Update:
Hurried through my exercises on Thursday morning, ate a quick lunch and
then got dressed and went to work at the church for the afternoon. The weather was great at lunch time and I
decided to see if I could load the wheelchair into the truck by myself. Dick K. had come over to stand by in case I
needed help; but I was able to get it up and in without too much
difficulty. So now unless there is snow
or ice on the ramp, I can come and go on my own! That is so exciting! So far I had to have somebody load me in and
then unload me everywhere I go. For the
last couple of weeks I drove myself into town after someone helped load me into
the truck; then I was stuck in the vehicle until someone helped me. Now if I want to go to a store—I can go. That is such a big difference for me
mentally. What an encouragement. I still have some limitations (I can’t scrape
snow and ice of the windshield, there can’t be any stairs, etc.) and still need
to monitor my energy levels, but I have a deeper reservoir to draw upon
now. Freedom!!!
All this will be important in the coming weeks when I am fitted for my
prosthesis (a lengthy process with a number of trips into the lab) and begin my
physical therapy to learn how to walk.
I’ll have a number of appointments each week that I’ll need to get
to. If the weather cooperates, I won’t
have to drag anyone along with me each day.
This also will allow me to attend a police chaplain training conference
in mid-March in southern Wisconsin that I’ve wanted to go to.
Jon and Josh came over for dinner and a game of Scrabble on Thursday
night. Josh took an early lead.
Throughout the rest of the game we were all pretty even on our scores until the
last few rounds when Jon pulled far ahead of us and won. After that Josh took some photos and video of
me doing exercises. He has to do some
editing of the video before it is ready to post. But I have a few photos of me with a couple
of shots of my stump uncovered.
Thought for the Day:
If you think about it, almost every miracle that Jesus does has
witnesses. Sometimes, it is just a few
of the disciples and other times there is a large crowd. What prompts the miracle is a need of some
sort; whether it is a death of a child, the fear of the boat sinking and
drowning, a woman who has been sick for decades, or people needing to be fed
when there is no food. Looking at the
event prompting the miracle we see that in every case that it was an impossible
situation. Circumstance said that it
wasn’t possible; that there was no hope.
You’ve probably faced a crisis or two in your own life; a time when you
knew there was no way out of your situation because it was hopeless. No matter how you tried, it wasn’t going to
be enough. It was like being a passenger
on the Titanic watching as a gigantic iceberg emerges from the gloom of
night. There is nothing you can do to
stop the inevitable disaster looming ahead.
Conditions dictate that it will happen.
In terms of the Titanic, you’ve already hit the iceberg and the damage
has been done although the ship hasn’t technically sunk yet—it is just a matter
of time.
Os Hillman shared an illustration from a support group meeting he
attended. The facilitator asked two of
the people present to help him. The facilitator
told the group to keep an eye on (watch) both people. One person he called “Circumstances” and the other
he called “Jesus.” The group was meeting
in a very large room with exits at both ends.
On cue, Circumstances and Jesus both got up and began to leave the room
in opposite directions. Very quickly
those in the group found that they could not keep their eyes on both Jesus and
Circumstances; they had to choose to focus upon one or the other. [Os Hillman, Prime Time With God daily devotional email
(2/14/2014) from Church Growth Institute].
So
we have a choice to either fix our attention on the circumstances of our
personal calamity, or we can focus our attention on the one person who could
actually do something about what we are facing, Jesus.
Hebrews 12:2 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the
author and perfecter of our faith…”
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