November 2, 2018
Dear friends,
On Tuesday morning family and friends said goodbye to a man who lived a full life, dedicated to serving God, family and others. Warren Gamble went to be with the Lord last Thursday, after being hospitalized for several weeks. I had the privilege of praying with him a few weeks ago and thought that he would soon be home with his dear wife, Lois. Instead, the Lord called him to his eternal home, where he is free from disease and pain. I will miss talking to him on our mutual birthday and discussing various sports. Warren was very knowledgeable about many things in life and I learned a lot listening to him.
At the celebration of life service on Tuesday, I learned that Warren had narcolepsy, a neurological disorder that affects the control of sleep and wakefulness, leading to excessive daytime sleepiness and intermittent, uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep during the daytime. One of the blessings (for me, at least) of visiting doctors is finding a variety of magazines in the waiting room. I recently found the August 2018 edition of National Geographic, in which there is an informative article by Michael Finkel, entitled “Want to Fall Asleep? Read This Story.”
Here is an excerpt: “Around 350 B.C., Aristotle wrote an essay, “On Sleep and Sleeplessness,” wondering just what we were doing and why. For the next 2,300 years no one had a good answer. In 1924 German psychiatrist Hans Berger invented the electroencephalograph, which records electrical activity in the brain, and the study of sleep shifted from philosophy to science. It’s only in the past few decades, though, as imaging machines have allowed ever deeper glimpses of the brain’s inner workings, that we’ve approached a convincing answer to Aristotle. Everything we’ve learned about sleep has emphasized its importance to our mental and physical health. Our sleep-wake pattern is a central feature of human biology—an adaptation to life on a spinning planet, with its endless wheel of day and night. The 2017 Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to three scientists who, in the 1980s and 1990s, identified the molecular clock inside our cells that aims to keep us in sync with the sun. When this circadian rhythm breaks down, recent research has shown, we are at increased risk for illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease, and dementia.” In case you didn’t know, Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend.
Some tremendous news is that the Supreme Court of Pakistan ruled this week that Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, be released from her long incarceration. For more details, please visit: https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2018/october/asia-bibi-free-pakistan-blasphemy-death-supreme-court.html.
Scripture for the weekend: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.” 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 (NASB)
Thought for the weekend: “Scripture teaches that when a person dies, the body does fall asleep, but the ‘real person’ is immediately transported either to heaven or hades. The souls of believers will rejoin their bodies at the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) to live with Christ forever in heaven, while the souls of unbelievers will be reunited with their bodies at the Great White Throne Judgment to suffer eternal torment (Revelation 20:11-15).” – Mark Hitchcock (from his book “55 Answers to Questions About Life After Death”)
By His grace,
Steve