More Than a Marathon: The Sequel: Being Sifted 1992aEUR"2022

By Jack Weitzel MD Bill Barry MD Ken Weitzel DC

Those of you who have followed Dr. Weitzel's writings will be pleased to find that this volume builds on his previous work to provide a rather intimate picture of his life trajectory, rising above personal doubts and challenges to become a general surgeon. His brother Ken and I (who was one of his fellow residents) have added our own vignettes, to flesh out the flavor of these formative years. References to well-known, contemporaneous events add additional historical context. When substantial physical adversities took Dr. Weitzel from active medical practice, he continued to serve his fellow men as a pastor and author. While this book is really a love story for friends and family to treasure, it provides a deeply moving insight into Christian faith.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798888321522

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More Than a Marathon

The Sequel: Being Sifted 1992aEUR"2022

Jack Weitzel MD Bill Barry MD Ken Weitzel DC

ISBN 979-8-88832-151-5 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88832-152-2 (digital)

Copyright © 2023 by Jack Weitzel MD, Bill Barry MD, Ken Weitzel DC

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

All biblical citations were taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible unless otherwise indicated.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

—Luke 22:31–32 (NASB)

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1

1994–1996 The Balm of Gilead: The Creator's Morphine

The Balm of Gilead after Radiation Therapy

The Creator's Morphine

Chapter 2

1997–1998 MCM Gordon And Ken Combat Veterans, Charlie

MCM Gordon And Ken Combat Veterans, Charlie

Chapter 3

1999–2000 Gasparilla Distance Classic

Gasparilla Distance Classic

Chapter 4

2000 BHW Beginning 1983

BHW Beginning 1983

Chapter 5

2000 The Armor of God/The Enemy

The Armor of God/The Enemy

Chapter 6

2001 The Twin Towers

The Twin Towers

Chapter 7

2001 BHW Breakup

BHW Breakup

Chapter 8

2002–2003 Virginia and Faith

Virginia and Faith

Chapter 9

2004 Journal Entries

Journal Entries

Chapter 10

2004 MTAM The Medal

MTAM The Medal

Chapter 11

2005 Goodbye to the Appalachians

Goodbye to the Appalachians

Chapter 12

2006 Zephyrhills and Hospice

Zephyrhills and Hospice

Chapter 13

2008 Space Coast Marathon, Melbourne/Blue Towel

Space Coast Marathon, Melbourne/Blue Towel

Chapter 14

2009 Letter Bill to Jack, 6-2-09

Letter Bill to Jack, 6-2-09

Chapter 15

2010 Orlando with Goldie

Orlando with Goldie

Chapter 16

2011–2015 MABS ECS Seminary

MABS ECS Seminary

Chapter 17

2016 MCed ICR SOBA

MCed ICR SOBA

Chapter 18

Bill and Jack's Faith Testimonies

Chapter 19

2020 Resurrecting Fledgling and Sequel

Resurrecting Fledgling1 and Sequel

Chapter 20

Ken

Chapter 21

2007 EUS founder ECS

Chapter 22

Bill 2009

Chapter 23

2019–2022 Pandemic

Pandemic

Chapter 24

Evangelism Is a Calling

Chapter 25

Lost and Found

Chapter 26

Future Bill

Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.

—Luke 22:31–32 (NASB)

Preface

Since this is a sequel to my first book, a nonfiction one no longer in print, I thought it only proper to note for the reader a chronologic outline of the More Than a Marathon manuscript from 1994.

The starting line… Ready? Set? At the starting line of a 26.2-mile marathon. Excitement at the starting line celebrating God's faithfulness during an eighteen-month siege on my health. How I became a runner; preparation for the race asking the reader if they believe they are ready for the marathon experiences of life; challenging the reader to go mile by mile with me through my health marathon.

