{"id":816,"date":"2010-07-23T22:45:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-23T22:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.convergingzone.com\/ricciardelli\/my-glory-cloud-by-greg-austin\/"},"modified":"2010-07-23T22:45:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-23T22:45:00","slug":"my-glory-cloud-by-greg-austin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/robertricciardelli\/ricciardelli\/my-glory-cloud-by-greg-austin\/","title":{"rendered":"My Glory Cloud by Greg Austin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Greg Austin is a friend and brother. I felt prompted to share this for a few reasons. The first reason is that it reminds us of our own mortality and how fragile this phase of life is, and it gives a story of faith, but beyond faith, a God that brings peace and unspeakable comfort that go beyond faith or any human comprehension. Secondly, I would ask some of you to pray for Greg as he goes through this. He has touched thousands of lives, including Joyce and I, and we believe Father has more for him to do in the years to come. I hope you enjoy Greg\u2019s story. (Robert Ricciardelli)<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n


\n
\n <\/p>\n

There are buzz words that immediately captivate the imagination, that engage the mechanisms of hope and anticipation deep in our souls; words that seem to carry on their wings the very vibration of excitement and of fulfillment.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Combine the word \u201cglory\u201d with the word \u201ccloud,\u201d and like the old E.F. Hutton television commercial, \u201cWhen E.F. Hutton speaks, everybody listens.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
The following is an intensely personal and therefore subjective description of what I currently call my own unique, but nevertheless I think, worthy of description, \u201cGlory Cloud.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
First of all, basic foundation is in order. The word \u201cglory\u201d is variously translated, interpreted, understood. Not all interpretations are accurate.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I won\u2019t weary the reader with a full rendering of the 12 Hebrew and 8 Greek usages of the word, but I do need to present at least a simple reference point for the sake of this discussion.\u00a0 My focus in this brief introductory will be of the Hebrew <\/span>k\u00e2b\u00f4d <\/i><\/span>or<\/span> <\/i>Kavod<\/i>.<\/i><\/span> In the first sense, <\/span>k\u00e2b\u00f4d <\/i><\/span>is \u201cto be heavy in the good sense of abundant or copious.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Nothing there about a thick, gooey ethereal \u201csomething\u201d that \u201ccomes on\u201d people during revival meetings and that can be \u201ccut with a knife,\u201d as many have erroneously claimed.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cGlory\u201d gives us the idea of weightiness, and the concept of \u201cpresence\u201d through ornamentation, \u2018swelling\u2019, cloaking or sheer inherent magnificence. Finally we see the notion of praise, praiseworthiness, shining or brilliance described as glory.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Looking to the Greek and the New Testament we learn more: Among the 8 Greek words translated \u201cglory,\u201d the most frequent is <\/span>doxa<\/i><\/span>. The <\/span>New Testament focus of \u201cglory\u201d is upon the perception of something as having worth or value and of \u201ca distinction between\u201d objects or entities.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
In 1 Corinthians 11 and 15 (among others), the word doxa<\/i> presents a distinction between one and another. Paul reveals that there is a glory of man and another glory of woman, a glory of the sun and another glory of the moon.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Further, Paul informs us that \u201c . . . we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, (doxa<\/i> to doxa<\/i>) even as by the Spirit of the Lord.\u201d[1]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Permit me to provide my own, personally developed definition of \u201cglory\u201d in the sense I have here described: \u201cGlory is the tangible and visible manifestation of the characteristics by which we know and are known.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
In other words, there is a unique \u201cglory\u201d or characteristic by which we discern that one orb above is called \u201csun\u201d and another similar, but uniquely difference orb is called \u201cmoon.\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Thus, when we think of Moses on Mt. Sinai requesting of Yahweh, \u201cShow me Your glory,\u201d he is literally asking, \u201cShow me Who You are!\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
If you can accept my simple definition \u2013 that \u201cglory\u201d in the sense of God is at least partly the \u201cWho are You\u201d or the identification of His Person, His characteristics and therefore His character, we can move to the next word, \u201ccloud.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Climatologists, Meteorologists and Nephologists tell us that clouds are little more than water in a vaporous state. Clouds are simply <\/span>condensed water vapor in the form of water droplets or ice crystals, suspended in the atmosphere.<\/span><\/div>\n
