

Getting ready for a bike ride on the Silver Comet Trail near our house.

Go Hokies!!

October 31:

Avery, Toby and Addison decked out for our church's Fall Festival, which they loved. If you don't recognize them, they are Snow White, Freddy Fireman and Sleeping Beauty.

November 23:

Oooooh, Aahhhhh, Christmas Shopping!!
Can you believe all three woud stay this still in a store?? Guess what's playing on the video monitor above my head? It's the Veggie Tales!

Southeast Regional Office

2005-10-30T13:48:00.000-05:00

Campus Crusade's Southeast Regional Office just relocated a couple of miles "down the street" to 120 Interstate North Parkway in Atlanta.

We needed more space as several new staff have joined the office. Praise the Lord for each of the 34 staff (an increase from 19) who are now on site!

The Work:
It took several weeks to break down, pack and move all of the phone and network equipment. The new location - an existing building in an office park - was stripped clean on the inside and then "built out" with new walls, doors, flooring, etc. to meet our needs.

We went the "do it yourself" route with a lot of the technical stuff.

David helped with the low-voltage wiring. Basically this meant stringing over a MILE of the little bitty blue cable you see here up and through the rafters! Can you say T - D - US !!

Bye-Bye Old Office!

Hello New Office! Hello 8ft. ladder for 10 hours a day for about 4 days straight!

Everyone from the office pitched in to help.

It was humbling to see how the Lord provided time, talent, money and tremendous servants hearts to make this all happen. Pictured here is Mike Goodwin, brother of Tom Goodwin, who flew down from Chicago at his own expense to help install the phone system. Mike is a office phone expert.

Steve Blevins, CCC Staff here in Atlanta, also volunteered massive amounts of time. Without his expertise, our wiring job would have quickly turned into a rats nest.

Do we have a dialtone here?? Kris Hodges and Mike Goodwin wait for the phone to ring. Success!

How many computers can you talk to at the same time?

David configures several office computers --->>

On a sad note, about 3 weeks after moving in, the office was burglarized! Yet, by God's sovereignty, only 6 computers were taken. Nothing vandalized or broken. And, it looks like insurance will replace the 6 with newer ones! So, our loss is now our gain!

So, How Do You Really Feel About It?

2005-10-26T13:18:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the long post, but this is the full scoop - kind of a chronicle of our thoughts and prayers -about moving to Orlando.

It did not even seem possible:

“God, You want us to live in Orlando?. . . .Florida? You want us to leave behind a wonderful place and a thriving ministry? Leave people and a place we love for a place where we hardly have any friends and a land that just doesn’t seem like home? Move even farther away from an already more-than-a-day trip visit to family and relatives? Move our kids now that we have finally started school?”
“. . .Lord, let’s be serious here, Orlando is definitely a nice place. . .to visit! It’s fine for vacations but I certainly don’t want to LIVE there! It’s too flat, too hot, and they get hit by hurricanes every other month!”
“. . .And, it’s not even the South, Lord! It’ll be like moving to a foreign country! Most people who live there have migrated south from places like Michigan, WisCANson or PITTSburg. They have funnier accents than we do!”
“. . . And, we’ve made good relationships with our neighbors here – several of whom don’t know You or are struggling to know You. Who will be here to talk with them about You if we leave?”

My pleading with God continued. I wrestled with Him over these questions again and again. Yet, the more I wrestled, the more I sensed that in order to “win” the wrestling match I needed to LISTEN to Him more than I needed to clearly articulate my own case to Him. As if He did not already know all of my arguments for staying in Atlanta.
“What, Lord? Oh, You want to remind me of some important things? Yes. . .well, I’ll listen. I need to be reminded, I suppose.”

IMPORTANT THING #1:
It’s all about God, not about us.
Translation: Life in this world is not primarily about what we can do for God (as if He needed anything) but more about Him showing up and being the center of attention. Therefore, everything we do – including where we live and how we serve Him – should be subject to a central focus on Him. Neither home nor nice neighborhood nor thriving ministry nor friends – even close friends and family – should surpass our pursuit of making Christ the absolute, joyful, dominant center of everything. In fact, when He takes His rightful place as the center of our lives, then HE IS our home, our family, our friends, our ministry, and our delightful neighborhood. Our citizenship is indeed IN HIM. (Philippians 3:20)
See more on a related idea from one of our previous posts

IMPORTANT THING #2:
God promises to give us the fulfillment of our deepest desires.

