A Faith Journey Continues

This was originally posted in April 2011. Enjoy!

I arrived in Ohio on February 6th and started work on the 14th but couldn't open up an insurance policy until the 28th. Between February 28th and March 25th I was on the phone constantly as I just kept hitting roadblocks that were keeping the cost of my meds up around the $3000 mark. On March 25th I was preparing to send an appeal to Blue Cross but I had an appointment with my new neurologist that morning. I explained the situation and how dire it was. (I had contacted my manager in Colorado in the event that I could not stay here). She took my information and filed the appeal for me Friday afternoon. She said it would take 48 to 72 hours for it to process so because it was Friday we most likely wouldn't hear anything until Tuesday. The weekend passed and I called them Monday morning to remind them how big this was. When the nurse called me back she said that they had responded Monday morning! Excluding the weekend, they had responded in less than 24 hours! We have an amazing God!

This whole situation has been engulfing and I've been thinking a lot about it from many different angles. I've spent $500 out-of-pocket and there were a couple of times hat God brought verses to mind to encourage me. At one point God brought 1 Corinthians 10:13 to mind. "God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape so that you will be able to endure it." The way of escape he would provide amounted to where he would have me go. Whether in Ohio or Colorado, God was in control. One morning I was really down and Satan was trying to discourage me. I knew what he was doing and was combating it with positive talk. That wasn't what was needed. As I tried to convince myself that Satan was wrong I just stopped. "Why am I even thinking about this?" "Get behind me Satan!" Then I started trying to remember verses and God brought to mind Proverbs 3:6 "In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He will direct thy paths." It hit me. The insurance was my "path" and I just had to acknowledge him and let him work. Of course this realization took just a few seconds to come to and as soon as that happened then I remembered verse 5. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." Again. I was stopped in my tracks. My acknowledging that God was in control was evidence of trust.

Abraham has been a source of inspiration to me over the last few months. When God told him to go he went. His contingency plan was that God would provide. On the mountain with Isaac it was again the same. "God will provide." But let's face it. We really don't know much about Abraham. Sure there are some stories about him in the old testament but by in large we don't know much. However, we know he lived over 100 years. A lot can happen in 100 years! I wonder how many times during that century on earth Abraham had to come up with a contingency plan. We know about a couple of his plans that involved him lying and that didn't go over very well. What about the others we don't know about? I think God was asking me to develop a contingency plan to stay here. After all, He got me here. He took care of the meds and found me a church (.6 miles away from my apartment) all in the first two months of my move.

When I was at the Doctor's appointment on Friday morning the doctor told me that one of the medications I take, Keppra, has a generic form that is no different then the brand name. I was leery about it because I've had bad experience with the generic Dilantin. But since the doctor is very good and knows her stuff I've switched to the generic Keppra. The plus is that the price to get it filled was $4. Not going to argue with that! More importantly though, I've been sticking to the "brand name only" position for a long time. God is asking me to give that to him. It's an area of my life that I really didn't ever think I'd need to give to God. Sounds weird to even say that. Not only is God bigger then insurance companies but he's bigger then generic drugs too! God can protect me with generic drugs just as he has on the brand name. Plus, it has brought my cost per month on the drugs down immensely.

This past week my computer was in the shop so I was journaling the old-fashioned way, with a pen on paper. Weird! As I was sitting on the couch writing about this whole generic thing God again brought a verse to mind. Proverbs 3:5b. "Lean not on your own understanding" . Whoa! My understanding is that generic drugs don't work with me. But what if God knows something I don't? Who am I kidding? H created the mind that created the generic drug!

In Judges 8:27 Gideon has beaten the Midianites with just 300 men. An amazing story! I heard it in Sunday School growing up but I never heard this:

"And Gideonmade an ephod of it and put it in his city,^(B) in Ophrah. And all Israel^(C) whored after it there, and it became a^(D) snare to Gideon and to his family."

I had to look up the word ephod. It was an apron that the priest would wear but it was also an object that was worshiped. An idol. I heard a pastor say once that you worship what you focus on. For Gideon and his family it was an idol. Is it which kind of drug I should take for me? Would I stoop that low? I did. The generic verses brand name was too much of a focus and would've become a real snare. Inevitably I wouldn't have been able to see God work. He is working and will continue to!

A Faith Journey

My last week in Colorado Springs was very busy. When I started looking into this move I had been watching Kaiser Permenante's web site to see what states they were in. I saw that they were in OH and since it didn't specify an area I thought it included the entire state. Some would (and did) say that I should have looked into the insurance in more depth and to a point they are right. I think God had another plan in mind though. I believe all he wanted was for me to see that Kaiser was in Ohio because from the time that I came to the realization that God was opening the door for me to leave Colorado Springs he has been working in many ways. He was actively working to get me prepared for this move. From sermons to my devotions he was continually impressing on me the desire to make this move. I've considered myself a sort of Abraham. Imagine if you will Abraham living in the land of Ur. God has told him he wants him to move but didn't reveal where. The week Abraham leaves he goes up to the gate of the city and is talking to the guys.

