Hello to all. So sorry its been so long that we have blogged. Between 10-12 hour days as a UXO Tech travelling all over the country, we have been kept very busy. We spent last November through February in Mojave, CA working a job.
Then a brief job in Flagstaff AZ at Maroon Crater, an old army artillery range.
Then, where we are now at UTTR Utah Test and Training Range. Has been an adventure here as the weather was hot until just a few weeks ago. It went from summer to winter with no fall. Glad I brought my Alaska gear. Long days and lots of miles every day.
Deborah and I celebrated our 17th anniversary 09-17-2022. Its amazing to think we have been married that long, seems like just yesterday we were shoving cake in each others face at
Community Bible Church in Jackson Hole, WY.
Also on our anniversary something else happened. I started having what felt like heartburn, accompanied with shortness of breath. It lasted about 15 minutes, and stopped. The next day after getting to do worship at our little fellowship here in W Wendover NV, I started having the same “heartburn” sensation with shortness of breath. Although this time it didn’t go away. Deborah drove me to Tooele UT Medical Center, and they admitted me quickly. They did an ultrasound of my heart, and some blood tests and very quickly determined that I had recently had a heart attack. They sent me by ambulance me to University of Utah Medical Center which has a cardio unit. They determined by ultrasound that my Central Artery in my heart was 95%-99% blocked. 3 hours later they had me in surgery getting 2 stents put in. I woke up in my room with the biggest headache I have ever had. I was released the following Thursday with a really good prognosis. At my age my heart is supposed to be pumping at 55% volume, and it was pumping at 53%, stents, valves everything working. So I was ordered to be off work for a month, and to get my P/T by walking. Starting small and working up. Towards about 2 weeks I was going 3 miles and my BP and Pulse were better than they have been in many many years. One day I went 5 miles, and my legs felt like they we bruised. Remember I am expected to be able to walk on rough terrain for about 10 miles a day for my job, which has never been a problem. So 10/24/2022 I was released back to work and we walked 5.5 miles through some pretty amazing sand dunes on the border of Dugway Range. My BP / Pulse were great, no shortness of breath, but my legs burned to the point I could hardly walk. Next day we only went about 3 miles, and by the time I got home I was hunched over and felt 100 years old. Next morning I couldn’t stand and my legs, hips and knees were completely weakened. I made an appointment with my PCP here in Wendover and she got me in that afternoon. That’s one advantage of living in a tiny town 🙂
She decided my hearts fine but one of the meds, a statin, was causing Myalgia. Extreme pain in joints below the waist and lower spine. She did some blood tests to see if its short term, mid term, or forever term. The results are not back yet but as of today I can barely walk a mile without pain.
Seems like God is saying my UXO Days are coming to a close. We have been praying fervently about whats next and God seems to be saying Luke 10.
LUKE 10:1
After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. 3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. 4 Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.
5 “When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ 6 If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. 7 Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.
8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.
The Lord said this to me yesterday in my morning reading:
1 Thessalonians 4:11
And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
We are not sure where to start with those Words, but it seems like we must. Also a while ago Deborah was struggling with the Lord over her Spiritual Gifting. The Lord said plainly to her and me that He gave us Beautiful Feet! Made me giggle …
Isaiah 52:7
How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
Seems like the verses all fit, but we are still not sure how to start, unless we just start. So it seems that we may be starting a new season soon. God told us when we got back to America in 2014 that He was going to do a new new thing in our lives. It has taken us a while to get here. I am grateful for UXO, there were many techs that would never have heard about Jesus. Please join us in continuous prayer for them that we see their smiling faces in heaven. Also we put the bus on the market to try and get something larger that we can actually live in, please pray for that to take place.
Pray for us that we have clear direction from the Lord about all that he has been saying.
We love you all and are blessed to have you praying for us.
Craig and Deborah Graber <><