oasisCHURCH

Melilla Jones

This precious little girl is the daughter of Travis and Emilie Jones, Oasis members and missionaries to Bulgaria. Oasis has a very special bond with this family, and although we are presently separated by several miles, we will be walking closely with them in the days ahead. You may have heard by now the news that Melilla (3 years old; turns 4 in April) has been diagnosed with Leukemia. Travis and Emilie were planning to move to Bulgaria next month, and now their plans have drastically changed for a few years. In these coming days we will be remembering Melilla in prayer as often as we gather together as a church, and we ask that you, individually and with your family, take time out to pray for her.

Travis and Emilie have begun a web journal at CaringBridge. If you would like to bookmark the page, here is the link. I will allow Travis to tell you Melilla's story. We will most certainly keep you updated with her progress at all Oasis gatherings and via email and bethechurch.com.

Here is how Travis describes Melilla's diagnosis:

In early January 2009 Melilla got a fever and a bad cough. The fever went away, but the cough persisted.

We took her to a pediatrician and she got some medicine for bronchitis...however, the cough wouldn't go away and the fever returned.

We went back to the doctor and they ran some X-rays and blood work to check for pneumonia. However, what they found was that she was anemic and her blood counts were all out of whack.

So they admitted us to the hospital and did a bone marrow test and diagnoses her with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

She is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments at the Childrens Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center in Long Branch, NJ.

The prognosis is positive and ALL is the easiest form of leukemia to treat, control, and cure! We've got a long road ahead, but in all likelihood Melilla will grow to have a normal, healthy life.

The faith and peace that the Jones family is displaying in all of this is such an amazing testimony to the grace of God. Travis & Emilie, we are so encouraged by you. We hope that we will be an encouragement and a refuge for you.

+++ Lord God, You reign supreme over all things, over all sickness, over all disease. There is nothing that occurs in this life that takes you by surprise, and we are comforted in the fact that you hold everything in your sovereign hands. You have not left us here to figure out how to handle things in this life on our own. You do not sit back idly and watch us unfold the pages of history. Your hand is doing the writing. Your hand is actively involved in our lives. We know that Your hand is with Melilla even now. We do not know all the answers to all the questions, but we rest assured that You are not far away. You are near. We rest in the knowledge that You love little Melilla even more than her own parents possibly could. Fo you knew here before she was formed in her mother's womb. She has been fearfully and wonderfully made. She is Your child. Travis and Emilie have been so faithful to raise Melilla in the knowledge and love of Jesus. Even at a young age she is a worshipper, in spirit and in truth. We pray that You would agree with the prayers of your people and instantly remove the leukemia from Melilla's body. But even more so, we pray that your people would agree with with You and come to greater realization of Your glory during this time in Melilla's life. Give our brother Travis and our dear sister Emilie the peace which surpasses all understanding. Help them to rest in your grace. Hold them up when they are weak. May they find strength in the Gospel of Christ alone. Be their source. Be their peace. For we pray all of these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. +++

Tonight's thoughts...

I 'm sitting here at my desk at a very awful hour and yet, I find myself going over some things that really have struck a chord for me. I have been thinking about Louie Giglio's message "Indescribable" and just how true his message is.

Louie tells about how great God's universe is and about just how small and insignificant we really are. God is completely sovereign...Who has authority over God? Who has power over God? Nobody! God is the creator of everything and we are just a tiny speck, not even big enough to be called microscopic, in the whole of God's creation. Now, I know many people could find that as a discouraging thing; I did at first. But I have gotten to thinking about it from a new perspective.

Pastor John Piper has said that living in America is possibly the hardest place in the world to be a christian...and I believe he is right. Piper did not mean that we have more threats and dangers to face here than anywhere else. Obviously it is more dangerous to be a christian in one of the many places in the world where christians are killed just for being christian. What He meant is that unlike most other places in the world, America is a place where we have a whacked out sense of self that really can make it difficult to truly see God as infinitely valuable above all things.

Looking at everything that we have been able to see of God's creation, it makes it obvious that we are very small. We could blow up this planet tomorrow and honestly, the universe would still be here just as if nothing had happened. The problem is that we don't always see that. We are by nature a very selfish people here in america. We have that "American Way" type of thinking that we can be self made and important based on our freedoms that our country give us.

I believe that the idea that we are small and insignificant in all of creation is very uplifting. What makes that so amazing is something simple, yet extremely important and profound. God looks at us...as unimportant and small as we are, and has made the decision to love us and to value us and to care about us...so much so that he sent his Son here to die both for our sins and to display the greatness of the glory of his grace to us. If you think of us as having great value in and of ourselves, you lose a bit of just how amazing that really is. God has given us worth and knows us each by name and loves us and cares for us...even though we are in and of ourselves completely worthless. THAT is something that is truly indescribable.

Now..to go to the flipside of this. I was in a discussion earlier this evening with a friend and our topic was sin. I won't go into the details for the sake of not turning this into a book, but put yourself in the mindset that we are of no value other than the value that God gives us. Think about how amazing that grace and love is that we do not deserve. Now...think about how much it has to disappoint God and how hurtful it is to God when we sin. The bible says that God DETESTS sin. I know it is sometimes hard to truly grasp how horrible sin is. I struggle with that all the time...When I thought of this tonight, I nearly was brought to tears...God does so much for us when we deserve nothing...yet we continue to sin.

Thinking about all of this has made me aware of just how badly I need to recommit myself to God; not just now, but every day. God is the one who truly holds everything together. As the song says "Jesus paid it all. ALL to Him I owe." We owe everything to God. My prayer is that this 'rant' of mine is used by God to touch somebody and that it is used by God to help lead others to have the same passion to recommit themselves to the Lord of all...The one we owe EVERYTHING to. God bless you!

Worship

On the first Sunday of the new year, Chad opened up our time of worship with a powerful message about the importance and the meaning of worship. He reminded us that worship is a PRIVILEGE and that God is truly indescribable.

Click hear to listen to Chad's worship message