Pizza Bible Study

The Bible study regulars quickly adapt to a new format.

It’s funny how things develop.

A friend convinced me to start a Bible study in Maidenhead. Then I started doing the same book (Revelation) in Hampton. Then I thought, “This book is hardly ever looked at in England. I would love to go public on this.” That led to moving the study to the Hampton Methodist Church and putting up signs around Hampton to advertise it.

As I put up signs I met two Iranians, both named Reza, who manage the Stone Willy’s Pizza store in the village. They wanted to come to the studies, but they get off work so late they couldn’t. Then one of them asked, “Why don’t you do the study here?” 

So we did, Wednesday night, June 15. The believers came out and ordered pizzas. Some brought friends. They listened as I explained the letter of Jesus to the church at Laodicea. The point was that the most important thing to have is not the wealth of this world, but to have a real, growing, intimate relationship with Jesus, to where He comes in and eats with you.

The fellow far left received Jesus. The other fellow is going to visit church Sunday.

One believer said it was the best thing he’d ever heard me do. Others asked for copies of the disk to give to others. One of the guests received Jesus. Another fellow is going to start coming to church. The two Rezas are very open and supportive. They said we could do this indefinitely.

All the way home, all I could say was, “Thank You.” I get to teach Revelation in public. The believers are into this. People are coming to the Lord. 

It’s funny how things develop.

Reza made this for me after the study. I am so glad Moses wrote,
"Do not muzzle the ox as it threshes out the grain."

A Little Procedure

The patient calmly awaits the call to do the procedure.
He is correctly wearing the hospital gown.

My father in law noticed what I thought was a slow healing wound on my neck. “I think you ought to have that looked at,” he warned. It was January; I was in Seattle. It would have to wait until I got back in February.

Back in England, I made an appointment for an examination, and learned that it was cancerous, but not malignant. “It will compromise the skin around it eventually, so it’ll have to go,” said the specialist.

So June 7 I got the growth removed. Joanie dropped me off at Kingston Hospital for the procedure. I had to put on a hospital gown. When the nurse told me I had it on backwards, I realized they still have the openings in the back. “I’ll be back in a minute to tie you in,” she called out. No you won’t, I thought, and figured it out myself real quickly.

How beautiful are the feet of him who wears the gown.

I wore my shoes and socks and the hospital gown down the corridor to the operating room. Top Forty tunes were playing on the radio. No classical?

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You (Isaiah 26:3), I kept repeating to myself as the surgeon did his job, which I won’t describe to you. It was pretty unnerving, to have him working on me with a local anesthetic.

That's the dressing post-op. It's a big scar now, but it's healing nicely.

Joanie picked me up afterwards and took me home. I couldn’t run for a week because I couldn’t shower. I didn’t want to get the dressing wet. Then I got the bandage off Monday. I’m getting back to a regular life, with one difference. I have started again eating apricot kernels rich in vitamin B17 that are supposed to prevent one from getting cancer. 

I really hope they work.