“Delight Yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4)

Often I think that following the Lord is all about subverting what I really want and desire for something that He wants – which is totally undesirable.
Wrong! . . . .So wrong! My misconceptions are:
A) I give my life to God and He makes me do everything I abhor.
B) He wants us to move to Orlando so we will find less satisfaction in life, not more.
Even as I write these words above I see how diametrically opposed they are to the truth.
Who says that God is all about making me do things that are opposite of what I desire and opposite of what I enjoy?
Why is it that I presume that God is so dull and boring and ANTI-joy? Because of my misconceptions, don’t I fear that He will send me to deep, dark corners of Africa (or Florida) to labor fruitlessly and live in pain?

To get to the point here:
I think these things because that’s EXACTLY how the Evil One wants me to think! These are all lies and have been crafted and “fed” to me very well over time.
What’s the truth, then? Jesus told the woman at the well:
“Everyone who drinks of this water (speaking of the physical well) will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I give him (speaking of the spiritual Water of Life) will never thirst.”
Jesus is all about quenching our thirst – our desires, our longing to be satisfied and fulfilled. He’s all about quenching our quest to be content and full of life – full to the brim with joy and enjoyment of life. Our thirst is quenched completely in a relationship with Him.
Yet the problem is that we often choose to quench our thirst with the physical well – the temporal satisfaction of life; man-made enjoyments, man-made comforts, man-made communities and dwelling places, even man-made ministry.
Sometimes we THINK we are satisfied by all these man-made things but then we realize that we’re missing out on true satisfaction. At the heart of these temporal satisfactions is always me, me, me and more, more, more. The focus is always on me and yet I never am satisfied until I get to the NEXT thing in life that promises me more.
When I focus on Christ and see Him for Who He really Is, I am satisfied. I see that HE IS more. Only then can I truly delight myself in the Lord. The backside of that verse happens so naturally when I am truly delighted in the Lord: He will give me the desires of my heart. My desires become His desires when I focus on Him.

Now, this has direct significance on God’s calling us to live in Orlando:
It means that He promises that we will find MORE satisfaction, not less. Again, we won’t find the satisfaction IN Orlando as a place or IN a house or job. The satisfaction and delight will be IN HIM and watching Him work.
Also, it means that life in Orlando will be a joy even if life there is harder or more difficult. Whether or not we find a nice home to live in and find good friends (and these things are not promised to us), the Lord does promise to be our delight!
Only when we walk in faith – trusting in Him, not His blessings – will we find “the better life” – ultimate satisfaction in life.

Not that there isn’t true sadness over leaving behind things that are dear: friends, church home, beautiful and familiar running trails, fun family memories, etc. The people and memories God has put in our lives – He Himself gave us the joy of experiencing these people and this place. So, yes, there is genuine sadness.
Yet, if God has provided all these joys in the past as we moved to Atlanta by faith, why wouldn’t He provide them in even more abundance in the future? Moreover, if God has provided a beautiful eternal home with Him and joys indescribable from being face to face with Him, why would He fail to do the lesser here on earth?
So, as surely as all of the above is true, we’re sure that moving to Orlando is better than staying here. If God has directed us to move there, then following Him will be, by far, the best option.

~ David & Shannon

We're Moving to Orlando

2005-10-26T08:49:00.000-04:00

Say What? . . .Move to Orlando?
Perhaps you’ve heard our big news already or perhaps you’re asking the same question we asked ourselves after first coming to grips with this fact: We’ve sensed the Lord directing us to take on a new position within Campus Crusade for Christ. This opportunity involves moving to Orlando, Florida where Campus Crusade’s International Headquarters is located.
We actually said “NO” to the opportunity initially. It was a really big, difficult decision for us. You can read how the Lord worked (and still is working) in our hearts at this blog post: So How Do You Really Feel About It?

When?

Sometime in 2006. We’re not sure exactly when, because there’s a lot that has to happen before then.

