Brent's back

Last night we were setting up at church and Brent messed his back up pretty bad. For those of you who do not know, he has had back problems off and on. A few years ago, his back gave out in Bartlesville and he was in bed for at least a week. I can't remember exactly how long it was now. We saw a neurosurgeon in Bartlesville whose opinion was that he should wait as long as possible for surgery but that ultimately he will need it one day. His dad had back surgery a few years ago, so it seems that it is genetic. The doctor in Bartlesville said he has the back of a fifty year old, plus he has two degenerated discs. So last night while we were setting up for church, he did something while lifting. After we were done setting up, we came home and he took a muscle relaxer and laid down. We woke up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready for church, he and absolutely could not stand without excrutiating pain - pain enough that it brought tears to his eyes. We were a little stressed to say the least. Eric's last Sunday was last week ,and while he probably would have come to help, he was/is in Seattle so he could not. We don't have anyone in our group that we know of who can teach, especially at the very last minute. We already knew that another "retired" pastor friend who has taught at Kaleo before was leading worship at his home church, so we were really at a loss. We thought we might show something of Craig Groeshel - what an amazing man who is willing to let others use resources from lifechurch.tv at no cost - but when we went to download it, it showed that it would take too long to download, so that option was out. So, we called our coach and friend, David, at 5:30 a.m. I got in the shower and started praying that if I was going to have to talk, God would give me something to say and settle my anxiety over all that was going on in our lives, all the time really praying that God would just fix the situation or make me sick also!!! My nerves were shot. But God provided! I received a phone call at 7:15 from a man at David's church who stated he would be willing to come and speak. He had just delivered a message at his church that fits with the new series Brent was starting today. What a willing servant - to come and give of himself at such late notice. We are so grateful for people who are just willing to say yes when God calls them to something. He got up and introduced himself and stated that he is not a great speaker. All I could think was that God was using him despite what he thinks are weaknesses, just because he was willing to go when called! So we made it through the morning, and all I had to do was stand up and tell everyone where my husband was and give a couple announcements. Yay!!!

Please pray that Brent's back would start feeling better quickly and that we would know what steps to take next. Surgery right now seems like bad timing, but when is good timing? I would rather he get to feeling better and get some exercise and see if it can just wait a little longer, though.