The Bible uses \u201ccloud\u201d metaphorically to describe God\u2019s presence. In Exodus 13 we discover that the Lord God \u201c<\/span>went before them by<\/span> day<\/span> in a pillar of a cloud<\/span>, to lead them the way.\u201d<\/span>[2]<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0 The children of Israel identified God\u2019s presence and the direction of His leading during the daytime by following the pillar of His cloud.<\/span><\/div>\n
If we can bring together the two words, \u201cglory\u201d and \u201ccloud,\u201d we have \u201c<\/span>the tangible and visible manifestation of the characteristics of God evident and discernable.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n
The Old Testament over and over joins these words together: Among them, Exodus 16:10, 24:16 and 40:34. In 1 Kings 8, \u201ct<\/span>he priests could not stand to minister because of the <\/span>cloud<\/span>: for the <\/span>glory<\/span> of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.\u201d[3]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
Jesus spoke of a time when the world will \u201csee the Son of Man coming in a <\/span>cloud<\/span> with power and great <\/span>glory<\/span>.\u201d[4]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
Just over a year ago, I experienced two minor heart attacks. I ignored the first because my wife and I were in Palm Springs enjoying the hot, southern California sunshine, and I didn\u2019t want to mar the trip with a hospital stay. I could not ignore or hide the second episode and found myself in the care of our local hospital staff. During that visit my good cardiologist Dr. Raed Fahmy, discovered my problem. <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Unlike many other men in my age group, I do not have clogged arteries. In fact, the Internist who gave me the report of my angiogram said, \u201cYou have the veins of a 16 year-old! There\u2019s virtually no plaque build-up.\u201d Then my cardiologist stopped by my room bearing a diagnosis. The first time I heard the term \u201chypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy\u201d I thought Dr. Fahmy was speaking another language. Further, the condition meant little to me. <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I would learn in the following months more than I wanted to know about what is abbreviated as \u201cHOCM\u201d and the term would roll off my tongue as it had Dr. Fahmy\u2019s when he stopped by my room that evening in June 2009. <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
HOCM is a relatively rare disease or condition. In America, an estimated 500,000 people have HCM or HOCM. By contrast, there are approximately 65,000 sufferers in Canada and roughly 8,000 in Ireland. About 1 in 500 people have the disease, but a lesser number are symptomatic. Perhaps you\u2019ve heard of young athletes collapsing on the basketball court or football field, dying of heart attacks \u2013 HCM \/ HOCM is typically the cause.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
We attempted to regulate symptoms with medicines, but within six months, when tests were again conducted, the results were not encouraging. Sheila and I will not soon forget the image of Dr. Fahmy walking into the examination room, carrying a large file. Opening the file and placing it on the examination table, Dr. Fahmy slowly shook his head and said, \u201cGreg, Greg, Greg.\u201d We knew the news wasn\u2019t what we had hoped for.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Dr. Fahmy informed us that we had come to the end of medicinal management of the disease, and that he had come to the end of what he could do to help me. We were informed that I am in the lower 4 percentile of those with HCM, which means that 96% of those with the disease are in better shape than I.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
We were referred to the University of Washington, a facility with great doctors and a stellar record for treating heart problems.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
After meeting with a surgeon, we met with another, Dr. Ed Verrier, a renowned cardiothoracic surgeon and chief of cardiothoracic surgery at U.W. Dr. Verrier was not encouraging in his remarks. The bottom line was this: \u201cI don\u2019t want to do this surgery.\u201d The risks involved in the very technical and challenging procedure were beyond what he found acceptable. Dr. Verrier told us, and the Physician\u2019s Assistant who spoke with us before and after our consultation with Dr. Verrier, \u201cIf you need this surgery (it\u2019s called a myectomy), you need to go to a facility and a surgeon who does a high volume of these (surgeries).\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
And so we found ourselves speaking with staff at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. As I write this, we are two days away from leaving the Seattle area for Mayo and appointments with Dr. Steve Ommen and Dr. Hartzell Schaff.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Dr. Schaff is been called \u201cThe\u201d world\u2019s top surgeon for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy. Not a bad guy to see if you\u2019ve just got to have this surgery.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
The surgery itself is a bit complicated, technically challenging and, well, \u201cinteresting\u201d would be the word I choose to describe it.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Here is what the experts say about the procedure: \u201cSurgical septal myectomy permanently abolishes <\/sup>systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve and mitral\u00a0 regurgitation, <\/sup>while normalizing LV pressures and wall stress.\u201d Translation \u2013 the patient feels lots better after surgery.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