The toughest part of running a marathon is the preparation. God's preparation for me through my younger life, calling myself a Christian while not knowing what that really meant. Growing up in the '50s and '60s and going to Sunday school and church didn't make you a Christian; not knowing God, failing myself early in life, a Sunday Christian.

Slough of despond and doing it all without God: Vietnam, earlier divorce, med school, residency, and emptiness.

Warming up. The Damascus road; having everything yet empty. Becoming a true believer; the veil is torn from top to bottom.

New creation; many changes: no alcohol; no tobacco; different taste for movies, and a change in language.

Truth. Change in friends, witnessing to friends, Jesus is the only example, truths of the Bible, answering the questions of life, marrying, parenthood, relying on him.

Growing pains. Early growth in our faith, pro-life stand, speaking out for the unborn. Family growth with three adoptions, church, and persecution.

Sanctification. Selecting a church fellowship, heart disease and running, Dad's health, Florida Family Council, praying more, witnessing more.

Cruising. Beginning of health problems. Warm-up over. Started with having a root canal.

Other side of the bed rail. Weak back, severe pain back surgery. Incapacitated by unrelenting pain.

Halfway. Recovering from back surgery, an acute abdominal process.

Under the knife. Abdominal surgery for perforated diverticulitis, recovery.

Halfway home. Recovering from back and abdominal surgery, worry about complications and relying on God.

God speaks. Uncertainty with many miles ahead, and would I finish? Would I recover? Disability? Considering writing a book.

Back again. Reinjuring, needing more back surgery, needing to trust and learning to trust. Faith?

Bad things and good people. An extra load on WH and JB and families needing to rely more on God's grace. Satan whispering, "You won't recover."

Knowing the Potter and learning to lean. Multiple health problems. Leaving my cares at the foot of the cross of Jesus, believing over the worst, smooth sailing ahead? A wall ahead?

Eighteen miles longest in training. The walls in my life; Corey's illness. A lump in the throat. Benign? No!

Tonsil cancer? Prognosis? Considering Job. In the middle of a six-mile loop; blessings from the Word. Tonsillectomy. Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) confirms cancer (CA).

Worthy to be used? Bag lady, slowing pace, wall ahead; evaluation in Gainesville; tattooed, found worthy to be used; meeting the homeless and comparing, contrasting what God's done in our lives.

Skid marks. One hundred and seventy miles to and from Gainesville but working. Beginning XRT; skid marks and being off course.

Pain and Hope Lodge. Incredibly dry mouth and pain. Two-a-day sessions mandated Hope Lodge times two weeks. Charlie.

Survival time. Twice a day treatments. Saint James and joy. C. S. Lewis and pain, crying uncle and finished with Tx.

Monotony. Survived wall. Did I have enough to finish? Recovery, thirty-pound weight loss; bleeding ulcer. No strength. Orthostatic. Does God want me well?

A place called Marah; nothing left to give, each step a miracle. Bleeding again and requiring a transfusion.

The last mile. Almost there. Perspective of a year and a half. Finished and knowing God's desires for each of us.

Introduction

The year 2024, if this book goes to print, will mark the thirtieth year anniversary of the best of times and the worst of times for my family and me. It will also mark the thirtieth year anniversary of the Inaugural Walt Disney World Marathon. For myself, it followed eighteen months of suffering through multiple medical and surgical illnesses. This was documented in my first autobiographical book, More Than a Marathon, which was written under some hardship. It was written, though, through the calm assurance that God had his purpose in its creation. I had no contact with any publishing company and was under no obligation to write, except by and through the grace of God.

It was not planned but only in the fullness of time when God allowed me the time and timing of its writing. For me, that third marathon (out of thirteen) was celebratory of the previous eighteen months: back-to-back lumbar spine operations, a right hemicolectomy for likely a perforated diverticulitis (with incidental appendectomy harboring a carcinoid tumor), followed by tonsil cancer treated initially by surgery, then eight weeks of radiation therapy at Shand's Cancer Center in Gainesville, and finally, in this merry-go-round, a bleeding duodenal ulcer and a four-unit blood transfusion.

