Kat is doing some real soul searching (and I'm excited about it)!
Pray for her intentions, please!

My close friends Brad and Sarah just had twins, Ava Christine and Olivia Diane! However, the twins' survival is day to day at this point. They were born at 28 weeks, and weigh 1lb 12 oz and 1lb 13 oz. Please pray for the twins who are in ICU and their parents.

Also, I had another prayer request from Barbara Ann for her own health as well as her mother's health. Barbara Ann is having difficulty with vision in her left eye and experiencing numbness on her face on the left side. Her mother, Ophelia, is in the process of "withering away," as the doctor called it. Please pray for their health as well.

Stan Orr, a truly good man that I wrote briefly about earlier on this site passed away on Saturday at 10 a.m. Here is what his son Dan wrote:

Friends,

This morning @ 10am Chicago time my dad went to be with Jesus. He went into cardiac arrest and then had a heart attack. His suffering has stopped and absolute joy and peace has filled his soul! He is currently experiencing absolute freedom, love and absolute fullness! Thank you all for praying for him and our family. We are currently figuring out the details regarding the funeral arrangements and I will let you know once they have been established. Please continue praying for those who loved Stan as it's very painful to see him leave. God is good and he is our rock. We will keep our eyes on Him and remember that this is not our home. Thank you all for your great support to our family. We are very thankful for you!

Here is Stan's obituary:

Stanley G. Orr, age 61, a resident of Wheaton, died Saturday, July 29, at Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield. He was born March 18, 1945 in Dublin, Ireland.

Stan grew up in Brazil as a Missionary child. He came to the United States when he was 17 and earned a degree in Physics at Elmhurst College. He was an electrical engineer at Fermi Lab in Batavia for 36 years. He was a Gideon, and volunteered at the DuPage County Jail as a Chaplain. He was an active member of the Lombard Gospel Chapel for 20 years. He later attended the Warrenville Bible Chapel. He was an avid model plane builder and loved to fish. He enjoyed Brazilian soccer and the White Sox.

He is survived by his wife of 34 years, Glenys; his son, Dan (Meghan) of Wheaton; his mother, Martha of Ireland; four brothers, Alan (Joan), Kenneth (Dorothy), Eric (Sandra), and Leslie (Janet); and two sisters, Hilda (Brian), and Edna (David).

He was recently preceded in death by his father, George.

A visitation will be held on Wednesday, August 2, from 4-9 P.M. at Hultgren Funeral Home, 304 N. Main St., in Wheaton. A funeral service will be held on Thursday, August 3, at 10:00 A.M. at Lombard Gospel Chapel, 369 N. Stewart Avenue, in Lombard. Interment will follow at Wheaton Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be directed in memory of Stan to The Gideons International, Post Office Box 140800, Nashville, TN 37214-0800.

This short obituary does not and cannot do complete justice to a man that did so much for my my family and for me. His family's support for my own family when my sister was sick was amazing, and I will never forget it. Nor will I forget him saying my sister's eulogy.

I am happy to hear that Stan who has been through a lot physically for many years is indeed in a better place (and he got to see the White Sox win last year). God is indeed good! Please join me in praying for Stan and his family!

A group in the Diocese of Raleigh asked me to pass on a request that people say a Novena to St. Michael the Archangel for his daily protection and help. This is for the 9 days leading up to the bishop's installation on August 4, 2006. Please join this group and pray for the new bishop (starting right now)!

This picture is of Stan and his wife Glenys, who were (in a way) partial parents to me when my folks were busy with my sister Julia in the hospital when I was a kid. They are good people.

I asked you to pray for Stan already. Well, let me ask again that all of you out there pray for Stan the Man (as I called him as a kid)! Let me pass on what I received from his son, my very good friend Dan (and if you need motivation, read the Quick Story):

Here's the update for the day: It's been rather quiet all day as my dad has been sedated and on a ventilator. Last night, they decided to put him back on the ventilator and sedate him because he was having a little difficulty breathing. His difficulty w/ the breathing probably stems from a combination of sleep apnia w/ his brain fluctuating in response to the bacteria. He's been calm and relaxed, which is a good thing.

