My dear friend,
It is hard to believe that it has been two whole months since I last posted a letter to you. When I started working on the Bible studies, I very quickly became inundated with that effort. I found that I did not have time for anything else. Virtually everything in my life has been put on the backburner. Even those daily and weekly activities (such as house cleaning and hygiene) that we all must do in order to keep ourselves fit for living have suffered because of my effort in producing these Bible Studies.
I knew long before I started work on these Bible Studies that they were going to be a very big challenge for me, but now that I am doing them, I find that it is a far greater effort than I could ever have imagined. It is somewhat humorous; because, when the idea first came to me, I was envisioning that I would simply be reading the text of the Bible to you. And nothing else! (This was before God gave me the errand to circumnavigate.) I had this idea that I would set up a blog site with the main purpose of communicating my own love to you in a way that you might come to realize the true nature of my love for you. I thought that if I did it that way, that you might understand that I genuinely never had any desires or intentions to take anything from you.
(To this very day, I am still completely perplexed as you why you ever thought that I wanted to exploit you in any way at all. How could my affections for you have been so completely misunderstood? From where, and how, did you ever arrive at such a dreadful conclusion?)
I figured that if I communicated to you in the form of blog posts (and the like) that you might see that I am honestly not seeking for nor expecting anything in return. Although, I have told you this before, but what can I do? You are trapped in a world of darkness my dearest friend! I am not able to comprehend what it is that has a hold on your heart and your mind, but this I do know. It is not of anything that is good and pure!
You say that you do no believe that God exists. You say that the Bible is fake. Oh! But my friend! You know deep in your heart that those words are only lies. You know deep in your heart that there is a God. You know that you … your very own self … you have a soul! You have a spirit! Where is that spirit of yours going to go when you pass on from this life to the next? What are you going to do when you find yourself in that boundless abyss after your body has died and been buried? What are you going to do when you stand in judgement before that very one that you claim does not exist?
Can you not understand how completely heartbroken I am over you … over your soul? I make no claim over your body or your soul. It is God that wants your soul! God gave you life. God gave you your body and your mind. All He is asking is for you to believe in Him. God has already provided the salvation for your soul. He simply asks that you believe.
And this is why I wanted to read the Bible to you my dear friend. I only wanted you to hear the Words of God for your own self. When you say that you do not believe that there is a God, you are not saying that because of your own determination – are you? You are simply repeating what someone else has told you. You are justifying your decision based on what someone else has told you to do with the words of the Bible. Why do you listen to them? You are one of the most intelligent and brilliant persons I have ever known in my life. You have a perception of this world around us unlike any other person that I know. Why would you listen to someone that is most likely inferior to yourself in matters of perception? Who cares if they are twice as old as you of if they have a more impressive pedigree than you?! You are your own person! Do not I love you so very much, because I understand how greatly you desire to search out and to know the truth?
You will never know the truth by listening to any man or woman. As God says in His Word, “All men are liars.” Who are you going to believe? Man or God? Think about it Bee! Put that beautiful mind of yours to work. Does your heart not confirm it to you?
But what can I do? How could I do anything else, but to keep pressing on? My heartbreak over your lost soul is more than I can bare. The only thing that I can possibly do is to keep trying to water your heart with the truth of God. As long as I have breath in my lungs that is all that can do. My life here on Earth will never be fulfilled until you come to know and understand the truth. My own soul demands it. It is fix by God Himself. I cannot undo it.
But why is that?
God has no pleasure in the death of any person. As the Bible says, judgement is his strange work. Yet God is a righteous and a just God. He cannot tolerate sin. He can certainly allow each and every one of us to continue in sin for a certain season, and that season can seem like an eternity to you and I. However, in His eyes it is but a flash of light in the night sky. Our lifetime here on Earth is but a brief moment to God. He will let us fill up the cup of iniquity as we continue in our sin, day after day after day. Then when that cup is full, He must judge. He cannot simply sweep our sin under rug. He cannot let us in the backdoor of Heaven. Those that choose to continue to live apart from God are not fit for His kingdom. God has no other choice than to judge them. There would be no such thing as death if there was no need for God to judge us.
So what is my point?
For me, I had it in my mind to read the Bible to you and you alone. I thought that others would find it useful perhaps, but that was not my concern. You were my concern. Yet God knew all along that there was a bigger purpose for it all. In my smallness and my lack of understanding I did not fully come to that realization until I began to prepare for the Bible study program. It was as I began to prepare that God spoke to my heart and made me realize that there is a much bigger purpose to it all, and it is for this larger purpose that God has made it possible for me to continue to produce these Bible studies and to even get the program started in the first place. None of those things would have happened unless God had provided a way for it.
