Dave Lowe

May 5, 2015

Starstruck

Waiting at UCLA to meet with the Rheumatologist

This last week marked the one year anniversary of the current health journey that we have been on. I remember vividly being in Nashville when Jen began experiencing sharp pains in her chest that landed her in the ER. I remember my friend Mark Short, who was a student years ago during our University of Arizona days and who also happens to now live near Nashville, adjusting his schedule on a moment’s notice to come and visit us in the hospital. I also remember my fears and anxieties being relieved when the doctor told us that he believed that Jen was suffering from walking pneumonia.

Of course that was just the beginning of the journey. There have been 5 hospital stays, countless doctor visits, chemo-therapy infusions, biopsies, endless tests and procedures and enough blood drawn it seems to fill an empty blood bank.

After Jen’s last flare in January landed her back in the hospital for a week, we were advised by our Pulmonologist to seek more advanced medical care and treatment from experts at a teaching hospital. We ended up setting up some appointments at UCLA and that has been very helpful for Jen in the course of her treatment.

Last month, we had two appointments at UCLA that were helpful and encouraging. The first appointment was scheduled during the first day of spring break so it became an all day family event. We made the best of our time in L.A. by spending a day at Universal Studios, which the boys were pretty excited about.

Joshua (left) and Jacob in front of the Scooby Doo Mystery Machine at Universal Studios.

The next week we were back at UCLA for a full day of tests followed by a consultation with the Pulmonologist. Jen got a CAT Scan of her lungs and also had a Pulmonary Function Test.

When we met with the doctor, he showed us the image of the CAT Scan and compared it side by side with the image of her lungs when she was in the hospital in January. The difference was noticeable. Her lungs now look more clear.

However, Jen’s Pulmonary Function Test results showed that there is still some kind of restriction. The doctor said that could be the result of some lingering inflammation or it could be the result of nearly a year of being pretty inactive and sedentary. We remain hopeful that Jen’s lung capacity will increase over time.

Near the end of our appointment, we met with the head of the Pulmonary group, a doctor named John Lynch. Apparently, Dr. Lynch is one of the leading experts on Vasculitis in the United States. He told us that Vasculitis is pretty rare, with only 3 to 7 cases per million each year. That means there are probably only about 1000-2000 cases of it each year in the U.S. Because of that, he said it’s good to get treatment from doctors who are very familiar with the disorder.

He also told us that based on his observations and Jen’s test results, he thought she might be in remission. That was certainly good news – probably the most positive news we’ve heard in the last year!

Later in the week, when Jen met with her local Pulmonologist, he seemed star struck when Jen told him that we had met with Dr. Lynch. His comment, in an excited tone was, “You met with John Lynch! Wow! I spoke with him at a conference once!”

After our appointment, Jen and I went to dinner at a local mall in hopes of avoiding the rush hour traffic on our way home.

Dave & Jen pause to take a picture with Millhouse from the Simpsons at Universal Studios.

As we were exiting the restaurant, I walked right by Bob Newhart, who was walking with his wife into a different restaurant. Jen had already walked past him without noticing. Starstruck, I caught up to her and in an excited voice exclaimed, “Jen, we just walked right past Bob Newhart!” I guess it’s just a fun footnote of our trips to L.A.

Jen is continuing with her current treatment and continues to lower her dosage of Prednisone, which is now being reduced at a slower rate. She is now taking 9 mg per day.

The main issues now are continuing to build lung capacity, while hoping and praying that the many side effects of Prednisone will begin to subside. Among the side effects we are hoping will dissipate are blurred vision, bursitis in the knees, water retention and weight gain, and loss of hair.

Please pray with us for Jen’s continued recovery. Pray both for increased lung capacity and also that her body will be healed of the many negative side effects of Prednisone. Pray especially for perseverance as the recovery process often feels like 2 steps forward and 1 step backward.

Please pray for healing from a minor surgery Jen had to remove a skin cancerous mole as well as a tooth extraction and permanent implant that will be coming up in the near future.

As always, we are grateful for your continued prayers, support and many notes of love and encouragement!

Click here to read the pdf version of The Lowedown.

April 1, 2015

Stripped

Last month we learned that our insurance company had been victims of a massive data breach and that the personal information of everyone in our family has been compromised. Of course our worst fear is that someone might use that information to commit identity theft.