The surgery reduces or eliminates obstruction of blood flow through the heart. This simply means that following surgery, I will be able to breathe without feeling like I am at 28,000 feet on Mt. Everest without oxygen.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
As in all \u201copen heart\u201d procedures, the heart is accessed by separating the sternum. The heart is removed and the patient (that\u2019s me) is placed on a heart-lung machine, or \u201ccardiopulmonary bypass\u201d pump so that the surgeon can work on a \u201cstill\u201d heart. Afterwards, I will be able to say I know what it is to have the biggest heart in the world \u2013 the machine is enormous! An incision is made to gain access to the interior of the heart, and a thumb-sized portion of the septum, the muscle tissue that separates the two sides (Left Ventricle and Right Ventricle) of the heart. It is this muscle in my heart that continues to grow thicker and thicker, obstructing blood flow and hence oxygen from moving through the heart and into the aorta, and then the body. <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Septal myectomy (the surgery) removes the obstruction by thinning the septum, which then reduces or eliminates the pronounced symptoms of shortness of breath, syncope (passing out), chest pain and stress. While I am told I\u2019ll still have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, I should no longer experience the limitations I\u2019ve gotten used to in the past six months. We\u2019ll have to pray about the condition and my prognosis post-op. <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Which brings me to My Glory Cloud.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I\u2019m not new to the challenges of life, and of death. I have been presented with numerous opportunities to depart this life \u2013 ahead of what God intended, I might add.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
To list them would bore the reader, but here are a few examples of some \u201cexit opportunities.\u201d Being shot at and missed. Falling from the side of a granite mountain during descent from the summit. I was able to clearly see my obvious first \u201cbounce\u201d more than a thousand feet below me \u2013 I wasn\u2019t sliding or tumbling, I was falling in clear air. I managed to crash into a ledge. Here is an excerpt from my Climbing Journal regarding that day, \u201cDown climbed approx. 1,000 feet when I fell \u2013 pack hung up on a rock flake. Injuries: Broken left hand, fractured Rt. wrist and scaphoid (carpal bone in the wrist); three broken ribs, left rotator cuff, bruised knee.\u201d That was the good news. I could have fallen another thousand feet or so had it not been for a strategically located ledge. Then there was being shot at and missed. Oh, did I mention that a moment ago? But then, this was another occasion. There are other examples, but you get the idea. This current adventure is nothing new.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I read an email message from a dear and close friend in Germany this morning. The church there has been praying \u2013 interceding \u2013 talking to the Father about my current health situation since they learned of my condition a year ago. <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
In the past weeks they have amped up their prayers, even volunteering to pray for me twenty-four hours a day. They entered into a \u201cwater only\u201d fast on my behalf.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Phone calls have come to me from Iceland and from points across America. Emails have poured in from Ireland, England, Germany, Holland, Northern Ireland and America. My local Brothers and Sisters, with whom we experience regular and close fellowship, have prayed without ceasing since learning of this disease. Around the world, people are lifting my name to the Father. <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Whatever you may believe about prayer, and the power of prayer, I will testify that among its functions and attributes, prayer is a creative force; it is much more than merely an outlet for the frustration of not knowing what otherwise to do for a friend. Prayer opens heaven\u2019s doors so that glory may spill into our lives.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
There are those who teach that God may be turned, that we may change God\u2019s mind and purpose through prayer: I do not subscribe to this philosophy. I believe that through prayer, we enter into the Father\u2019s plan, we engage His heart, we find His purposes and align ourselves with that \u201cgood and<\/span> acceptable<\/span> and<\/span> perfect<\/span> will of God.\u201d<\/span>[5]<\/span><\/a><\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
A God Who could be made to conform to my wishes, my hopes, my plans would be no God at all.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