Why?

We want to use technology for the glory of God. Over the last several years, we’ve been involved in developing several technology-based tools in reaching college students for Christ. It’s been a lot of fun and it’s been highly efficient in connecting people with God. The bottom line is: we want to be most effective in a role where increasingly more people are reached with the Good News.

To Do What?

David will be joining the Global Technology Office and serving Keith Seabourn, Campus Crusade’s Chief Technology Officer. Keith and his team are responsible for creating digital strategies to help connect people with the power of the gospel.

Here are some Key Prayer Requests:
BUT FIRST, what has to happen before we move?
~ See the Lord provide a good bit of new financial support.
~ Sell our house here.
~ Find a place to live in a very expensive and fast-growing market in Orlando.

Thank you beyond measure for your prayers during this time. If you have any questions at all, please call us, reply to this emails or click “contact us” at HandsHeadlines.com.

Read about How We Came to this Decision Here: http://handsheadlines.blogspot.com/2005/10/so-how-do-you-really-feel-about-it.html

There’ll be more updates on our move posted at www.HandsHeadlines.BlogSpot.com (this is our web-log, a subsection of HandsHeadlines) throughout the coming months. Since these updates may be more frequent, keep checking this link or subscribe to the feed.

By His Grace and Through Your Support,
~ David & Shannon + Avery, Addison & Toby
http://www.handsheadlines.com/
--------------------------------------------------------
The Hands
514 Benson Hurst Drive
Mableton, GA 30126
770-944-0036

Contributions:
Please make checks payable to “Campus Crusade for Christ” and mail to:

Campus Crusade Contributions
Account # 0438803
100 Lake Hart Drive
Orlando FL 32832

Online Contributions: HandsHeadlines.com/give.htm

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Click here for the homepage of our website, Hands Headlines. com

Yard Sale

2005-09-26T09:29:00.000-04:00

We had a fabulous yard sale and sold (or should we say. . .unloaded?) LOTS of stuff!

Our sale was motivated by:

A) Our upcoming move

B) Increasing household hazards encountered when closets or attic was opened and all of our piled up junk would come crashing down on you!

Yard Sale "Before" pic: Staging sale items in the garage.

Customers showed up even before dawn on Saturday!

Yard Sale "After" pic: Just about everything was sold!

Great Anticipation

2005-08-25T13:38:00.000-04:00

Click Here for More Family Pics

Thank you for praying for us over the summer months. We appreciate you so much! A special thanks to you who have prayed for Shannon's mom. Here is an update on her condition.

We have returned home from Colorado after serving at Campus Crusade’s National Staff Training Conference (see photos here). It was a very good experience! What two words would we use to summarize our time?

GREAT

”Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.”Psalm 145:2-4 (NIV)

We had asked you to pray for good times with the Lord. Several times during the summer we were impressed with the simple greatness of God. His greatness holds all things together. And, nothing ever exceeds His greatness. Catch a glimpse here of His greatness from "That's My King" - a re-creation of a sermon by S.M. Lockridge.

Amazingly, we are loved by this great God! Perhaps even more amazingly: He uses us to communicate His greatness to others.

ANTICIPATION
We were refreshed and renewed with a sense of anticipation. Through the conference and the many godly staff members from around the world with whom we came in contact, we were reminded of why we do what we do. It became crystal clear when Dr. Steve Douglass, President of Campus Crusade for Christ, described in detail the future direction of our organization:

Help build spiritual movements (of multiplying disciples for Christ) everywhere so that, one day soon, everyone will know someone who truly follows Jesus.

We exist to help fulfill the Great Commission. It is a huge task, yet it is ultimately the Lord’s task. Therefore, it is destined to be fulfilled. . . .Soon, we hope! Citing worldwide church planting and growth statistics as well as many amazing first-hand accounts of people receiving Christ in closed countries, Dr. Douglass said, “I believe God is stepping things up today.”

- View our photos from the conference here.

- View recent fun family photos here.