In this age of technology and social media our identity is more important than ever. We go to great lengths to ensure we’re protected financially from those who would steal our vital information for their own personal gain. We also want to protect our reputation. I have a doctor friend who has a very low profile on Facebook simply because he doesn’t want anyone else creating a false identity of him online that might negatively affect his reputation.

I’ve been thinking a lot about identity recently. I’m not talking about the ethnic and age demographic information that seemingly everyone wants to know these days. I’m talking about where we get our value – where we get our identity and sense of worth from.

For most men, value, worth, identity often come from our jobs or our achievements. It might be a diploma from a prestigious school that is proudly displayed so that everyone can see it. Or it might be a car that represents a certain financial and social status. Or maybe it’s a house in a certain neighborhood that projects a certain status to others. Regardless of what it is, many people gain their sense of worth and value from external things such as our family or our job or some other material things.

I think this last year has been a refining period where the Lord has been slowly stripping me of the things that have tended to give me value and self-worth. I don’t have a fancy car or house and that chiseled physique seems to continually elude me, but for the last 25 years I’ve had a ministry that has enabled me to feel productive and fruitful and therefore valued. There was never a shortage of stories of someone who had trusted in Christ or who had experienced some radical life transformation.

This last year, with the challenges we’ve faced in our family and struggling to get a new ministry off the ground, I’ve found those stories harder to come by. It’s forced me to reflect more deeply than ever and ask myself where my identity lies.

I’ve been reading through the New Testament and in Mark chapter 1, Jesus goes out to the desert to be baptized by John. When He comes up out of the water, the Spirit descends on Him in the form of a dove and the Lord speaks, “You are my Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased.”

I find it comforting to realize that the Father spoke these words before Jesus had performed any miracles, or healed any sick people. Jesus hadn’t cast out any demons yet, taught to any large crowds or paid for the sins of the world. Jesus had done NOTHING. And yet, the Father affirms His identity (You are my Son), affirms security through unconditional love (whom I love) and also affirms value (with You I am well pleased).

As it turns out, the best story of transformation we have to offer these days are examples from our own lives.

Thank you for the part you have played and are playing in our own transformation. Please pray that as the Lord continues to strip and refine and prune our character, that it would result in lives that are more fruitful and glorifying to Him!

Jen’s Health Update

Jen is tapering down on her dosage of Prednisone and so far it appears that this new immunosuppressant she has been taking is working. Please pray that there would be no complications and that many of the negative side effects of Prednisone (blurred vision, bursitis, muscular atrophy, water retention, etc.) would begin to subside.

We have appointments the next two weeks with doctors at UCLA. Pray for wisdom and clarity and that the treatment plan would help stabilize Jen’s condition and help her get back to feeling normal again.

Other Family News

It’s hard to believe that Jacob and Joshua are in the midst of registering for high school. They are filling out their schedules now and requesting their classes and electives. Wow! It’s gone by too fast and is almost surreal.

Jacob and Joshua after receiving their certificates for California Junior Scholastic Foundation (CJSF) for 8th grade.

Jacob and Joshua tie for first place in the Los Alisos 2 mile run.

Jacob and Joshua are doing quite well in school and are involved in various activities. They are involve in a running club at school where they tied for first in a 2 mile race that took place yesterday. They are also enjoying their last season of flag football.

Please pray for wisdom as they choose their classes, apply for sports teams and prepare themselves for life as high schoolers!

March 4, 2015

The Butterfly Effect

“A butterfly flaps its wings in Brazil, we get a hurricane off the coast of Florida.”

Perhaps you’ve heard this quote or something similar. The idea is that something as small and insignificant as a butterfly flapping its wings in one part of the world could change certain conditions that have an enormous effect in another part of the world, such as a hurricane.

The “butterfly effect” as it has come to be known can actually be traced back to a man named Edward Lorenz, who, while working as an assistant professor in MIT’s department of Meteorology in 1961, developed an early computer program to simulate weather patterns. One day, Lorenz allegedly changed one of a dozen numbers representing atmospheric conditions from 0.506127 to 0.506. That very small, seemingly insignificant change utterly changed his long-term forecast. Lorenz wrote about this effect in 1972 in a paper entitled “Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly’s Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?”

In popular culture today the “butterfly effect” refers to seeing the interconnectedness of two events that at first may seem unrelated. For us, we’re experiencing our own “butterfly effect” as it relates to Jen’s health situation. Let me explain.

Jen meets with the nurse at UCLA before seeing the Rheumatologist.