I do not think that anyone truly understands how weak and incapable I really am. I look back on my life these last twenty years and I am astounded by the way that He has moved in my life. Sure, I admit that my life looks like a mess, but that is only because I really am that weak. If it were not for God, I would have failed so very many times along the way. The reason why my life is a mess, is that God wants everyone to see how truly week and incapable I am, and He is not done yet. He truly does want to get the message across that, “Dale cannot do anything without God Almighty!” Absolutely nothing at all!
God made it possible for me to get my blog up and running, as well as the Bible study, but I cannot keep in pace with either one of them. How in the world could I possibly continue with them and make any progress with the completely impossible task of circumnavigating the Earth? Just as I said in my May 1st video update, it’s all impossible. But that is not good enough for God. It is not enough for me to simply say that. It must be completely evident to anyone that takes the time to look. It is imperative that I look like a mess in every respect, and, apparently, I have not done a very good job of getting that point across.
For some reason even my closest friends do not seem to understand what a disaster my life is. They do not realize how completely hopeless and helpless I am. The Saturday before last, I was at a reception following a memorial service for an old friend that was very much a father figure to me. His son, who is one of my closest friends, ask me if I wanted any food that they had catered for the reception. I stared at him in amazement. Yet I experience this situation more often than not. There only seems to be a couple of people that have any idea how extraordinarily difficult it is for me to eat anything, let alone how tremendously restrictive my diet really is.
Do you remember how I was? It was quite literally everything I could do to get through each day. I only had enough time to prepare and eat my food; to prepare and administer my treatments; and to take care of my responsibilities at work. If I was extremely lucky, I was able to get five hours of sleep, and the weekends were no different than the weekdays. All I did on the weekends was to try to get caught up with everything that I was not able to do during the week. I had no leisure time whatsoever. Occasionally, I would travel somewhere with my wife (to visit family), and that was always a major ordeal for me! … extremely difficult! Nothing really has changed. I am pressed to the max. I no longer really understand what it is to relax. I have not had a moment to relax in years. Like I said in my video update, my kitchen is my own little prison … it is my desert … my wilderness. I do take time to pray, but anyone that spends much time praying knows that it can often be the hardest work of all.
This is the reason why I have not made any updates to my recovery status and the reason why I have not posted any other letters. I have certainly wanted to do it. There are many things that I have wanted to write about. I really do want to update the recovery status. I even have some data in my tracking spreadsheet to add to my status page, but I simply do not have the time. I have wanted to do some more videos, and I have also wanted to post some excerpts from my Bible studies. Yet again, I lack the time.
Of course, there is this most recent problem that I am dealing with. If I remember correctly (a big IF), it was around May the 3rd that I suffered a horrible episode of dizziness and cranial pressure, and for about three days I was in seriously bad shape. Even still, I am in pretty bad shape. Perhaps you heard the introduction to the 22nd Bible study, that I posted on May 15th (despite the fact that it says May 3rd). If you did hear it, then you learned in that introduction that I am dealing with an acid-base balance issue of my body fluids, which you already knew. However, what I said in that introduction is that I have been experiencing symptoms of hyponatremia. Things have improved somewhat since then, but I am still dealing with those symptoms. I suspect that you understand how dangerous such a situation can be. The situation that I am in right now is quite precarious. It is most certainly life threatening, regardless of the fact that I have been improving.
The bottom line is that until God leads me to a solution, I am at a complete standstill. I cannot gain any more weight; I cannot do any form of physical training; and I cannot make any further progress with the recovery of my gut, not to mention that I am having to spend an enormous amount of time researching and learning about this new problem. Time! I don’t have the time! I wish I had the time just to explain more about it, as well as why God has allowed all this to happen. There is a very good reason for it all, and in time God will make it possible for me to tell that story. As much as I want to explain it to you, it must wait until God gives you and I the time. You need the time for God to work in your life and to bring you to a point when you are ready to receive more of that story, and I need the time to get to the point to tell you the story. It all must happen according to God’s time.
The waiting drives me crazy, but I will wait as I must. Do I have to wait for another 44 years? I do not believe that God intends for the wait to be quite so long, but the amount of time that it takes is ultimately not important. Just so long as you do come to understand God’s truth, that is what is important. I will wait for you.