"Abraham! Word around town is that you're moving. Where are you going?"

"I don't know. God hasn't told me yet."

"Okay. Do you at least know what direction you're going?"

"Nope. God hasn't told me yet. I'll get up on the day I leave and God will direct me."

I can see these guys thinking that Abraham is off his rocker. God told me he wanted me to move and with all he's done I'd be crazy to say it wasn't his will.

Everything was going well until my last week. The insurance issue rose its ugly head and threatened to nix the move. My boss was even holding a spot for me just in case it fell through. I had a hard time believing that God would have brought me through all this, working in specific ways to make this move happen, and then turn around and say "Gotcha! I was just teasing." No. He would and did work it out. i won't go though all the red tape I had to go through but I will say that when it looked like the move wasn't going to happen God came through. My last Friday I went to church on Friday night and the speaker's message was this: "Wherever you go, whatever you do, carry the name of Jesus." Then Sunday in my devotions I read about Isaiah seeing God work within the pressure of his circumstances. As I was getting ready for church on Sunday morning I kept hearing songs on the radio that reinforced the peace I have about this move.

Now as has been the case around the country (and world for that matter) there has been some pretty crazy weather. In Colorado Springs on Monday it was -14 degrees with a windchill of -44. Tuesday the Midwest was getting pounded with snow and all the flights into Minneapolis were rerouted. My flight was rescheduled for the following morning at 630. We got on the place and because it was -12 the engine didn't want to start and all the water in the plane was frozen. This caused a two-hour delay as they thawed all the pipes because as the pilot said "If the pipes burst, ice will form in the bottom of the plane and things will start to fall off." I ended up getting to Dayton about two hours after I was supposed to. But I did get here and am sitting on the couch in my apartment. I start work Monday night. The adventure continues!

A Crazy Awesome Development

The story of my move to OH continues...


In April 2011 I was getting to the point in my partial refill where I needed to get the rest of it. So I called to get it refilled and found out that the prescription was wrong which meant I ran out too soon and insurance would not cover it until the 11th. Plus the price was no longer $394. It was $700. Not good. So I called Medco and told them that I had received a letter from them stating that my copay had been lowered and yet I was being asked to pay $700. So the lady went into my case file and noticed that there was a discrepancy. If I understood her correctly when the Lamictal was entered in the system they didn't know the strength or it was for the wrong strength. Whatever the case, because it wasn't the correct strength I was getting charged for the wrong strength. It's really hard to explain. The point is I was paying too much because of a mistake. Okay. SO she went in and made the necessary adjustments and told me to call the pharmacist and have him run it again and the copay should come up correctly. Now as I may have stated in my previous post the price after the appeal was $394. Unreasonable but manageable. On April 7 I called the pharmacy and had them run the script. Total price: $157.00!!!! So now, because I'm on the generic Keppra and am being slowly taken off the Dilantin my TOTAL cost for drugs will be $161.00 a month! That's a far cry from the $400 plus I would've been paying and is actually the price quoted to me before I even left Colorado! We have an amazing God and he is still working! Gotta love it!

My Favorite Walmart Memory

I was going to Finlandia University in Hancock, MI for a semester and was working at Walmart unloading trucks. We had finished unloading for the day and were working freight in the pet department. Now while working if I needed to get past a woman of any age (but especially college age students) I would say "Excuse me ladies." On this particular day a lady was standing next to the fish tanks with her daughter. When I walked by I said, "Excuse me ladies." As I walked away I heard the girl (I have no idea how old..maybe five) say, "He called me lady!" WOW!!! In the 18 years with Walmart/Sams Club THAT was the coolest thing that has ever happened to me  Okay. Enough reminiscing for one night. It's time for bed.

A Wedding Day to Remember

No. Not my wedding. Although I'm sure that if that day ever comes it will certainly be a day to remember! However, that hasn't happened yet so I'll just go with what I've got. This story is about the wedding of Jon and Katriina Hopper. Actually, to be more specific, the day of the wedding of Jon and Katriina Hopper.

The date was August 17, 2002. It was a beautiful day in Upper Michigan. Sunny and 70 degrees. Perfect weather for a wedding! One catch. In Phoenix, MI that day there were wind gusts clocked at 97 mph. This made it very interesting and ended up playing a major role in the events of the day. The wedding was held at an Apostolic church in Laurium. The ceremony went well and a private camp on the shore of Lake Superior had been reserved for the reception. I think it was about a 15 to 20 minute drive out there to the camp. Not sure on that one though. I do know that I started to drive out there but knowing how easy it is for me to get turned around I decided to go back to the church and follow Jon's Dad, Charlie out there. Charlie and Jon run a web site (http://www.pasty.com/) on which they have pictures, web cams, bulletin boards and most importantly, they bake and sell pasties (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty) . They must be pretty good. They've shipped almost 480,000 pasties to all 50 states in the last 11 years! Because they bake them, ship them, and sell them it only stands to reason that Jon would supply pasties at the reception, and he did. His dad and I got everything together to take to the reception and headed out.