February was a busy month of doctor visits for Jen. Most notably, we had two different trips to UCLA to see Pulmonary and Rheumatology experts. As part of her next steps in treatment, Jen’s doctors are trying to determine whether they should subject her to another round of chemo-therapy. And if so, should they prescribe Rituxan, which is the drug Jen received last fall and was interpreted to be only partially effective, or should they prescribe a different drug known as Cytoxan?

The problem is that Cytoxan apparently has a lifetime limit. Doctors have discovered that administering this drug in dosages beyond this limit could put the patient at greater risk for blood diseases like leukemia.

As you may know, Jen had cancer when she was 3 years old and was subjected to about 18 months of radiation and chemo-therapy. We weren’t sure if Cytoxan was one of the chemo drugs that Jen had as a child so we’ve been working to get access to her records so we can determine if Cytoxan is even an option for current treatment. As you can imagine, gaining access to medical records from 40 years ago has proven to be a challenge.

But Jen had a brilliant idea! For the past 40 years, she’s been a part of a long term study conducted by the National Wilms Tumor Study (NWTS). This is the kind of tumor Jen had as a child and Jen thought that this research group might have information about her treatment 40 years ago. She was right! The person Jen contacted at the NWTS was able to pull up her medical profile right away give her a bunch of information about her surgery and treatment. Jen talked for about an hour with the person about her treatment and we now know that Cytoxan was NOT one of the drugs that she had as a child.

The person Jen talked to also said that what Jen is experiencing is not uncommon with people who have had her type of tumor and treatment. Apparently, others who have been a part of this ongoing research study have had issues similar to what Jen is now experiencing. We have long wondered whether the issues Jen is experiencing are related to her cancer and treatments as a child. It now seems as if there might be a connection though we’re not sure exactly how the two things may correspond. The “Butterfly effect”.

We want you to know that we are extremely grateful for you. Your investment in our lives through your prayers, notes and financial gifts, may seem small and insignificant but it has had a HUGE impact in our lives, especially during this current season in our lives. I guess that’s another example of the butterfly effect in action!

Please continue to pray for the doctors to have wisdom as they determine the best course of treatment and pray for us too as we navigate the next steps in Jen’s treatment.

February 4, 2015

When It Rains, It Pours

Kind words are like honey – sweeter to the soul and healthy for the body.” – Proverbs 16.24 (New Living Translation)

There’s an old adage that says “when it rains, it pours.” That’s not a commentary on our recent weather as we’re still in drought like conditions with what looks to be the 4th year in a row of record low rainfall in Southern California. Instead, it seems like unwelcome circumstances often come in waves, one after the other.

Our hope that 2015 would have a much brighter outlook than 2014 was rather short-lived. Just a few weeks into the New Year, Jen began experiencing shortness of breath and other symptoms related to her Vasculitis, putting Jen back into the hospital for seven days of Prednisone blasts designed to counteract the Vasculitis flare.

One night as I was preparing to take the boys to visit Jen in the hospital, I got into our Highlander and it was completely dead. It turned out to be a battery failure, which was strange since I just replaced the battery less than a year ago.

WaterDamage — Water stains on the baseboard behind the toilet are a sign of a greater problem.

For the past few weeks, I’ve noticed discoloration in some of the grout in our downstairs bathroom that I just renovated last April. I didn’t think much about it but on Saturday, I noticed those lines seemed to be growing. A closer inspection of the baseboard behind the toilet showed evidence of water stains. My worst fear was realized when I removed the toilet and opened up the wall to find an excessive amount of water that was created by a pinhole leak in a pipe that was fine just a few months ago. It was very interesting spending Super Bowl Sunday with no running water and trying to figure out how to manage our bathroom needs.

When the circumstances of life challenge us, it’s easy to get deflated. I’d be lying if I said that these trials haven’t been a drain to us emotionally. Yet in the midst of everything that’s happening, your words of encouragement and support have literally been words of life and hope to us.

A few weeks ago when Jen was in the hospital, I sent out an update soliciting prayer for Jen. The number of people who responded, telling us they are praying and sharing kind words of encouragement was a blessing to us. One of my friends, Leo Mullarky, who is the director of Cru for the Inland Empire sent this note, which was particularly encouraging to me.

A student helps to start Impact at Cal State San Bernardino.

“I thought you could use some good news. So listen to this….God is raising up multiple movements in the Inland Empire. He is using your vision and investment.