In the thought of authoring a book, I was leafing through a psychology magazine and saw an advertisement for classes teaching writing. I jotted down the number and contacted that service the next day. I was told that Ms. Muir was the contact person, but that she was on a brief vacation and that I could leave a message. A few days later, I received a postcard from Virginia Muir assuring that she would get in touch and indeed she did. I had no idea she was the chief editor for Tyndale House Publishing and had edited the very first Living Bible. Over the next close to a year, through the snail mail, she took me, a nobody, and guided me through More than A Marathon. Dear Virginia passed November 2012 at the age of ninety-one in Carol Stream, Illinois. She was strictly a gift from our God. That started it all in 1993.

Why a sequel, though? To remember those two years over again? No! But to show you what has transpired since that time three decades ago and how God has used these thirty years with the three of us in his service (Jack Weitzel, Ken Weitzel, and Bill Barry).

Except for several weeks of absence, I (Jack) was able to carry on with a three-man surgical group in general surgery. Thanks to God for my two loyal partners, Dr. Wink Hall and Dr. Jack Butterick, who kept the practice alive and thriving, night call and all. I am forever in their debt and earlier with Wink leading me to salvation in Jesus Christ in May of 1984.

Our desire, for our families, is to document the thirty years which have transpired since that marathon in 1994. I do not want to make the mistake my father made. He left nothing in writing for his family to remember him by. I've seen a couple of pictures of Dad in Sabillasville at the tuberculosis sanatorium; a very tall, gaunt stickman; he left nothing to tell us who he was, what made him tick. He was a shy individual as told me years ago by his mother saying that he was afraid to answer the phone. For an introvert, though, he flourished in his job as an estimator (figures/numbers) with the Martin Marietta Corporation in Orlando. Often taking trips to Huntsville, Alabama, to negotiate funds for the Bullpup missile program and other weapons of war in the early years of the Space Age. That was why he was transferred to Orlando from Baltimore to be close to the space coast, Cocoa Beach.

The only important conversation we had was in 1993 when I was receiving radiation therapy for my tonsil cancer. He was kind enough to stay by my side for two weeks in the winter. I could not talk because of the throat pain, so Charlie did all the talking, and I did learn some of his history; courting my mom, his treatment of tuberculosis in his early twenties but little personal subjects: his dreams, his family (six kids) and his wife, my mom, Goldie.

The point is that I did not know my father very well at all. Seems to me sometimes when I think about it, I wish that there was some nostalgia. In the very front of my Bible are the notes I wrote when Dad and I were at the Winn Dixie Hope Lodge in Gainesville. I scribbled notes through which I got to know him, but Dad's gone to heaven, and I look so forward to joining him in God's timing. For now, we wait and watch and pray for the day when we join Charlie and so many others we have known and loved and are now with my dad, a strong but quiet believer. Dad collected obituaries of employees he knew from the Martin Company. I have lots to tell my dad; perhaps he already knows.

We have created many euphemisms to help us refer to death. Why is that? Facing the death of a loved one or just thinking about dying is unpleasant, to say the least. Most young people are busily living their lives, and death is in the far, unseen future. Those of us in our later years are closer and therefore perhaps more concerned with the process. I don't mind dying. I just don't want to be there when it happens, said Woody Allen. Even people of strong faith must be truthful and admit that they are more than simply curious when the issue of death is considered. But the closer we are to passing away or breathing our last or going to be with the Lord has everything to do with faith or lack thereof. I have heard one person say that they have no soul. I pray for his salvation.

Psalm 142:4 (KJV) says, I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. Ah, but each of us has a soul.

