“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.” (I Thessalonians 1:2)
The Day the Students Taught Class
I received a call from the pastor a few minutes before church, asking me if I would be willing to fill in and teach a Sunday school class, as the teacher’s wife had just gone into labor and they were on the way to the hospital. Happily, I agreed to do so. Little did I know what was about to transpire. There were four young men in class that morning, ages 8-11. One was a visitor who had come with his grandparents. He had attended the church’s Fall Harvest Festival the night before and stayed the night with his grandparents so he could come to church on Sunday. The boys asked if they could have a “Sword Drill,” so I called out “John 3:18, John 3:18 – Ready, Set, Go!” The boy that got the verse stood up and began to read, but he mispronounced the word condemned as commanded. I didn’t correct him until the end. I instructed him to look at that word again and read it carefully, and this time he pronounced it correctly and asked, “What is condemned?” I asked the class, “Does anyone know what that word means?” Another boy said, “That means you will go to Hell to pay for your sins, because you haven’t believed.” Tray, the visitor, looked up at me with tears welling up in his eyes, “Teacher, I don’t want to go to Hell!” I said, “Oh Tray, you don’t have to!” “Class, let’s show Tray how he can go to Heaven.” One by one, the boys began to show Tray verses about our sin, about Jesus dying to pay for that sin, about eternal life being free because of Jesus, and about how he could have eternal life by believing on Jesus like John 3:18 said. After a short while, Tray bowed his head and called on the Lord Jesus! With his tears now gone and a big smile on his face, I asked him, “Where are you going when you die?” Tray replied, “Heaven.” So, I asked the class, “Is Tray condemned or not condemned?” “Not condemned anymore,” came the reply back. Amen! God’s divine hand never ceases to amaze me!
Things changed rapidly going into September. My wife’s second round of chemotherapy had to be stopped abruptly after three doses due to severe neuropathy. They then elected to move on to surgery. The doctors said the surgery was successful, and they think they were able to get all the cancer. Praise the Lord! That’s what we were hoping and praying for. They are following up with scans now to see if the cancer traveled anywhere else in her body. The doctor is especially concerned about her brain because that’s usually the first place this type of cancer goes. She will be starting radiation and immunotherapy soon. They tell us these are both preventative procedures, just in case something microscopic got away.
We believe and are hoping that most of the immunotherapy can be done in Thailand. I need to be in Thailand by January 14 to begin the visa renewal process. There are a lot of hoops to jump through to accomplish this. There is a small window that is open now, and the timing is right. Please pray that the Lord would help us in this matter and in the working out of all the details. My wife will need to follow at a later time, hopefully by March. My 25-year-old son Titus will be going with me so that I won’t have to be there alone. I will be checking with the hospitals in Thailand about the immunotherapy and needs concerning my wife.
Thank you for all your faithful prayers and support!
Yours for His harvest,
Andrew Long
Romans 10:14