We launched Epic at Cal State San Bernardino last quarter and sent 3 students to the Epic Conference last weekend. We are launching Impact at Cal State San Bernardino this week. In addition, Thom & Jessica MacMillan (former UC Davis students who are joining Cru staff) have been assigned to the Inland Empire Cru team, mostly from responding to your vision that you gave them. It was their 1st choice of placement.

I just wanted to say thanks for your investment in Ethnic Field Ministry (EFM). I know it was hard but God is still using your vision to help others make a difference here.”

In this season of life where our ministry efforts are more limited than we would like, it’s encouraging to know the Lord continues to use our past efforts to inspire others and advance His kingdom purposes.

Thank you for standing with us and encouraging us as we navigate the trials of life. Your words really have been sweet to the soul and healthy for the body!

To read the pdf version of our newsletter, click here.

P.S. if you want to take a look at the video of my pinhole leak, goto: http://goo.gl/sJez2y

January 7, 2015

Derecognized!

This morning I went to the first Bible Study gathering of the New Year for the men at our church. We’ve been traversing through the book of Daniel in a series our pastor has entitled “Under Pressure.” We’ve been looking at Daniel as an example of someone who met the challenge to respond in a godly way to the personal and cultural challenges which he faced.

In Daniel chapter 6, Daniel’s enemies are looking for a way to find a charge against him because they were jealous of him. Because he was a person of great integrity, they could find nothing. So they went to the king and convinced the king to issue a decree that for the next 30 days, the people in his kingdom would not be allowed to pray to any god but the king himself. The plan was to cause Daniel to compromise his standards or face the consequences. Of course, we know that Daniel was unwilling to pray to the king and kept his practice of praying 3 times a day to the God of Israel, the God of the universe.

That act of integrity got Daniel thrown into the lion’s den. Fortunately, the Lord honored Daniel’s faith and saved him from harm. In the end, those who brought an accusation against Daniel were themselves thrown into the lion’s den and their fate was not as positive as Daniel’s. The king was so impacted by Daniel’s faith and deliverance that he issued a decree that only the God of Daniel could be worshiped, “for he is the living God and he endures forever.”

As we were reflecting on this passage around our table, we were discussing the tendency we have as frail humans to compromise our standards in order to gain favor with men and avoid unpleasant circumstances. I began to think about many of our campus ministries, especially those on our Cal State campuses.

Paul-Jaimie-2014 — Paul & Jaimie Nunez were students involved in our ministry at UC Davis. They now lead the Cru ministry at San Jose State University, which has recently been derecognized by the campus administration. Click their photo to read their letter about being derecognized.

If you weren’t aware, about a year ago the Chancellor of the Cal State University system made a decision that dramatically impacts religious groups on Cal State campuses, particularly Christian groups. The Chancellor decreed that all groups need to allow open access for any student to become a leader within that group. So Christian groups such as Cru or InterVarsity that have enacted biblical requirements and standards for potential leaders are being derecognized for imposing leadership standards and thus, not adhering to the new policy. Click here for an article relating to this.

Being a recognized group on campus has many advantages. For one, recognized groups can secure meeting rooms for free. Additionally, official groups are able to publicize their activities on campus more freely and may even have access to funds to help their group promote an activity or scholarship students to leadership retreats.

Despite the many advantages of being a recognized group on campus, none of our local chapters has adjusted their constitution in a way that would satisfy this new decree. In short, we believe that while anyone can be involved in the group as a whole, the leadership of the group must be selected among those who hold to biblical convictions and have demonstrated a biblical lifestyle. For that reason, nearly all of our chapters within the Cal State system have been derecognized as official campus organizations. Our campus groups will continue to exist and will continue to reach out to students on campus but the task will become more difficult and more costly. Please pray for our campus groups to persevere in the midst of opposition and adversity and pray that their faith would lead to revival!

In 2 Corinthians 4.2, Paul says that “it is required for those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.”

Dave and Jen - Christmas 2014 — Dave and Jen – Christmas 2014

I’m not quite sure what the Lord has in store for any of us in 2015, but my prayer is that like Daniel, we would be people of extreme integrity when faced with personal and cultural challenges where we might be tempted to compromise our faith. As our culture continues to shift our prayer for you is that you would
remain faithful. Would you please pray that for us?

We are grateful for you and pray that you experience the Lord’s richest blessings in this New Year!

