Update:
I spent the Tuesday morning and afternoon working at my office. It feels nice to be able to grab my cane and
go instead of having to lug around the wheelchair or the walker. The spring weather helps give me more energy
too! It was a lovely day—it would have
been nice to be outside in it; but duty called.
In the evening I attended a training meeting at the Altoona Fire
Department. A representative from the
DNR went through a training briefing on wildfires. You would think with the snow just melting off
that it would be hard for a wildfire to start.
But in the last few days, dozens of fires around the state have already
started.
With working at the office all day and then the training in the
evening, I got home about 9:45 p.m. and realized that I had had my prosthesis
on for 13 hours straight. Until the last
30 minutes or so, it never bothered me and everything felt fine. With the long day and extra effort of walking
with my prosthesis, I was really ready for bed and I was asleep within moments
of my head hitting the pillow.
Wednesday I have an appointment with my prosthetist, Leah. Since the emergency pit stop on Monday, my
leg has been more comfortable and it feels like we are finally making good
progress towards a final fit. One thing
we need to work on is the ability for me to kneel on one leg. Right now that is quit a stretch for me to
accomplish. I also need to learn how to
get down to a sitting position on the ground and how to get back up again; so
many new skills to learn. Anybody have a
toddler who just learned how to walk who could give me a few pointers? Seriously there are so many things that I
have to re-think and re-learn how to do it is almost comical. Eventually, things will become so routine
that I won’t have to think about how to do it—it will just come naturally. But right now so many things require me to
consciously think through the steps to accomplish the goal.
Here is a final funny ending to my day.
Usually, I reach a point at night
where it is like someone flipped a switch on my energy level. One moment I am up and going and the next
moment I can barely keep my eyes open. It
takes me about 45 minutes to get ready for bed at night, so I try to start my
routine early enough so I get to bed before I hit that point. Last night I didn’t make it. I had just gotten in the door from attending
the Fire training and put my things down on the table when the extreme
weariness hit me. I was standing at the
dining room table and thought—“I got to get to bed.” I tried to lift my right foot to turn to head
towards my wheelchair so I could take my prosthetic leg off—but my right
leg/foot would not respond. I literally
could not lift it off the floor. What is
going on? In the fog of weariness it
took me a moment to realize what had happened.
In my tiredness I had put my cane down on top of my right shoe. I was putting weight on the cane for the step
so it held my right foot which I was trying to lift down in place. After I moved my cane from my foot to the
floor—Voila! I could walk again. I make myself laugh! What a goof ball!
Thought for the Day:
Some days are difficult and hard to handle. The problems that I face may seem
inconsequential compared to what you are going through. Each person’s life is filled with a mixture
of joy and blessing; along with sorrow and grief. There are times when we cry out in so much
pain (physical or emotional) that we wish the world was different. We wish all the pain and suffering was
gone—it was non-existent. In essence we
wish God would have made a “better world.”
We assume that in that “better world,” we could be much happier.
“Do you think that you would be a better person if you enjoyed life
more? …The purpose of life is not
enjoyment, to the exclusion of building character and glorifying God. We have no guarantee that a better
environment would produce better people, that the absence of disease and pain
would mean the absence of hatred and deceit.
How many times I’ve heard in the intensive care ward, ‘Pastor, if the
Lord brings me through this, I’ll be the best person you’ve ever seen.’ In some
cases, the Lord did bring them through; but they didn’t always prove to be
better people. I have a feeling the ‘bad
things’ that stalk our lives are accomplishing purposes we may not fully
understand today. Only a great and
sovereign God could (humanly speaking) ‘take the risk’ to permit evil in His
world, and still work out His perfect plan.
We can’t explain each individual case, but the total pattern seems to be
clear: God is in control and working out His purposes for our good and His
glory. As the old Puritan, Thomas
Watson, used to say, ‘Where reason cannot wade, there faith must swim’” [Warren Wiersbe, Looking Up When Life Gets
You Down].
We dream about a better world.
We long to correct the things that hurt us and improve upon all the good
we see. I do not doubt that every
political candidate who seeks office dreams of a better world. No matter which political party that they
represent, they dream about creating a better world and righting some
wrongs. We don’t all agree on how to
make the world a better place, do we? I
think that some elected officials have made things worse; and I realize that
even if every person that I voted for always won, the world wouldn’t be a perfect
place. There are just too many things outside of our control. And the candidates of my choosing might get a
few things right; but I also know that they would get a whole lot of things
wrong. We are never going to create a
utopia here on earth through human means.
Let’s face it. We are stuck with
the world we’ve got. It doesn’t do us
too much good to constantly daydream about a better world (or complain about
this one) because this is the one we actually live in. So let’s pull up our ‘big boy pants’ and get
on with life.
Like many of you, there are things about life that I wish would be
different. “If I was God, I’d have done
that differently.” That is what I think
based upon my understanding of life and the wisdom that I have. AND YET…I am smart enough to know that I
don’t know it all, that there are things that I don’t understand and that I am
not even able to comprehend. There are
too many variables and factors to consider.
Just give me control of the local weather and I’d have things so messed
up that nobody would want to live here.
Give me the ability to actually change the world from the way God
created it and I am certain that I could make things much worse so very easily. So while I wish things could be different, I
am content with the fact that God created a good and perfect world. I understand that peoples’ sins have marred
that perfect creation; and for right now—this is as good as it gets. There is no way to improve upon this world
without removing every living being from existence—and that sort of defeats the
idea for improvement.
In other words, I trust God to be God.
He’s got the wisdom, the insight, the power, and the ability to balance
everything and make it work together. I
also trust that He has our best interest at heart. If there could be a way to improve upon our
world and still accomplish what needs to be done; He would do it. God’s love for us isn’t in dispute. He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to suffer and
die for us—so that our relationship with Him could be repaired and
renewed. If God would go to that great
length for us—I have no doubt that He has done everything else as well.
So Lord, thank you for all you have done for me and for all you are
doing. I ask that you work in my life to
make me the kind of person who is pleasing to you. Give me strength and courage when I need
it. Thank you for comforting me and
walking alongside of me every step of my journey through this life.
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