They are content to believe in annihilation! Of course, we all have beliefs in lots of things. Many believe that there is nothing after death. One wonders about their funeral service and how it is conducted. Common nonreligious euphemisms include fallen asleep, slipped away, took their last breath, passed away. The religious include they are in Abraham's bosom, gone home to be with the Lord, entered their eternal rest. To shield us from the pain, there are the more nonreligious comical terms: We laugh in the face of death, died, pushing up daisies, bit the dust, kicked the bucket.

I have heard the phrase that we are physical bodies having a spiritual experience. Some would say that we are spiritual beings having a bodily experience; clothed in mortality and passing to immortality.

Most Americans believe in God and in heaven and hell. The growth of the nones as a share of the population, coupled with their declining levels of religious observance, is tugging down the nation's overall rates of religious belief and practice. America is not the America I recall from the 1960s. In the past, when a document had to be filled out regarding the question of religious affiliation, the majority would answer Catholic or Protestant or some denomination. Now there is offered a category of none. There were no honest nones in my youth. Now more than 20 percent chose that affiliation.

Just yesterday, it seemed that I had turned forty-five, and Charlie was in his early seventies. Now Dad is gone, and there is not a living soul I can speak to who knew Charlie well at all. I'm at the other side of the bell-shaped curve, leaving behind a dumpster full of a ton of information (probably some of it belongs there): a fairly large stamp collection somewhere in the third bedroom we used to call the office. Yes, we are hoarders, but there is some semblance of order. Trading cards football, baseball, neatly stored; books, DVDs TNTC (too numerous to count); a shipload of Ensure Plus to get us through before they attack the grid with cluster bombs.

We are on the very thin ice of another world war. Ukraine is under siege by Russia. It is horrible to watch Putin's war as millions flee from their homes, taking nothing with them, except the clothes they are wearing. Should Putin desire, he can order his army and eventually attack the continent called North America and the United States of America.

By nature of the reality presently engaging the fight between good and evil on the globe, I will not fail to document facts as they may be occurring moment to moment. Much of this work is from journaling.

At the close of each chapter, I have added what I think were some of the perhaps main events of that particular year, inadequate but a touch of world history, if you will.

Gordon and Charlie

Chapter 1

1994–1996 The Balm of Gilead: The Creator's Morphine

The Balm of Gilead after Radiation Therapy

The Creator's Morphine

I could have used some of the balm of Gilead in the weeks and months following my radiation therapy. Those were awful days, and fortunately I did not become addicted to heavy-duty narcotics. Eventually Ultram and Tylenol took care of the pain but, in the beginning, I had to use opioids. The pain was due to what was called radiation-induced confluent mucositis, and nothing could have possibly survived in the back of my throat. The day I returned to Brandon after my last radiation treatment, I was able to find JB in the emergency room and give him the break that he needed, and I needed to get back to work.

Gilead is now modern Jordan, but you do not need to travel halfway around the globe, for one can find it readily available as the tree grows along the United States eastern coast. Balm of Gilead is a deciduous tree that grows at a fast rate, reaching up to one hundred feet tall at maturity. It is a hybrid tree resulting from a cross between the poplar and cottonwood trees found in the eastern part of America, on up into Canada.

There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole

There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul

If you can pray like Peter If you can preach like Paul

Go home and tell your loved ones He died to save us all

There is a balm in Gilead to make the wounded whole

There is a balm in Gilead to mend the sin-sick soul

When Joseph was sold into slavery, he was carried away by a caravan of Ishmaelites from Gilead with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, headed for Egypt. The caravan bought Joseph for twenty shekels of silver ($5.58). Judah saved the day for Joseph, his brother, that one with the varicolored tunic, which he dipped in blood and of course breaking Jacob's heart, thinking Joseph to be dead.

Joseph eventually revealed himself to his brothers. By then, Joseph had become a great ruler in Egypt. When Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and with a considerable emotional reunion, there was much rejoicing. That is how the family of Israel began living in Egypt. From a family of near seventy to eighty (Genesis 46:2 NASB) to a family of approximately one million souls in deep bondage.