Serving Him with you,
~ David & Shannon + Avery, Addison & Toby
http://www.handsheadlines.com/
--------------------------------------------------------
The Hands
514 Benson Hurst Drive
Mableton, GA 30126
770-944-0036

Contributions:
Please make checks payable to “Campus Crusade for Christ” and mail to:

Campus Crusade Contributions
Account # 0438803
100 Lake Hart Drive
Orlando FL 32832

Online Contributions: HandsHeadlines.com/give.htm

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Click here for the homepage of our website, Hands Headlines. com

Photos from Colorado Conference

2005-08-24T14:55:00.000-04:00

Some views from the Staff Training Conference:

About 5,000 of our North American Staff plus nearly 7,000 of their children attended the conference. Worship times were rich! Click here to catch a glimpse.

It took several days of hard work to build the stage (above) and prepare lighting, audio and video for the conference.

Dr. Steve Douglass, President of Campus Crusade for Christ, spoke to us several times. His vision for the future direction of Campus Crusade is exciting.

Other speakers included: John Piper, Dr. Crawford Lorritts, Joe Stowell (pres of Moody Bible Institute), Alice Matthews and others. You can actually view the recorded conference sessions in their entirety for free at http://www.csuweb.org/archived.aspx (Sorry, John Piper's sessions are not included here)

Steve Douglass and wife Judy pause for a moment during the conference.

Dr. Douglass is joined by his daughters Debbi and Michele during a special prayer time for parents.

One of our favorite speakers was Dr. Crawford Loritts. He and his wife have been on staff with Campus Crusade for over 25 years. Later this year, Crawford will leave staff to pastor Fellowship Bible Church in North Atlanta. Click here to see more on this.

Crawford Loritts called to Fellowship Bible

2005-08-22T12:57:00.000-04:00

One of the happy/sad moments at the Campus Crusade Staff Conference this summer was praying for and sending out Dr. Crawford Loritts and his wife Karen to assume to pastorate of Fellowship Bible Church in north Atlanta. (Read their press release here)

Crawford is man who sincerely loves the Lord and has left a legacy. If you ever have the chance to hear him speak, it will be memorable for sure!

Update on Shannon's Mom

2005-08-22T12:41:00.000-04:00

Thank you for praying for Shannon's mom, Jerry Lee Eads. This has been a rough summer for her, but all in all we're so thankful for God's extreme faithfulness through it all.

Early this Spring, doctors discovered a 'spot' on one of her lungs - almost by "accident." After several, several consultations, tests and inconclusive evidence on what exactly the 'spot' was, they scheduled a surgical biopsy to remove it in June. During the surgery, they discovered the spot to be cancerous and at that time proceeded to remove the entire bottom half of her lung as a precaution. This is quite a drastic surgery - different from what she expected - and she was in the hospital for two weeks.

Never a smoker, Jerry says it's a mystery how the cancer developed. But, only as God can arrange, the doctors are confident they discovered it (by "accident") at its earliest possible stage of development.

Jerry has written out the story of her ordeal with all the cancer tests, lung surgery and slow recovery below:

Truly Blessed

My story started mid March, 2005 when I, along with several of our friends were all getting sick with a viral infection much like a cold that wouldn’t go away.
I found my way to my doctor’s office hoping mine was bacterial and that an antibiotic would be the “cure” I needed. You see, I took early retirement from Glaxo Smithkline Pharmaceuticals and I had been “sold” on the fact that an antibiotic would fix whatever hurt. Dr. Matt Gangwer informed me that as I had thought, the cold was viral and prescribed a decongestant along with some cough syrup, which I don’t recall ever getting filled.

A couple weeks later, I decided that I had been ill long enough and I found my way back to see Dr. Gangwer again thinking, my temperature may mean that I did need that antibiotic now.
Dr. G. knows me and just to satisfy me, he told me I was still with all the other people trying to kick this bug but that maybe we should do a white blood cell count along with complete blood work and a chest x-ray. I left his office empty handed but pleased that he was working on helping me get rid of the “crud”.

A week passed, and one afternoon, the phone rang and Glen answered to hear that my chest x-ray showed a spot on my right lung and they had me scheduled for a C.T.Scan on April 13th. After a brief scare, I went for the scan and a couple days later, I finally got my antibiotic. The radiologist thought the spot was pneumonia. I took a 10 day regimen of antibiotic and back to Dr. G. for another x-ray. From there, he recommended another C.T. Scan to be sure the pneumonia was gone.

