Tuesday, July 16, 2013

"Thank You, God, for the body You have given me. Most of the time I take my health for granted. I forget how fortunate I am to live without pain or disability, how blessed I am to be able to see and hear and walk and eat. I forget that this body of mine, with all its imperfections is a gift from You." (copied)

Tuesday is here and so am I. I do hope today finds you doing well. It is July 16, 2013, and I bid you a hearty hello and welcome. While I don't want to be overly melodramatic, I must tell you that I was one sick puppy this past weekend. It all began last Wednesday evening when I felt my throat begin to tighten up. On Thursday I was feeling slightly weak and wobbly. Friday was a challenging day. Yes, I did work Friday but left early because of feeling so bad. I had me some old fashioned fever, chills, a horrible sore throat, was unable to swallow, and had a cough that sounded like something straight out of a horror movie. My approach to dealing with illness is to do my best to work through it. That has pretty much worked for me throughout my lifetime. Pretty much but not 100%. By Friday evening it was clear that my temperature was way too high, therefore, my wife carried me to the emergency room where we mostly worked on our waiting skills for nearly four hours. They discovered that I have a virus. You know. The kind that makes you really sick. The part about being sick I got without the doctor telling me. No real treatment. They gave me a small bottle of cough syrup that cost $70 and said that I should be better after the virus had run its course. I was pretty much down for the count until Sunday. My wife said that in all our years that was sickest she had ever seen me.

As the Brits like to say, I was very unwell. I am not a young man anymore. We all wonder how it will be when we are winding up our time here. I felt bad enough to have some concerns about how it might all turn out. I don't remember much about my dad passing away but I do remember him being so sick laying in that back bedroom. It was strange but it seemed to me like my cough was like the one he was making. When I finally began to feel some better on Sunday, essentially I felt like I had been beaten with a tire iron. My bones are still very sore but I'm back up and going. Not full speed but thankful to be going. I shared all these gloomy details in order to say this: We are not invincible. You knew that already, but perhaps I needed to be reminded of it. I was not able to attend Church services on Sunday. There was a significantly important meeting scheduled after the morning service but I wasn't able to attend. I was debating whether to go to that meeting or not. My wife and my mom have been very strong in their advice and direction. My mom reminded me that the business of the local fellowship was in God's hands and it didn't require my presence for it to be carried out. That is so true. I knew that, but maybe God wanted me to be reminded of His strength in the midst of my own weakness and frailty.

Let me just say this about all that happened. I greatly appreciate my wife taking care of me during this time. She got the full measure of the 'in sickness and in health' line from our vows. And, I'm thankful that it did run its course. That's a cause for a prayer of praise. I've always tried to do my best at nearly everything I become involved in. I suppose that is the case even when I get sick. I'm not 100% but I am so much better than I was, and all I can say is praise the Lord. And, the doctor confirmed my original self diagnosis and that was to let it run its course. However, I will be the first to agree that the stuff in that little bottle of cough syrup helped me sleep through much of the worst of it. So, come Monday morning I was up at 3:15 a.m. ready to go. I was still sore, feeling a little wiped out, but, so very thankful that it had done exactly what that famous repeated verse in the Bible says, "And it came to pass." And, I'll add my own commentary, "Hit the road Jack, and don't you come back no more no more no more." Don't bother trying to find that one in the Bible. Have a great day and may God bless us, one and all. Amen.           ....More later.

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