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Rogers Update 5/19/2025
May 22, 2025
Hi Everyone,
Years ago, when we lived in Utah as church planters, one of my favorite get aways was going into the rugged wilderness. There were so many choices to hike since we lived in a valley surrounded by the towering peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Occasionally, I would find myself in an area that I had never been before. That is always exciting and somewhat concerning at the same time. Going where you have not gone before is adventurous, but it can feel risky. In my times in the mountains, I’ve seen a bear, a mountain lion, and a wolf among other things. (It turned out the wolf was owned by somebody, and it had escaped its cage.) I have discovered in my life that serving the Lord is like hiking in the mountains. You often don’t know what is beyond the next turn.
I have shared with you before that my life adventure theme for the last couple of years has been, When God Puts You Where You Don’t Want to Be… My favorite Bible verse has been Isaiah 42:16 where God states that He will lead the blind in a way they know not, but our Lord also adds the following, “…I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.” The rest of this Update is about Beabea and I hiking through the wilderness of life experience, along a path we know not.
I have been working my way through a host of doctors and have arrived at the top level of bone and nerve surgeons. Through the last month, I have been involved in high-tech testing and specialized treatment visits. This last week I had a CT scan with radioactive dye involving my spinal column. As I shared in other newsletters, my spinal column is aging faster than the rest of my body. The result has been five spinal surgeries through the years. One place is repaired and anther place breaks down. The main surgeon has informed me there are not many options left. Just to keep from getting bored, there have been new problems developing even in the last few months. Anyway, back to my story… My body reacted to the radioactive dye, and I have been feeling lousy. In the last few days, I have had a Crohn’s Colitis flareup. Not bad enough to put me in the hospital, but most certainly classified as ugh!
In the midst of this adventure, what has the Lord been doing? Well, He has been providing opportunities at each turn that I don’t expect and often surprises me. One of the procedures I have experienced is a new type of injection into the bone of the spinal column. I have had steroid shots before, but this is different. As I was checking out of the medical facility after the procedure, there was no one else in line behind me. I found myself in a casual conversation with the lady behind the desk. Through the years I have discovered that witnessing really is relationship building. Talking to others about Jesus doesn’t have to be forced. The lady started sharing with me about her frustrations of being a parent to two teenagers. As we were talking, I noticed that someone had left a track on her desk titled, How to Know You are Going to Heaven. The Lord opened the opportunity, and I asked her if she knew. She told me she was trying her best to do the right things. I told her I knew I was going to Heaven, but it wasn’t because I was doing the right things. We talked a while longer about how a person can know where they are going when they die, and then I left. As I walked out the door, I noticed that she had picked up the tract and was reading it.
God is amazing. He continues to create all kinds of situations. I am still very much involved in phone counseling as well as person to person counseling that keeps happening on a regular basis. The adventure continues!
Not only does God open doors to talk to others in this journey of life, He is our protector and our provider. God often takes care of us in ways we don’t see coming. I want to share with you another adventure Beabea and I just experienced as we encountered the next bend of life’s trail. Many of you may remember my Jeep Commander I have driven across the country uncountable times. The vehicle had close to 400,000 miles on it when the motor finally broke down completely. Up until that point, I'd been keeping it going, fixing this and fixing that at a local car repair. I like going there because the ownership and some of the people in the car repair shop are believers in our Lord. I enjoyed my developing relationship each time I was there, getting my vehicle fixed. I wasn't always excited about the car repair, but the fellowship was great.
Beabea and I were uncertain about what to do in replacing the Jeep Commander. Our monthly budget has been tight with medical expenses as well as other items. Then God did His God thing, and the repair place gave us a low mileage 2000 Saturn. They put good tires on it, replaced the brakes and wheel cylinder, replaced the power steering pump, installed a new battery, and gave us $2500 back that I had spent on repairing the Jeep Commander. I wanted to tell everyone about what they had done, but the car repair people didn’t want to be recognized publicly for doing this. They wanted God to get the glory, not them. So I can’t tell you their name. Since then, I have learned that they have been helping people like this for sometime now. Here is a picture taken on the day they gave us the car. Their logo has been blotted out wherever it appears in the picture.
Some of the people at the repair shop are reading my new novel about the second coming of our Lord. Pray that God will use The Daystar Conspiracy for His glory and open opportunities to share about our Savior as well as encourage believers.
Please pray for the weeks ahead and all the tests and procedures I will be having. I am certain the Lord will have divine appointments as He puts me in the places, I don’t want to be… Wait a minute, I think I want to change that. I want to be where He puts me, then I get to see Him do the amazing things that He does! Pray for Beabea also! My Wonder Wife continues to be involved in so many opportunities in so many ways as well as helping me. What a Grandma! What a woman!!!
One final item… We are still receiving mail at our daughter’s place. (We used her address when we first moved to Tennessee.) There is no problem getting our mail from her, but here is our actual address:
John & Beabea Rogers
235 Carta Road, APT L1
Knoxville, TN 37914
Our mission address is:
(New address! Same mission!)
Barnabas Enrichment Ministries
P.O. Box 4
Goshen, IN 46527-0004
Looking forward to being caught up in the air as I listen for a trumpet, but I am not forgetting the precious people all around us who do not know the Lord!
John (and of course, Beabea)
jtrbem@gmail.com
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