Gilead was the name of the mountainous region east of the Jordan River, part of the fertile crescent. This region was known for having excellent physicians who made an ointment referred to as the balm of Gilead and an ointment from a tree sap particular to that area. Many believed that this balm had miraculous powers to heal the body. In Jeremiah, God tells the people of Israel that though many believe in the mysterious healing power of this balm, they cannot trust in those powers for spiritual healing or as a relief of their oppression. God reminds them that he is in control and only he can relieve their suffering. Don't ever feel discouraged, for Jesus is your friend, and if you lack for knowledge, he'll not refuse to lend. This verse is most applicable when the song functions as a call to witness for Christ no matter how unqualified we may feel (The United Methodist Hymnal #375. Sometimes I Feel Discouraged, Hymnary.org).

In the New Testament, God answers the suffering of his people by sending his own Son to take our place. Jesus becomes our Balm in Gilead. It is him we are called to turn to in our times of trial for healing and comfort. I remember attending one of the local churches for prayer over me and taking the first communion since returning home from Gainesville. I was only on liquids by mouth, and I choked on the juice; a sign of things to come.

I was blessed to have an unofficial prayer chain particularly during the treatment and healing stage into late 1993 into 1994. My dearest Proverbs 31 wife, Melinda, was my chief prayer warrior then (and continues today in 2022). Her dedication to earnest, effectual, fervent prayer is the signature of her life with me, and I have really needed and depended upon it the four decades we have been married. God is the author and perfecter of our faith and salvation, and Lin is the program director! She is also the cheerleader of our praise and worship, thanks to the Holy Spirit who so obviously dwells within her.

Second Chronicles 7:14–15 (ESV) says, If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

A Wednesday Bible study small group prayer says, Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. This is no accident that we gather in your name. Help us to focus on your Word. Order our steps to the lost. What is our purpose, to be Jesus to a lost world? Jeremiah 29:11–12 (KJV) says, For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.

By virtue of the progressive nature of the fibrosis syndrome (FS), many difficulties have been my nature for quite a long-protracted time. I am not there yet, nor will I ever be this side of heaven, but trial by trial, I am learning to pray more in my closet but also dealing with praying openly in groups. I am in good company because the disciples of our Lord had to ask him how to pray, and I'm still asking Jesus to help me be a bolder warrior of prayer. I am also learning how to wear the full armor of God found in Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and I will go into fuller detail in the chapters ahead in this manuscript regarding the armor of God as well as prayer life.

A bit of trivia regarding prayer life. Genesis 4:26 tells us, To Seth, to him also a son was born; and he called his name Enosh. Then men began to call upon the name of the Lord. It's interesting that Enosh lived to be nine hundred and five years and nothing more about prayer. Then people began to call on the name of the Lord.

It was in the times of Enosh that people began engaging in the practice of prayer, calling out to the name of God. Previously people did not believe that prayer was effective; if God had made up his mind, there was no way that it could change. This changed in the times of Enosh, and people began to pray to God, to call on the name of the Lord.

In the latter months of 1996, Howard and I trained for the Walt Disney World Marathon. He lives near a thousand miles away from us, so we obviously did not train together, except encouraging one another by phone. Near the end of the year, we did an eighteen-mile training run together, and then we did the 1997 Walt Disney World Marathon in early spring. This was his first marathon, and we both struggled. But I was in better shape and ended up encouraging him across the finish line. It was his first and last marathon. Without someone to encourage you through the arduous training schedule, there is too much room for saying, I don't think I will run today and even lose interest or sustain an injury, and you already paid the nonrefundable entry fee. Hey, you do not show up, no been there, done that, got the T-shirt.

Pain relief? Ever hear of endorphins? When God made, and yes, created (apologies to my naturalistic Darwinian friends) the original blueprints, In the beginning, he had it covered. Always had everything and everyone covered. He does not believe in existentialism. He has