December 3, 2014

The Giver

Memories. They have the power to move us to action and transform us. Conversely, the absence of memory can divert us from fulfilling our full potential and true purpose.

In the recent movie, The Giver, Jeff Bridges plays an elder in a dystopian society where people are devoid of memories of the past and are restricted from any meaningful choices. Everything from birth to death is carefully monitored and orchestrated and only the Giver (Bridges) knows the memories of man’s true history. Memories and choices are suppressed because as the chief elder, played by Meryl Streep, explains, “when faced with choice, man always makes the wrong choice. Every time.”

In the void of memories and true choice, it’s not surprising that this utopian society lacks the ability to establish deep, meaningful connections and fails to fully understand the concept of love. In fact, the word “love” is considered antiquated and without meaning.

The key character in the movie is a young man named Jonas, who is selected for the task of being the receiver of the memories of humanity as he ultimately will become the next Giver. At first, Jonas is exposed to only happy, joyous memories, like riding a sled down a snow-laden hill or seeing people dance and laugh at a wedding. This has the effect of piquing Jonas’s curiosity.

But when Jonas experiences the trauma of pain and suffering by witnessing memories of death and war, it’s as if something that was dead inside has finally been awakened. Jonas realizes that the existence that everyone has been living in this highly ordered community fulfills only a shell of their true potential and purpose for life.

I wonder if that is not part of God’s purpose when we experience trials, pain and even suffering in this life. Perhaps these experiences are designed to awaken us to our true purpose and to remind us of our frailty and brokenness and nudge us toward our Creator.

Nick (left) was awakened to a greater purpose in life after experiencing a brain tumor. With the help of Tony (right), Nick was introduced to a relationship with Christ.

A few months ago I received an e-mail from my friend Tony, who lives in Davis. Tony is a Radiologist and he e-mailed to ask for my help.

A few years before, Tony had treated a young man named Nick who had a brain tumor and was given a very slim chance of survival. Amazingly, Nick survived his treatment and made a full recovery. Nick graduated from college and got a very lucrative job in the Bay Area. For some reason though, it all seemed meaningless to Nick, so he quit his job and moved back to Sacramento.

After several years of working various jobs and searching for meaning and purpose, Nick recently had the opportunity to reconnect with my friend Tony. After hearing Nick’s story, Tony suggested to Nick that his experience with a brain tumor had likely awakened in his heart an awareness that there is a greater purpose to life and that what he was really searching for was God.

Nick thought for a moment and then responded, “I think you hit the nail right on the head!” Nick agreed to meet with Tony again later to talk further.

Tony had scheduled a lunch appointment with Nick and wanted to share with him how he could experience a relationship with Christ but Tony was unsure about how to go about doing that. So Tony e-mailed me to see if I could help him prepare for this conversation about God with Nick.

Over the phone, I was able to give Tony a crash course training in evangelism and encourage him in how to share his faith with Nick. I armed him with a few resources, some key questions to ask and some helpful tips and then I prayed for him and encouraged him as he took a step of faith to do something that quite frankly, was a bit scary for him.

Not long after that, I received a text from Tony that simply said, “Praise God! Nick accepted the Lord today!”

Please pray for Nick and his new relationship with Christ. Pray that he would be firmly rooted and would grow in his new faith. And please continue to pray for us as we continue to navigate health issues. Pray too that we would experience God’s ultimate purposes for our lives and that our experience would nudge us toward our Creator!

As we enter this holiday season, it is our sincere hope that you will remember that Jesus is the true Giver. He alone gives us physical life and He alone can save us from the wrong choices that we make. And He alone imparts spiritual life to those whose hearts have been awakened to the greater, truer purpose of our existence – to know Him!

October 31, 2014

A Temporary Setback

(NOTE: this is a follow up to my earlier posts on 10/13 and 10/22)…

Click here to read the pdf version of the Lowedown

Recently, I was watching an episode of Dancing with the Stars. Jen and I enjoy watching the transformation that takes place in the lives of people who have no dancing experience and yet are able to learn to perform sophisticated dance routines at a high level.

The theme of this particular week was “your most challenging year”. One contestant mentioned the year that he went to jail. Another contestant mentioned the year that her dad passed away. Still another contestant mentioned being bullied as a teenager.

I think I can confidently say that if I were on that show and had to respond to the theme of that week, that this year would definitely be listed as our most challenging year.