Here is something for you to consider. You realize that I had nearly a full year to contemplate my decision to move forward with this plan to set up this blog, to begin producing Bible studies, and to begin to prepare for the circumnavigation. Keep in mind, also, that I was well aware that the whole thing is predicated on my successful recovery from my gastrointestinal issues. Moreover, I knew long beforehand … that at the moment I took this plunge and I got started with all these things that there would be no turning back. Yet despite all of the risk that I was facing and all that happened before then, I was willing to take that risk and I was willing to accept the suffering to come.
Why would I do that?
It is because I believe God! And it is because I believe God that I believe in you! He has told me to believe in you. That is what I am doing.
Love Always,
Dale 😊
Mr. Trussell,
Have you had your vitamin D levels checked?
A deficiency in vitamin D can result from inadequate exposure to sunlight, inefficient production in the skin, not enough vitamin D in your diet, and health conditions that can affect it including, gastrointestinal disorders, renal diseases, and liver diseases.
Vitamin D is essential to all body systems working properly. This one Vitamin or the lack of… can wreck havoc and cause all sort of maladies.
Please have your D levels checked.
Also, your diet is quite restrictive and I don’t have a clue to what extent. But you need calories and nutrition. If by chance your body can tolerate Peanut Butter or other nut butters, they are used to reverse malnutrition. Dairy is a bad idea and I’m confident that you already know that.
You are so over inundated that rest and moments to relax do not exist for you. Is it possible to take your laptop computer out in the backyard and put your bare feet on the lawn while you prepare the Bible Study? If not, schedule yourself a 20-minute power nap and put a priority on it equal to any thing else on your list. You will find that resting for even that short of a time will do wonders for your overall health and well being.
And just in case…under no circumstances use sweet n low or any other sugar substitute! Seriously, they can destroy your gut’s ecosystem.
I don’t know if any of this will help.
and… don’t think I’m being nice. I am selfishly trying to keep my Bible Study Teacher alive.
Hello Mrs. Karen Hollis,
You are more that welcome to call me Dale – BTW. Whichever name you are most comfortable with, however. 🙂
Thank you so very much for your thoughtful comments and especially for your concern. I greatly appreciate it!
You have given me a much to write about in response … more than I can adequately address. However, I will do my best to speak to each of your points.
You may want to read my most recent post “Science is a Wherry.” (I posted it about the time that you submitted your comment to this post. LOL) I presume that you have read quite a bit of the material that I have posted here on this Website about my affliction. There are many details that I have provided, yet the information that I have managed to included here on this site is really only the tip of the iceberg.
I am glad you mentioned the vitamin D. I have been taking 2500 IU of vitamin D every day for several years (Country Life Vitamin D3). I used to take 5000 IU, but my levels were getting too high, and I had to cut the dosage. When I did cut the dosage, it brought my lab readings for vitamin D down into a consistently ideal level. Nevertheless, that was before I transitioned my diet to a higher intake of coconut oil, so perhaps I should be taking more vitamin D now. It may help me in my recovery efforts. Regardless, I am fairly confident that any vitamin D deficiency that I might have now, would only be a contributing factor to my current fluid balance issue. I have had this fluid balance issue for many years, but I simply did not understand enough about it to comprehend that it was a chronic and much more serious and underlying condition than I presumed. In fact, I am pretty sure that I had this problem even before I cut my vitamin D dosage, which was close to ten years ago. But I took an extra one tonight on your suggestion. Perhaps it will help a bit.
I have been planning on ordering a metabolic lab panel, but I need to figure out which panel I want to order. I just have not had the time to figure that out yet.
You do not have to worry about me getting enough calories. You would be astonished if you were ever to look at some of the spreadsheets I have put together over the years. There are very few people on Earth that understand as much or more about what nutrients they consume than myself. I have been tempted to post some of my spreadsheets, but they are not fit for reading by anyone but me. It would take too much work to make them presentable to an audience.
I am not going to delve into the dairy topic. I have not had any dairy since a couple of weeks before I had my horrible episode of dizziness, but I do not eat normal dairy products. I only eat dairy based ferments that I grow myself, that are teaming with high quality strains of beneficial bacteria that is tailored for my specific gastrointestinal needs, such as certain varieties of bifidobacterial.
We can discuss the topic of rest, after you read my latest post.
Rest assured that I very rarely eat artificially synthesized sweeteners. When I speak of artificial sweeteners, I am usually talking about sugar alcohols, glycerin, monk’s fruit extract, and stevia, but I have not been consuming much of those at all these last couple of weeks, and it seems to be helping. I would love to explain more about why that is, but I do not have the time. Besides, I probably do not understand it well enough yet to explain it anyway, but there is definitely a relationship between my fluid balance / lactic acidosis and these natural sweeteners that have little to no digestible calories.