The second scan was on May 13th. This scan still showed a spot but no one knew exactly what. Next, Dr. G. went more aggressive and ordered a P.E.T. Scan which shows any malignancy from the top of the skull to the thighs. This procedure was done in a Mobile that goes to the different local hospitals. They put lots of radio-active stuff in your body and let you set and rest while it goes through you. The scan then should show up the malignancy in a special color so the radiologist can easily recognize the problem areas. I was sure that was my “yes or no” turning point. “Yes”, I need to go further or “no”, it is not anything to worry about…probably just inflammation or scar tissue that has been there forever. My answer did not come back clear. It seems, the scan did not show the right color for cancer but it still shows something there in question.

Dr. G. then referred me to a pulmonary specialist, Dr. Lisa McKinney. My first visit with Dr. McKinney told me for sure that she was a very caring person and would do everything within her power to get to the bottom of this. She set me up for a “Broncscopy” where they go down in your lung with a camera and brush to check the cells around the area in question. This procedure went fine except when she got through, we still didn’t have an answer. Everything around the spot was clean per pathology but she couldn’t get all the way to where she needed to be so we still didn’t have a “Yes or No” situation..

Dr. McKinney’s next suggestion was to have a needle biopsy but I am quite leary of needles and opted to skip that trip. From there, she asked me to choose a Thoratic Surgeon for a second opinion. I choose Dr. Marcus Williams from the East Tenn State University teaching group. Dr. Williams has a wonderful reputation for doing Heart By-pass Surgery and I felt that I could certainly trust him with my lungs and if I should have a heart attack during surgery, the Doc would be right there.

Dr. Williams office was extremely nice and helpful. Dr. Williams was somewhat surprised at all the tests I had done and still not sure what they were dealing with but he told me that regardless whether the spot was malignant or benign, it would need to be removed because it could grow in my lung. The next thing I heard was me saying “just do it”. I am sure those words came from a higher calling.

I was in no way prepared at home or at my job with Necessary Oil Company to be away on medical leave without making arrangements. Also, I had signed up to help at Bible School the next week and it would put them in a bind to look for someone that late. However, Dr. Williams came back with a date on the calendar for the next Thursday, June 23rd approximately 11 a.m.at Johnson City Medical Center and this other voice I mentioned came out of my mouth agreeing to the time and place.

I scurried around to get some loose ends tied up at home and work and called the church to notify them that I was going to be a little “busy” during Bible School Week.
What Have I Done???

We went to bed earlier than usual because we had to be in Johnson City at 5:00 A.M. Friday morning. I walked into the hospital ready to take on the world feeling just super not dreading my surgery but just glad to finally get some closure on this shadow that had followed me since that chance meeting in March and now in June, I felt like we would soon know the “rest of the story”.

Well, surgery became a lot more involved than anyone expected. Dr. Williams recognized that my spot was malignant and proceeded to the next step which meant he would take the lower lobe of my right lung in order to remove the spot completely.

I don’t seem to ever do things the “simple” way. First, I had to have a couple units of blood. Well, I don’t really like having someone else’s blood, but at this point, I couldn’t thank God enough for that someone who had recently donated O-Negative Blood and it seemed to be there just for me. It was from the start of surgery, Murphy’s Law was with me. The first week was a roller coaster to say the least but the worse thing was an upper G.I. problem where I couldn’t eat for a few days, so back to hooking up the ole IV’s again and starting over.
To make a long story short – my hospital stay was 13 days and I lost 15 pounds which I couldn’t afford to loose (I only weighed 105 to start with).

Thankfully, on day 13, I finally got to leave the hospital at 6:00 pm. I was so happy to be home but yet so low on energy that I felt like staying in bed except for the fact that the bed wasn’t comfortable. I could only lie on my back and I have never been a back sleeper (either side will do- but not my back). Most of the time, I sat in the recliner or on the sofa with my feet propped up. I waited for bedtime and once in bed, I waited for morning to get up and try again. Comfort was a former way of life.

