Update:
After finishing my reading and personal devotional time on Tuesday
morning, I spent time with Ruth and Cody before they headed back to
Chicago. It was a great long weekend
spent with them and the rest of the family.
This coming Saturday, I am speaking at our bible camp outside of New
Auburn (Arrowhead Bible Camp) at a Men’s Archery Retreat. The focus on my talk will be on how my faith
has carried me through the events of the last five months. At the retreat there are lots of targets,
competition, and an awesome 3-D course to shoot throughout the day. Although I am walking well indoors and on
pavement, I’ve just started walking in grass and rough terrain. That kind of walking takes a whole new level
of energy and fitness which I have not yet achieved. Thus I was given permission by the bible camp
to bring my ATV so that I could ride the course. There is absolutely no way that I could walk
that far (even on pavement, it would currently be too much) so using the ATV
will allow me to participate in the shoot and enjoy the day.
But that means that I have to get my ATV out of winter storage (install
the battery, get it running after sitting all winter, fill it with fuel, etc.),
prepare the trailer to haul the ATV (pull it to the driveway, take the side
walls off, put on the front guard) and this is the week that I don’t have my
prosthetic leg, so I asked my son, Jon, to help me. He was available on Tuesday, so we spent the
afternoon outdoors and got everything ready to ride. He did most of the work and I helped out here
and there where I could. For instance
once Jon got the air compressor hose down for me, I was able to get the
compressor going and air up all the tires by myself. Even if I had my leg, there were a number of
items that I don’t think I could have done on my own, like push the ATV out of
the storage shed so I could install the battery. I am so grateful for Jon’s help. Jon also repaired the tailgate on my truck
that became hard to open over the winter—it works smoothly now. I am ready to hook up the trailer and load up
the ATV for the weekend now.
Karen and I had some time together after dinner on Tuesday and then I
spent the rest of the evening working on my sermon for this coming Sunday.
One of the things I am working on is trying to lose weight. Sitting in a wheelchair for four months
didn’t help my waistline any. Now that I
am walking again that will help; I’ve been eating the right kind of foods for
over a year, but now I’ve cut back on my food intake substantially. Taking insulin makes it that much harder
to lose weight—but I’ve got to shed some pounds and get my waistline
smaller. With my workouts, I have lost
much of the fat from the rest of my body; but still have a ways to go, especially
around the waist.
Thought for the Day:
They say that “Laughter is the best medicine.” If that isn’t true; it is at least the least
expensive medicine that we take.
Laughter is good for the soul. It
is good for our physical health.
Laughter is good for our emotional health as well.
I love to laugh and I find humor in many sources. One of the deep veins of humor that I mine is
my own life and the things that I do.
Here’s an example: I’ve never liked to put eye drops in my eye. I struggle to stop blinking and actually get
the drops into my eye. One day I got
something in my eye and went to the bathroom to get some Visine to wash the
object out and take away the pain. It
was just about sunset, so there was some light in the room but not much. I decided to leave the overhead light off
because it seemed dumb to tip my head back and stare at the light while trying
to keep my eye open to put in the drops.
So I got the drops and tipped my head back and started trying to get a drop
in my eye. Normally this might take me
3-4 tries; but on this day, apparently I couldn’t have hit the broadside of a
barn with a rock from five feet away. I
tried numerous times with no success. I
remember thinking, “Why can’t I get a drop in my eye? How bad of shot am I?” It was just after that when I discovered my
problem. I had forgotten to take my
glasses off so all the drops had splashed harmlessly against the lens. Duh!
After I took my glasses off I still had a hard time getting the drops in
because now I was laughing at myself so hard.
Job 8:21 “He [God]
will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of
joy.”
Luke 6:21 “…Blessed are you who weep now, for you will
laugh.”
Some people will try to tell
you that heaven is going to be dull and devoid of all fun. As I read the bible, I realize that it is
just the opposite. We are going to have
such a blast! Heaven is going to fill
our hearts so full with joy and happiness that it is going to bubble up inside
of us and we will laugh with joy.
“We think of ourselves as fun-loving, and of God as a humorless
killjoy. But we’ve got it
backwards. It’s not God who is boring;
it’s us. Did we invent wit, humor, and
laughter? No. God did.
We’ll never begin to exhaust God’s sense of humor and His love for
adventure.” [Randy Alcorn, EPM blog 10/4/2008,
Laughter in Heaven].
The closest thing to poetry that I ever memorized in high school is
this quote from Lord Byron, “And if I laugh at any mortal thing, ‘tis that I
may not weep.” I realize that there are
many sad and harsh things that happen in life.
I’ve been the victim of a few of them myself. I could choose to get all melancholy and cry
about it; or I can find what humor there is in my situation and choose to laugh
and enjoy what I can. Laughter can be a
very therapeutic alternative to deep depression and sorrow.
Some people see the glass half full.
Some people see the glass half empty.
I usually see the glass as filled with laughter. I admit that I am a goofball and that I enjoy
a good laugh better than a long cry.
Through humor I can shake things off.
I can minimize the harsh reality.
With humor I can endure more difficulty and not let it drag me
down. I believe that God gave us humor
to help us cope with stress and to endure life’s problems with a little more
joy. I am less brittle emotionally and
more resilient by approaching life with humor.
As a pastor, I think that some people struggle with the fact that I am
not more dignified. They believe that somehow
I bring dishonor on God by not being serious and decorous all the time. There are times when it’s appropriate and I
can be that way; but I am not required to act that way all the time. I believe that people find me more appealing and
approachable when I let my humorous side out.
Like that old English proverb says, “You catch more flies with honey
than with vinegar.” My question has
always been, “Why do you want to attract flies in the first place?” But anyway, most people are not drawn to
others who are acetic and bitter; they are drawn to those who are pleasant to
be around.
My thought for the day is that finding humor in the world around you
(and in your own life) will help enable you to deal with the stress and pain of
life as well as attracting others who will help you in the difficult times that
you face. My hope is that you can find
at least of moment of happiness today that will bring a smile to your lips and
joy to your heart.
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