While we were en route the wedding party was getting their pictures taken and were late getting to the reception. They were late because a tree had fallen (http://www.pasty.com/discuss/messages/994/1470.html) across the only road they could use to get to the reception. (One of the disadvantages to living in an area with only two main highways, both going in the same direction) Jon and Katriina were the first to arrive because Jon just drove around it in his Jeep Wrangler. Oh to have a Jeep! The rest of the wedding party arrived soon after that. The wedding pictures taken at the reception captured Jon in rare form. The wind made it look like he had just rolled out of bed. I asked him why he had worn his tuxedo to bed and he said it was in case he overslept. :-) I guess he wanted to make sure he wasn't late! Good call, Jon!

After the reception ended I was helping to clean up and the power went out. Wind gusts off the lake were still causing havoc. We loaded my car with all of the gifts as well as some stuff that needed to be brought back to the church and headed out. (For the record, to that point, I had never had that much stuff in my Intrepid. The trunk was full as were both the front and back seats.) we arrived back at the church and started to unload the chairs and tables that had been used. As we pulled the first 8 foot table out the wind caught it and it moved like a flag in the wind. Had I not had a good grip on it, it would've taken off down the street. So we quickly unloaded the rest of the chairs and tables and then I had to drive up to Eagle River where Jon lived to drop off the gifts. By now it was dark and when I got to Jon's house it was almost midnight. As many times as I had been through there at night the days events were taking their toll. I was exhausted. The wind was still pushing some massive gusts and M26 had become a wind tunnel.
It must've been around midnight when I finally arrived at Jon's house to drop off the gifts. He and his wife were at a Bed & Breakfast and family that had come in for the wedding were staying at his house. Because of the late hour I figured that all the lights were off in the house because everyone was in bed. I was right...sort of. I had noticed that there was an oil lamp burning on the mantle and my thought was that it had been left on because it looked nice. It most likely had been left on for me but there was a bigger reason for it. The power was out. The oil lamp was on because nothing else worked. I walked in the living room and tried to turn on the light. It didn't work. I figured it was a blown fuse. I walked through the living room, into the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator door before I realized the power was out. The ironic thing its that the whole town was without power and so the streetlights weren't even on. Yet it still took me having to open a refrigerator door to figure out he power was out.
In total I drove 100 miles that day but given the events of the day, the uniqueness of it, and the paticipants involved, it was well worth it. The coolest thing though is that Jon is even a better friend now and he and Katriina are still very happily married.

An interesting day

My small group (Adam Jared, Jon, and myself) and I decided that we were going to use this Saturday (today, August 14th) to go on a hike. So we left this morning around 8am. We had hiked for quite some time an we weren't quite sure where exactly we were but we knew the direction we needed to go as we had a GPS so we started trailblazing. After awhile we came to a creek which we quickly crossed. Of course I didn't make it across without completely submerging my boots, but such is life.

We crossed the creek and came to a relatively steep slope. Jared was leading and so he started up the hill. After making it the majority of the way up he stopped to make sure Adam and I made it up safely.

The ground on the slope were climbing was,in one major part at least, essentially all gravel and very slippery. I made my way up slowly to a set of large rocks. My intention was to climb them as they seemed to be a solid footing. I took one step on the rock and it broke in half. I was in front of it so I wasn't harmed. Adam, however, was behind me. Now when I say rock I mean boulder. It was about the size of a 27 inch TV. I had told Adam what I was about to do so he knew what to expect and was watching me. As a result he saw the rock break and come right at him NOT a pleasant sight! I highly recommend staying away from watching a large boulder roll toward a good friend (or anyone for that matter). I jumped/slid down the slope to where he had stopped. It looked like it had hit him square and I was concerned that he had broken something or worse. Thank God he was alive! The rock had hit him in the shoulder puncturing a hole in the skin. His hand was also pretty messed up and there was a nice mark on his leg as well. After very slowly getting him down the hill and out to the road we took him to the hospital where they cleaned him up. The skin on his hand looked like white stones were covering it and underneath the skin there was mess of dirt and rocks. They were cleaning his hand for maybe 30 minutes. At one point he started bleeding and the blood was bringing dirt out. When all was said and done he went home with several stitches in his hand, leg and shoulder. Praise God it wasn't worse! I don't know how I would've reacted had that rock killed him or done worse damage then it did. However, all in all it was a fun day.

The Yield Sign

    So previous to my major crash last week I had a minor a couple weeks before.  As usually I was riding my bike to work.  I was coming down a hill on the sidewalk, using both front and back brakes to keep my speed down.  As I reached the bottom of the hill I went slowed to cross the street.  I glanced behind me to see the traffic.  I was too close to the edge of the sidewalk and I ran into a Yield (ironic don't you think?) sign.  Not something I recommend.  Fortunately I had a couple layers of clothes on as well as a backpack, taking the brunt of the impact.  So there ya have it.  Yet another crash to add to my portfolio.  I probably should just ride a bus.  Nah!  I need the exercise.  I've got  more stories I want to share but I need sleep.