Update:
I had a great day yesterday. I went to a potluck luncheon with my friends
from the Altoona Police Department. It
was good to be out and around the teasing and good natured fun. The other four times I have been out since my
surgery, my batteries have gotten totally drained very quickly. Yesterday I
didn’t run out of energy. This is a good
sign of increased strength! As a bonus,
the food was great too! I appreciate
being included and the extra effort it took to come get me and to bring me back
home. Everybody else got a White
Elephant gift—the officers gave me a Kindle.
Wow! I deeply appreciate their generosity and support. Now I’m trying to figure out how to make that
thing work. I’ve already had to hit the
support button. I was a little
disappointed that Amy from the TV commercials didn’t help me—but the woman who
did was excellent help! My
technologically astute children gave it a big thumbs up and said it was way
better than an ipad.
Yesterday, my wife and I got
busy prepping for the day and after she rushed off to work, I realized that all
of my clean clothes were down in the basement, far, far out of my reach. I sat at the top of the stairs pondering what
to do. I ended up calling a friend to go
down to get me clean clothes so I could get dressed for the day. It was a little embarrassing. But what a hoot! You got to laugh.
I want to clarify my update
from yesterday as I mused about what the future holds and not having any idea
exactly what will happen. After I sent
it, I realized that my words could have been mistaken for despair and a descent
into hopelessness. I should have added a
paragraph that despite all of the uncertainty, that my faith and hope are in
God. I would LIKE to know what the future
holds, but I can handle just knowing the next step and being left in the dark,
because I know the one who holds the future and I trust in Him. I was attempting to give you a glimpse of the
things I am dealing with mentally.
I would also encourage you
to remember that the things I am going through, countless 1,000’s have already
gone through. And you probably have a
friend or someone you know (or maybe even you) who is struggling in a very
similar fashion right now. The glimpse
into my life should give you ideas on how to pray for them and ideas on how you
can help them.
I am in the process of
establishing a blog site where I can post my updates and thoughts. As I transition further away from the urgency
of my infection and amputation, I feel that I don’t want to push my email
version of updates on everyone. By
establishing a blog, those who want to continue to hear what I am thinking and
how I am doing can find out without forcing everyone to get the email. I’ve also been posting this on FaceBook. A blog will be easier for those who are not
regularly checking FaceBook because they won’t have to scroll through a lot of
other material to find my updates. I’ll
let you know when I get the site up and established.
Thought for the Day:
I woke a bit after 2 a.m. and
couldn’t get back to sleep. I lay on my
bed listening to my worship music and then finally got up at 3:30 a.m. Since then, I’ve been reading the bible and
praying. I read through the short book
of Philippians and found many wonderful promises and truths. But almost at the end of the book, I read
this verse:
Philippians 4:19 And my God will meet all your
needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
I thank God for reminding me of His provision. In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to “give us
this day our daily bread.” That’s a
prayer for His provision. I am reminded
of the fact that the prayer isn’t “give us this year everything we need.” No, this is a daily prayer. A constant reminder of where our hope and the
true source of all blessing come from.
The Lord’s Prayer is not just about asking for food for the day, but
everything that sustains and nourishes our lives: our finances, our shelter,
the friends and family that we rely upon, the clothes we wear, transportation,
the skills and abilities that we need, protection, security, peace of mind, a
job, heat in the winter, a listening ear, a helping hand, a deeper relationship
with Him and the ability to trust in Him, strength for tomorrow, and hope for a
future. You name it, whatever you need
God will provide.
His provision does not preclude faith and trust on our
part. Nor does this mean that everything
that we want and wish for will be provided; but we will receive what we
need. That is sometimes a harsh reality
to find out that we need a lot less than we ever imagined. We’ve become acclimatized by the wealth and
prosperity of our culture to assume that life will always be filled with plenty
and that there will be no hurt or pain along the way. In our society we’ve come to accept it as
standard practice to sue someone else for damages for anything and everything that
goes wrong. We struggle to accept a less
than perfectly pleasing life.
Part of being content, is trust. Trusting that God really will provide what
you need and learning to be satisfied with that. Christmas is only a few days away. It gives us a wonderful opportunity to
practice being content and teaching it to our children. Christmas as it is traditionally practiced
often produces greed, lust, and envy. We
didn’t get the newest and the best. Our
best friend got it—but we didn’t. I
heard of one family that tells their kids how much they would have spent on each
child. The kids then look through a
World Vision catalog where they can purchase such things as chickens, pigs,
etc. for a third-world family giving them a sustainable food source. The kids choose how their money will be spent
on people that REALLY need it. And that
is Christmas for these kids. WOW!
Your kids might go into cardiac arrest if you tried that
cold turkey; but why don’t you start changing in small steps. One year when we didn’t have much money for
gifts, we made the kids coupon books.
“Good for a trip to McDonald’s alone with Dad.” “Good for a sleep over with two
friends.” “Good for no chores for one
day.” We did note that “some
restrictions apply.” Our children begged
for coupon books the following year. Our
adult children still look back on those coupon books as one of the best
Christmas memories.
I might have migrated off topic a bit; but in my mind it
all hangs together logically. The
question is, “Do you trust God to supply your needs?” If not, why not? Talk to Him about where you are with
this. Think about these things and take
some practical steps to build trust, peace, and contentment into your life and
into the lives of your children.
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