One week, two weeks, three weeks and finally four before I actually began to feel like I could be a little independent again and actually felt like doing a few things for myself.
I look back at those days and think how God was taking such good care of me. When my mind wanted to go, my body knew it needed rest and it stopped to rest and to heal. Above all the things that did go wrong, the main thing is how ironic it is that we found that tiny little spot and with all the grief it has caused my physical body, removing it has saved my life from the horror of lung cancer in a more advanced stage that probably would be past the operating stage. There was more to finding that little spot than humans take credit for. Dr. G. told me on my latest visit that he was sure that there was three of us in the room that day that he ordered the chest x-ray and that it showed up just large enough for the radiologist, Dr. Harold Ross, to see that there was a problem.

We have been so truly blessed by the one and only God who has protected us and given us another chance at life to the fullest to serve Him and to share with others my story of
how we have been “truly blessed”.

Special Family Pics

2005-08-20T10:45:00.000-04:00

Fun shots from this summer:

The girls enjoy an outdoor concert in Fort Collins.

Throwin rocks in the river!

Riding 'Sugar' at Papaw & Nana's house

Avery turned 6 in July.

Below are a few scenes from our 4th of July picnic and kids parade in Fort Collins:

Just good ol' summertime fun!

That's My King!

2005-08-19T10:19:00.000-04:00

Possibly one of the most powerful sermons of this century is also one of the shortest!

Dr. S.M. Lockridge (S.M. is for Shadrach Meshach - his real name!) was the Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, San Diego CA from 1953 - 1993. He entered heaven in 2000.

At the Campus Crusade Staff Conference this summer, we saw a moving audio-visual re-creation of Dr. Lockridge's sermon entitled "My King." Just under five minutes in length, it rivets your focus on our matchless King. Here is a link where you can listen to the audio and read the words to this sermon: http://www.bible-commentaries.com/source/audio/myking.htm We encourage you to listen to it at least two or three times. And worship Him.

You may also purchase an audio-visual slide show (slightly different from the one we saw this summer) for $15 at SermonSpice.com.

Made it to Colorado

2005-06-24T13:36:00.000-04:00

HANDS HEADLINES E-Letter

---------June 28, 2005 E-Letter: ----------------

We're in Ft. Collins, CO for about nine weeks this summer to help facilitate Campus Crusade's National Staff Training Conference. It happens every other summer and it's quite a highlight. 5,000 missionaries; 7,000 missionary kids; 30 Bible classes; 20 Worship sessions; A County Fair for the kids; and a partridge in a pear tree! :)

Here's a chronicle of our trip out here. . . including a quick weekend return to Atlanta for a close friend/neighbor's wedding!

JUNE 1
Depart Atlanta. Minivan fully loaded. Spend the night with 'Nana & Papaw' in Virginia.

JUNE 2
Fun trip to Dollywood with the grandparents

JUNE 3
Spent the night in Greenfield, Indiana at the KOA Campground. Enjoyed a real campfire, roasted hotdogs, gazed at numerous stars. Had a blast with our friends Dave & Lori Vaughan - the new proprietors of the campground. We highly recommend a visit with them if you're camping or just passing through (only 15 minutes from downtown Indianapolis).

JUNE 6
Arrived in Fort Collins!! Home of Colorado State University, home of Campus Crusade's National Staff Training Conference

JUNE 7
After arriving in Ft. Collins, we promptly visited a favorite place: WALRUS ICE CREAM! Possibly the best ice cream on the planet. New flavors everyday. Check them out at www.walrusicecream.com

Here's Toby enjoying his first ice cream cone! . . .and he didn't want to stop with only one!

JUNE 9

Were surprised by a brief hail storm which covered the ground with golf-ball sized hail. Was our new minivan damaged? (see it in the background)
. . . Thankfully, NO.

JUNE 11

We took a Saturday day-trip up to Rocky Mountain National Park - only about an hour from here. It was incredibly beautiful.

. . .And we saw some snow!!

No this is not a scanned postcard. We took this one! This is just one of the many lakes up in the park.

Sweeeeet!

We took a short hike with the kiddos. Toby rode in the backpack.

Seems like he got a lot heavier at 10,000 feet altitude! (and therefore Mom carried him!)