Quick Story: Last night as I was leaving the hospital, I prayed for my dad... He had been sedated and unresponsive for most of the afternoon and wasn't saying much of anything in the evening. As I finished the prayer and was saying Amen, my dad joined w/ me and said Amen himself! It was amazing!

Bottom line for the day: The doctors are still looking for any pockets of bacteria (doing an MRI tonight of his spine and brain) and they are doing their absolute best to remove all bacteria from the body. Once the bacteria is eliminated from the body (days to weeks), the brain will start to heal and recover from the attack from the infection. Time will tell how he will heal and respond. His neurologist said that there is a good chance that his brain will fully recover! The immediate concerns are the following: no pneumonia from being in hospital and on ventilator, no big pockets of bacteria that are causing damage, and any other random viruses...


Prayer Requests (Please be PRAYER WARRIORS) for Stanley:
-Pray that the bacteria is eliminated from the body completely
-Pray that his body fully heals from this infection
-Pray that we trust in our heavenly Father and that He is glorified!

THANK YOU for your encouragements/prayers and love. We have seen the body of Christ in full action this week and it's a beautiful thing! PLEASE forward this to anyone who will pray! Lastly, Aunt Becky - Please continue praying for my dad... when I told him that you had been praying the other day, he started crying!

I just learned that Stan Orr has been diagnosed with meningitis. Stan is a good family friend, a good man. Stan, along with his wife Glenys--took care of my (middle) sister and I while my youngest sister was in the hospital years ago. Further, he said the eulogy when she died. I ask you to please pray for this truly Christian man. Thank you!

Folks,

I know I have been out of pocket recently, not just in terms of my writings on TomReagan.com, but socially as well. This is due to the fact that I have been working very hard on other things I have been needing to get done. First and foremost, I am trying to get my house on the market once and for all. This is no small undertaking. Second, I just got done a few days ago with a Final Exam I had to take at UNC (which required a ton of studying). Third, I am still working full time at my job. All that being said, hopefully once things calm down a bit, I hope to be able to write more consistently. In the meantime, my output might be a bit sparse.

I want to thank everybody who has written and wondered where I was or how I've been doing. The simple answer is that I'm doing alright, but I need your prayers...badly! I believe God is leading me right now, but I need you to pray that He helps me to sell my house and that He gives me the energy and stamina to get done all of the things I need to get done. The list seems to be growing daily. So again: please pray for me!

Thanks in advance!

Sincerely,
Tom Reagan

One of my readers wrote to tell me that she is "going into the hospital because they think that I am crazy, but really I just love God so much."

Please pray for her, as I am!
Thanks!

I'd like to pass on a prayer request to everybody out there, from my good friend Dan:



Friends,

I wanted to send you something that has been on my heart this past week--and that has been heavy on all Young Life staff. One of my co-workers and friends, Mike Zegarski, had a brain aneurism this past Tuesday and was rushed to the hospital. He soon lost consciousness as he had massive bleeding in his brain. He was immediately placed as priority #1 at Edwards. Though they typically don't take someone that had undergone that type of trauma into surgery- they made an attempt because he was young.

The surgery went "better than expected" and "as good as it possibly could have gone"; however, it has been a very fragile situation since--as there have been low to no signs of responsiveness. Within the past 2 days, there has been a few signs that Mike be starting to respond to stimulation and sound. The doctors hope to be able to run some test on his brain this week (or next) to see what kind of damage was ultimately done to his brain.

It has been evident from the beginning that it will take a miracle for Mike to recover fully or even at all. I'm asking you to pray that Mike's brain damage is small and/or reverseable. I've had the opportunity to experience things that are unexplainable around this situation, such as prayer and grace- and continue to pray for full recovery and grace midst the situation for Mike's family.

For more informaiton on Mike and recent details, please go to www.MikeZegarski.com

Thanks,
Dan (and Meghan)

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