Thank you again! So very much! Please keep the questions coming. God wants it to be well known how just far out of the mire that I must be delivered from to make this whole thing a reality. The more questions you ask, the more it causes me to explain my lowly estate. lol Praise be to God Almighty!
Tell your hubby I said hello. He is a pretty special guy! All because of you, he managed to get himself on my prayer list twice! But that is not why he is so special! … I hope you understand.
Thank you Mr. Trussell, I will try to get used to Dale.😊
My Husband asked me why I call you Mr. Trussell…
I told him, because you are a teacher and I always called my teachers by Mr., Mrs. or Ms.
I have read almost all your writings on this blog. It’s astonishing to me how resilient you are! I’m so happy that you are aware of most everything I had concerns about. You did sidestep the “powernap” but I see why. Your plate is overloaded with things to do.
How about a 5 minute power nap?
Seriously, I’m a master at the 5-minute power charge! My Husband could verify that. 😄
Thank you for having David on your prayer list. I want for his soul to know Christ as his Savior. But alas, it’s not yet so. We will be celebrating our 19th Wedding Anniversary in August and I love him more with each passing year. David knows my Love of our Lord and respects my faith. Never stops me from anything that I believe and will even let me share.
With that said…
I would be disingenuous if I said that I’m not understanding the gravity of your situation. It’s only by the Grace of God that you’re undertaking so much!
I plea with you to take that 5 minutes you would use to respond to this message and do this.
Say “ok” then use that 5-minutes to close your eyes! Did you know that your boby heals itself while you are resting? Did you also know that stress is the #1 cause of illness? Our bodies Need to re-boot. Our bodies need to destress in order to rebound.
I’m not sure what kinds of food you eat, but I know that an hour and a half sounds like too much 🤔 time to spend in the Kitchen on each meal.
Let’s let that go for a minute…
If you can prepare several same types of meals? For different needs? Put in the freezer? I do that for myself. I eat a very clean diet. I cook for my Husband, but eat completely different for myself.
I’m so glad you took an extra Vitamin D.
The little vitamin that helps so much!
You may want to read up on Vitamin K2, it helps Vitamin D get into your cells.
I will leave you with this.
And Mr. Dale, please rest and restore.
May God continue to bless you and all Glory be to Him.
Mrs. Karen,
Thank you! Thanks be to the Lord for you grace!
I do not mean to ignore you. I am simply working to get out this Bible study number 30. It is proving to be significantly more of a challenge than I anticipated. FYI – I do take a nap most every day 😊
God bless you and David both!
Hello Mrs. Karen,
I presume that you listened to some or all of Bible study number 31, as well as number 30. I do not understand why it is that God wanted me to grapple with all of those details right now. I spent a lot of time praying over study number 31. The emotional struggle with these last two studies has really taken a toll on me. I apologize for the excessively long programs, for delving so deeply into my own personal affairs, and for taking so long to respond to your comment. I am doing the best I can to do what the Lord is leading me to do. Nevertheless, in time it will all be made clear, why it is that I had to reveal the things that I did in these last two studies.
Concerning naps, I usually take at least one nap every day. It is not too often that I can get a 20 minute nap, in recent months. It would be good to get back to that habit. Most of my naps in recent months are only about 5 or 10 minutes; however, I do take two naps on many days.
I am aware of the relationship of Vitamin K with the absorption of Vitamin D and also with Calcium. Many years ago I was taking a Vitamin K supplement, but I stopped taking it, because I determined that I was getting more than enough from my diet. However, I should do that exercise again to make sure that I am still getting enough. Besides, I have forgotten what the significance is of K2. I should probably be reminded. Thank you for bringing that to my attention! 😀
I cannot adequately describe the saga behind my meals and the preparation of them here in this comment box. It is a topic that I need to speak to, but there is a lot to tell. Some how I need to figure out how much of that story would be of value to pass on to my audience. I do have some videos that I recorded, but it would take some work to edit them and produce something that would be worthwhile for publishing. I am not sure that it’s worth the effort though.
Now that I understand, I am praying much more earnestly for David. Father, we lift him up to you. Speak to his heart that he would come to know the righteousness of Jesus Christ and that the Spirit would search his heart and and reveal his need for a savior in the light of Christ. Lead him that he would turn in repentance and confession and accept Jesus as his Savior. We pray in Jesus name Amen!