It’s been a six month journey in getting sick, trying to diagnose the problem, getting a diagnosis and then beginning treatment. Last month, Jen had just finished 4 weeks of chemo-therapy infusions that were designed to suppress her immune system and put her vasculitis into remission.

Everything seemed to be going well. Jen was responding well to the treatment and the blood work indicated that her kidney functioning, which had been declining over the summer, was beginning to stabilize.

But about 2 weeks after her last infusion, Jen started to experience some symptoms of shortness of breath, accompanied by some low grade fevers. When we met with her rheumatologist, her initial words were, “this is not good.” She was concerned that Jen might have an infection and with a compromised immune system, that could be extremely dangerous.

hospital1 — Jen spent 10 days in the hospital getting tests and being treated for a vasculitis recurrence.

Jen was admitted to the hospital and remained there for 10 days. Tests indicated that there was no infection, which means that what Jen was experiencing was a recurrence of her vasculitis. After all the treatments that she had received, this was a bit of a bummer.

To combat this vasculitis flare, Jen had to be given very high doses of Prednisone intravenously for several days. Once the doctors were confident that the vasculitis flare was under control, it took them several days to taper Jen down to a Prednisone dosage that was low enough to take at home.

Jen has now been home for a week. The good news is that her kidney function, blood work and chest x-ray all look good and for now the vasculitis symptoms seem to be under control. The hard part is that Jen is on a higher dose of Prednisone than when she first started treatment in July, so in some ways, it feels a bit like treatment is starting completely over at the beginning.

Jen’s rheumatologist tells us that the treatment phase for this disease will likely last a year. After that, if there are no other setbacks, we can move into a maintenance phase. Maintenance would require Jen to take low doses of an immunosuppressant drug in order to keep the vasculitis from recurring.

During this challenging time, we’ve been overwhelmed by the love and support from family, friends and co-workers. Thank you for praying for us and for serving us in so many ways, whether through cards, notes of encouragement, timely meals for our family or an additional financial gift. We are so grateful for you.

We would greatly covet your continued prayers for us as we continue to navigate this journey the Lord has us on.

Specifically, pray for Jen to remain healthy as her immune system will be compromised until well after the first of the year. Pray also that there would be no recurrence of the vasculitis as Jen continues to be tapered off of Prednisone, which has many undesirable side effects.

Pray too for us as we try to balance our desire to build on our new ministry while continuing to deal with Jen’s ongoing disease and recovery.

Thank you so much for standing with us. We are eternally grateful!

October 22, 2014

Home Sweet Home!

After 10 days in the hospital, Jen finally was released today and able to come home. We are very excited and happy to have her home with us.

We would still very much appreciate your prayers for Jen. Vasculitis is a tricky disease to get a handle on. It’s an auto-immune disorder so there really is no cure but can often be managed with a combination of medications. Finding that combination is the tricky part and our rheumatologist tells us that this phase, which she’s calling the treatment phase, can last about a year.

If there are no setbacks, the hope is to move into a maintenance phase where the vasculitis can be kept in check with a minimal immuno-suppressant. Getting to that maintenance phase can often have setbacks like the one Jen just had. The hope is that once we get to a maintenance phase, Jen’s lifestyle will begin to resemble more of the activities and commitments to which she’s been accustomed.

So please continue to pray for the following:

Pray that Jen would remain healthy for the next 5 months while her immune system will be compromised because of the infusions she recently received.
Pray that Jen would begin to feel more normal now that she is out of the hospital. She’s pretty tired. We think that’s a combination of not getting the best rest, being confined to a bed for 10 days, and being restricted in her diet because she’s diabetic. Jen told me that she was constantly feeling hungry.
Pray that she would not have a recurrence of the vasculitis as they continue to taper her steroid dosage down over the next several weeks.
Pray that we would continue to put our hope and trust in the Lord. The last 10 days have been a roller coaster of emotions. Pray that we would be able to experience some spiritual and emotional rest.

We are so grateful for you. Your prayers and notes have sustained us during this difficult time.

If you haven’t checked out Jen’s CaringBridge site, you can do so by going to: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jenlowe

Thanks again for your prayers and support!

October 13, 2014

A Setback for Jen’s Recovery

Friends,

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for Jen. Please, please, please continue to pray for healing.Today, Jen was readmitted to the hospital for more tests. Let me explain why.