Dad posed for the photos.

Saw some elk, too!

JUNE 16
Flew back to Atlanta for a close friend/neighbor's wedding! 'Miss Andrea' has been babysitting for us since Avery was about 5 months old. Her parents are good friends and live in our neighborhood in Mableton.

JUNE 19
Returned to Fort Collins.

JUNE 26
That about brings us up to date!

Please pray for:

~ A refreshing time with the Lord this summer. Pray for our quiet times and times to read and reflect.

~ Our love for Jesus to grow deeper and for this to translate into a genuine love for people who are lost. (Luke 10:27; Duet. 6:5)

~ Pray for the National Staff Training Conference that it will be a time for renewed vision and strengthening for all our missionaries. They serve on the front lines every day and definitely need to be renewed and equipped.

~ Pray especially for several of our international missionaries (non-U.S. citizens) as they travel to the conference. They probably need this conference more than any of us, yet they risk the most to be here.

Looking forward to what God has in store,

~ David & Shannon + Avery, Addison & Toby

www.HandsHeadlines.com

--------------------------------------------------------

The Hands

514 Benson Hurst Drive

Mableton, GA 30126

770-944-0036

Contributions:

Please make checks payable to “Campus Crusade for Christ” and mail
to:

Campus Crusade Contributions

Account # 0438803

100 Lake Hart Drive

Orlando FL 32832

Online Contributions: HandsHeadlines.com/give.htm

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Click here for the homepage of our website, Hands Headlines. com

"Miss Andrea's" Wedding

2005-06-18T17:32:00.000-04:00

It was a true highlight and a real joy to be a part of Andrea & Justin Owen's wedding!

Avery and Addison had been eagerly anticipating being flower girls for months.

The girls love Miss Andrea!

Getting 'rolled' before the big show!

Ready, set, wait!

Practicing standing very still. . .

. . .and not so still!

The big moment with the bridesmaids

Celebrating with Andrea

Dancing with Mr. Justin at the reception

. . .and they lived happily ever after!

Lord Provides Minivan for Hand Clan

2005-05-21T17:36:00.000-04:00

HANDS HEADLINES E-Letter

---------May 21, 2005 E-Letter: ----------------

Q: Did you recently get a Minivan?
A: YES, praise the Lord. It’s a 2000 Honda Odyssey with 78,000 miles. It’s such a blessing and really an amazing story of how God provided it: We were running out of room in our family car (a ’93 Honda Accord) and knew we needed a larger vehicle for our trip this summer. In order to get a minivan, we had to( A) quickly sell David’s truck for needed funds and (B) trust the Lord for approximately $6000 in addition to that. Well, the truck sold in about 5 hours and then we received gifts for over $6000 in just 5 days! After we had the money, we looked to see if a particular van we had seen in the Autotrader magazine was still for sale. When we’d looked at this particular van (the one we ended up buying) about three weeks prior, we thought it would have quickly sold because it was immaculate and very appropriately priced. We called and it was still for sale. Not only that, the owners even lowered the price several hundred dollars!

Q: What did the Lord teach you through trusting Him for the van?
A: Our main prayer was that we would see GOD Himself in the provision more than the provision itself. He did just that. We've been humbled and amazed. People were not only quick to respond to our financial need but they also sent us such great encouragement which gave evidence to the amount of prayer people were lifting up on our behalf. God seemed to say to us, "I've gone to the extreme to make sure you have a wonderful eternal home with Me. Why would you doubt that I would provide such a small gift for you?"

Q: Now, what exactly are you going to be doing this summer?
A: We will be serving on a team of Campus Crusade staff members who “run” the National Staff Training Conference at Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colorado. It’s a huge conference which is held there every other summer. Over 5,000 staff and about 7,000 of the staff’s children will attend! We’ll be driving out on June 1st and will return around August 2nd.

Q: Why does Campus Crusade have their Staff Training Conference in Colorado? Also, why is it so important?
A: Even though Campus Crusade for Christ’s headquarters is in Orlando. FL, Colorado State University is practically the only location in the country which is available during the summers and large enough to host such a conference as ours. The conference is vital for our staff – missionaries who serve on the front lines every day. It’s an environment where they can experience needed refreshing and renewal. The conference also provides Bible and training classes which help them become more effective in ministry.