Mrs. Karen, I hope you caught that passage from the Gospel of John that I read in our last study, where I read verses 9-15 from Chapter 15. When I recorded it I was thinking of you also. I was hoping that it would be an encouragement to you, “that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” The only thing is that I miss quoted it. Instead of saying “whatsoever,” I said “whosoever.” It is interesting that I made that little slip up. I didn’t realize that I did that until after I posted it and listened to it again.
God bless you Mrs. Karen.
I love your wonderful comments! You are a great blessing!
🙂👍
Mr. Trussell,
It’s my turn to apologize for a slow reply. I just drove home today from Apple Valley. So I was gone for several days. I did listen to your post #30 while I was gone. But I want to listen again plus listen to post #31.
The Bible lessons are longer because you have so much content to cover. I’m not the person to Guage the length of your Bible studies, because I enjoy them so much. Extra time is a bonus for me. Truly!
Right now, you have more than enough to keep busy. No need to create more work by editing your food video journals or posting new content.
The reason behind my curiosity, was to see what food items you eat and the possibility of my creating a nutrition bar using items listed.
Okay… Vitamin K2
This vitamin is rare in the Western diet and hasn’t received much mainstream attention.
However, this powerful nutrient plays an essential role in many aspects of your health.
In fact, vitamin K2 may be the missing link between diet and several chronic diseases.
Vitamin K2 is also produced by gut bacteria in your large intestine. Some evidence suggests that broad-spectrum antibiotics contribute to K2 deficiency.
The benefits of supplementing with K2 may be enhanced even further when combined with a vitamin D supplement, as these two vitamins have synergistic effects.
You can get vitamin K2 from high-fat dairy products, egg yolk, liver and fermented foods, such as sauerkraut. Although, most people do not consume enough of these foods to have adequate K2.
Though this needs to be studied in more detail, current research on vitamin K2 and health is promising.
In fact, it may have life-saving implications for many people.
God has blessed me through your Bible study. I feel so much happiness because I yearned for more understanding. In the past 18 months, I read the Bible, than started reading it again. I was more than halfway through, when I recieved a link to your Bible Ark. I told you about my prayer.
God makes me feel emotional when I consider His Great Love and the kindness He showered on someone so puny as me. He heard me and then sent help so I could better understand his excellent word.
Mr. Dale,
There are not enough thank you’s. Your prayers for David and then I saw my name on your prayer list… I cried. (It’s really some special blessing, to be prayed for!)
I cannot wait to hear your scripture quote from John. “Whosoever”… that’s amazing!
May God Bless you! May God’s Grace pour out in abundance over You!
Now I’m going to go board the Bible Ark… Im so excited!
Bye for now.
Hello Mrs. Karen,
Your proposal of a nutrition bar sounds interesting. I will have to ponder that. Perhaps, I can take one or more of my old spreadsheets and update it with what my current diet consists of. Let me get back to you on that one.
After refreshing my understanding of Vitamin K, I remember now why I stopped taking it. I consume copious amounts of leafy vegetables, including a broad variety of microgreens and leafy sprouts (especially alfalfa). Therefore, I get more than enough K1 from my diet. Additionally, I take a lot of probiotics and prebiotics, both several species from both the Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium families. Hence, the enzymatic synthesis of K1 to to K2 is undoubtedly quite high in my gut, so I am thinking that a supplement would be a little overkill at this point. What do you suppose?
Mrs. Karen, Thanks to our Almighty God that these Bible studies are ministering to you in such a way. I am so very grateful for your graciousness, for your respect, and for the mercy and grace that God has blessed us both with. It is very easy for me to pray for David. I have always felt a fond friendship towards him. He is a great guy!
Respectfully yours,
Dale
Mr. Trussell,
Yes. I believe you’re correct to suppose your K2 is at sufficient levels.
It could be interesting and fun, to create a bar specific to your nutritional needs… Like a science project. Lol
I know you’re going to be well enough for your circumnavigation. (Which means Completely well)
I had left a comment on your other writing, “Science is a Wherry”
After reading the details of your travel plans, I didn’t really know what to say, think or feel. I only knew that it’s daunting.
If I had to walk from my home to SoCal… the same trip that I just drove,
I might die. Yes; more than likely, they would have to scoop me off the road.
And… I’m completely healthy!
However…
If God told me to do it, I would know, He supernaturally would charge my body with Strength, resilience and energy to accomplish the task.
So God will do that for you!
God doesn’t assign failed missions.
I will leave you with that.
Have yourself a great day, my friend.
K. Hollis