He Who declared, \u201cI am the Lord, I change not\u201d is indeed \u201cthe same, yesterday, today and forever.\u201d <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Our place, our part in prayer is to activate both our faith and to tap into the pulse and the heartbeat of our heavenly Father, from Whom comes \u201cEvery<\/span> good<\/span> gift<\/span> and every<\/span> perfect gift<\/span>,\u201d and with Him \u201cthere is no variation or shadow of turning.\u201d<\/span>[6]<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I don\u2019t know the reason, or reasons, that God has not chosen to visit me with His healing touch. I have experienced divine healing on other occasions. I have prayed with many who have either instantaneously or gradually received His healing favor.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I do not lack faith to believe for healing. I am not concealing sin in my heart so that God will not hear my prayers. I am neither Job nor Judas. I believe and I trust, completely and implicitly in my Father\u2019s good purposes and the reasons \u2013 even when I am not privy to them \u2013 that He heals this one and does not heal that one. <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I can also testify that I am currently, and have been for some time, dwelling in a place of the realized manifest presence of my Savior and Friend, Jesus.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
We have waited for this surgery date since the middle of May, now more than two months. During that time I read, researched and learned more about my condition and the surgical options for relieving my symptoms. If you are at all squeamish, you won\u2019t want to know the details of the procedure. If you were at all \u201cnormal,\u201d you wouldn\u2019t want to undergo this surgery.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
But as distasteful as this season may be, none of it moves me. Nothing that I have experienced, nothing that I anticipate has shaken me or given me cause to doubt the love, the faithfulness, the care or the nearness of my Savior. No, instead, I have become more aware of Him, until sometimes I find myself completely lost in Him and cannot easily discern between which of us is speaking, writing, thinking, breathing. He overwhelms me. I am overshadowed by His grace and His love. I am compressed by Him. I am surrounded, infused, pressed into and pressed upon by the real and nearly tangible presence of Jesus.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
I\u2019m not dreaming, nor am I fooling myself, fantasizing in the hope of overcoming dread or fear.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
The verse that reveals, \u201cPerfect love casts out fear\u201d<\/span>[7]<\/span><\/a><\/span> is more than a nice saying; it is reality. I have determined that Trust trumps Fear at every turn. If my trust is in Jesus, fear can find no lodging in my heart or soul.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
And so I am surrounded, lifted, protected, carried by this awareness, this knowledge; this experience, this \u201cGlory Cloud.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
It is a Cloud of His presence, a cloud of His person. It is a cloud of His glory, of the realized manifestation of the characteristics, the very nature of Who God is.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
And just as climatological conditions create the clouds that silently drift across the heavens above, so the conditions \u2013 the established climate of prayer and of God\u2019s <\/span><\/div>\n
willingness have conspired to create around me, My Glory Cloud.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
Soaring above the minutiae of life in this cloud, I recognize that prayer does more than provide deliverance \u201cfrom\u201d . . . prayer provides deliverance \u201cin.\u201d<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
From my heart, there is a deep and unspeakable thankfulness for every person who has prayed for me, who continues to pray. Your prayers are being heard, they are having effect, they are moving me deeper into His purpose, His design, His will.<\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
And so, from the high vantage of My Glory Cloud, may I encourage you \u2013 <\/span><\/div>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
\u201cBe anxious for nothing, but in everything by <\/span>prayer<\/span> <\/span>and<\/span> <\/span>supplication<\/span>, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.\u201d[8]<\/span><\/a> No matter your own challenge, regardless of what you may be facing today, God will carry you; He will keep you, in His Glory Cloud.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n
\n

<\/span><\/div>\n
\n
\n
[1]<\/span><\/a><\/span> 2 Corinthians 3:18<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[2]<\/span><\/a><\/span> Exodus 13:21<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[3]<\/span><\/a><\/span> 1 Kings 8:11<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[4]<\/span><\/a><\/span> Luke 21:27<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[5]<\/span><\/a><\/span> Romans 12:2<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[6]<\/span><\/a><\/span> James 1:17<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[7]<\/span><\/a><\/span> 1 John 4:18<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
[8]<\/span><\/a><\/span> Philippians 4:6<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greg Austin is a friend and brother. I felt prompted to share this for a few reasons. The first reason is that it reminds us of our own mortality and how fragile this phase of life is, and it gives a story of faith, but beyond faith, a God that brings peace and unspeakable comfort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1596,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ricciardelli"],"yoast_head":"\nMy Glory Cloud by Greg Austin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Greg Austin is a friend and brother. I felt prompted to share this for a few reasons. 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