Q: Hey Kids! How do you like the new minivan? And, what have you been up to recently?
A: We love our new minivan! Some of our friends have already gotten to have a ride in it with us! Last weekend was Toby’s 1st birthday. He had cake! And it was also the weekend of our big dance recital. Pictures are on our website!

Grateful for you,

~ David & Shannon + Avery, Addison & Toby
--------------------------------------------------------

The Hands

514 Benson Hurst Drive

Mableton, GA 30126

770-944-0036

Contributions:

Please make checks payable to “Campus Crusade for Christ” and mail
to:

Contributions

Account # 0438803

100 Lake Hart Drive

Orlando FL 32832

Online Contributions: HandsHeadlines.com/give.htm

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Click here for the homepage of our website, Hands
Headlines. com

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Birthday and Dance Recital Weekend

2005-05-17T13:46:00.000-04:00

Last weekend we celebrated Toby's 1st Birthday! Also, on top of that, we attended Avery and Addison's Dance Recital - the culmination of their hard work all year. It was a joy to watch!

Enjoy the pictures:

btw, if you want to order the photo portraits taken by the professional photographer (not these above, taken by non-professional me!), here's the links for . . .

Addison - http://jackreece.dotphoto.com/CPViewAlbum.asp?AID=2444672

Avery - http://jackreece.dotphoto.com/CPViewAlbum.asp?AID=2444669

Minivan for Hand Clan

2005-04-21T20:51:00.000-04:00

This post is one small section of our personal website: http://www.HandsHeadlines.com - Visit there often for more updates. Thanks!

Finally, we admit it: we need a minivan.
Although we really enjoy our Honda Accord (what can beat its 34mpg!?) yet, as a family car, it is getting a little cramped. Especially on long trips.

~The Kids in Our Current Family Car – a 1993 Honda Accord with 180,000 miles. Although they’re normally very content back there (Toby isn’t showing it), we’re simply running out of room.

This summer we have the privilege of serving over 5000 Campus Crusade missionaries at our National Staff Training Conference (we served on this special Conference Team in 2003 as well). What this means for our family is packing up everyone (and our stuff) and driving out to Ft. Collins, Colorado for nine weeks! Hence, a minivan sure would be nice.

We’re trusting the Lord to provide the money for a used minivan. If there are extra funds available in our Campus Crusade donations account (currently there aren’t), we can request additional salary to cover the purchase.

As the Lord directs and enables you, would you consider giving a special gift of $1000, $500, $350 or any amount to help meet this need? If only 12 people gave $500 each, our need would be met.

As always, we appreciate you sharing this need with us in prayer. It will be exciting to see how and when the Lord responds!

If the Lord leads you to give, there are several easy options:

>> You can give right now online at our secure donation’s page: https://give.ccci.org/give?Action=ViewDetail&Desig=0438803

>> Give by phone (credit card) - Call toll free 1-888-CRUSADE (888) 278-7233

>> Send check by mail to
David & Shannon Hand
514 Benson Hurst Dr.
Mableton, GA 30126

>> There are other alternatives for giving (some tax-deductible, some not), just contact us at (770) 944-0036 or http://handsheadlines.com/contact.htm

Above all else, please pray for:

~ A relatively quick purchase of a good, used minivan.

~ We’ll be traveling together over 3,200 miles this summer as we drive to Colorado to serve on the Campus Crusade National Staff Training Conference Team. (We’ll share more on this in our next prayer letter)

~ We leave for Colorado in late May – for 9 weeks. Our desire is to have a minivan before then.

~ To procure some funds, we just sold David’s truck for $3600.

~ After using the above funds, we estimate we’ll still need roughly $6000 (depending on the purchase price of the van).

~ What kind of minivan are we looking for?
Used; Reliable; Clean; Able to last another 6 or 7 years; 1998 – 2002 year model; Between 60,000 to 95,000miles; Seating for 7 or 8

Gratefully yours,

David & Shannon

This post is one small section of our personal website: http://www.HandsHeadlines.com - Visit there often for more updates. Thanks!