After Jen’s last infusion 4 weeks ago, she had some blood work done that seemed to indicate that things were going well with her lungs and her kidney. We were encouraged.

However, 2 weeks ago, Jen unexpectedly started experiencing some low grade fevers off and on and also was dealing with some shortness of breath.

Last week we visited Jen’s rheumatologist who was concerned when Jen shared about the symptoms she was experiencing. The possible causes of her symptoms could be a return of the vasculitis or maybe an infection that she has developed in her lungs.

Today, Jen saw her pulmonologist who determined that her lung functioning is only at about 50%. Because of that, Jen has been readmitted to the hospital for further testing to try to determine the cause of her lung issues.

Would you take a moment and pray for Jen right now? Pray that the doctors would have wisdom to correctly diagnose what is happening. And pray that she would be able to get treatment to correct her condition. Please pray that the Lord would heal her and restore her health.

We serve a mighty God who is able to do exceedingly more than we ask or imagine. Pray that God would be glorified through Jen and that He would choose to bring healing to her body.

Because Jen’s health issues have been ongoing, we’ve decided to set up a Caring Bridge site where we can post regular updates about Jen and her health. Please check out her site and register to receive updates whenever a new journal entry is posted.

The site is: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jenlowe

Thank you so much and God Bless!

Dave & Jen

October 1, 2014

We’re No Longer On Campus, But We’re Still Reaching Students

The role of a missionary is to establish ministries and raise up leaders who can take over, allowing the missionary to move on to establish new ministries.

For more than 20 years, Jen and I worked on university campuses to establish ministries and raise up leaders and laborers. Though we’re no longer serving on campus, we’re still involved in reaching students. By God’s grace, many of our former students are now leading the charge to reach this year’s freshmen on campuses throughout California, Arizona and around the world.

Roper-Dave-UCI2014 — Jon Roper (left), was a student involved with Cru at UC Davis and now leads the Cru ministry at UC Irvine.

This past week, I had the opportunity to spend the day at UC Irvine helping one of our former students, Jon Roper, who is now leading the Cru ministry there. Jon and his team are in the middle of Welcome Week, seeking to reach out to more than 20,000 students on the campus.

As I approached the table where Jon and 30+ students were already setting up for the day, I thought about all the hard work and effort that was expended just to get ready for that week.

Preparing for the first week of school was a gargantuan task when Jen and I were ministering on campus. Promotional materials had to be created and printed weeks ahead of time. Students had to be mobilized to show up early. Rooms and tables had to be reserved. Small groups had to be organized. Students needed to be trained in setting up appointments and sharing their faith.

Jon and I interacting with some international students from India.

A variety of events had to be planned and implemented during that first week. Everything we did was aimed at reaching as many students as possible, in the hopes of introducing them to Christ and plugging them into a community of Christ-followers that would aid them in growing into mature disciples of Jesus.

While the pace was harrowing, the reward was great. Often we would have thousands of new students to contact during the fall quarter. Some were already Christians who were looking for community, but many were non-believers with whom we had the privilege of sharing Christ.

I certainly don’t miss the long hours and hard work that went into the Fall outreach but the excitement and energy that occurs when mobilizing students is infectious.

Beth-CPP-Epic1 — Beth (middle), was a student at UC Davis. She now ministers with Cru at Cal Poly, Pomona.

CPPomona2 — Cal Poly, Pomona Epic students hand out snow cones to new students on campus

At UCI, it was fun to see Jon leading and directing his students to places around the campus to engage and interact with new students. Time will tell how the Lord will use those efforts but after just one day of engaging students, Jon’s team has over 1300 new contacts to follow up in the coming weeks.

Another former student, Beth Sekishiro, helped the Cal Poly Pomona Cru team initiate and collect over 700 surveys during their first few days and through those contacts, Beth was able to lead a freshman girl named Focus to Christ!

Because of your prayers and partnership, we are helping to reach students not only at UCI and Cal Poly, but also at Arizona State, San Jose State, University of Arizona, Chico State and numerous other locations in the U.S. and overseas.

CPPomona1 — Cru students pass out campus maps with info for Cru activities printed on the back.

Thank you for your partnership, which has allowed us to raise up leaders who continue to carry on the work of reaching students long after we’ve tapped out! Please pray for these ministries as they endure long hours to reach out to thousands of students. And pray for us too as we continue to establish a new ministry among Millennials!

Click here to read the pdf version of The Lowedown!