Update:
Saturday turned into a labor marathon.
My three sons came over and with the help of a friend with the right
lawn tractor, we moved my storage shed in the backyard. Of course that entailed emptying the shed
first and doing some other prep work. We
moved the shed back into the yard 12-15 feet.
We’ve always had to go into the neighbor’s lawn to get big stuff in and
out of the shed; that hasn’t been a problem so far because it has been my
mother-in-law or brother-in-law living next door until now. The house is being sold so I figured I better
get the shed placed properly. I was able
to get rid of some stuff and rearrange the rest so the shed is very functional
again. I did a lot of the sorting while
the boys worked at splitting some wood that needed to be taken care of since
last fall. I am so grateful for the excellent help that I received. 
I had started out the morning doing my 60 minutes of exercise so I was
already tired when the boys arrived at 10 a.m.
My energy level was such that I could work for 15-20 minutes then I
needed to sit down and rest for 10 minutes.
I kept that cycle up all day. At
one point I even used the chainsaw to trim a few branches from a tree and then
cut up the wood. I did more chores on
Saturday than I have been able to do since last fall. It felt so good to be an active part of
getting the work done; I wasn’t just a spectator—I was a participant. I’m not as strong as I used to be yet; but I’m
looking forward to increased stamina and strength so I can do more and more as
time goes on.
The wood splitting and final clean up took until about 5 p.m. Right when we finished one of my boys got a
woodchip in his eye. My wife could see
it but couldn’t get it out. Of course on
Saturday evening there aren’t any eye doctors available and urgent care is
closed (because no one would need help on a Saturday evening). After a trip to the store for supplies, my
wife was finally able to get it out of his eye.
After getting a good night’s sleep, his eye is fine.
With the wood taking longer than expected and getting the wood out of
the eye, my wife and I got home about 8:30 p.m. The extra time taken totally
destroyed our plans—but it all needed to get done. After I showered and got everything cleaned
up, we watched some TV. Sunday at church
was being run by the Youth Group so neither of us had any responsibilities that
required us to arrive as early as we normally do. So we got to sleep in an extra hour and still
have plenty of time. I rode my
motorcycle to church.
The shirt I wore that caused a bit of a stir. Over 12 years ago, the youth pastor and I
took the first group of our teens on a summer mission trip to Mexico. On our way home, we spent the day at the
beach at South Padre Island, TX. A few
of the girls wanted to go to a certain shop, so I drove them and while I was
waiting, I found a bright blue and white Hawaiian shirt. The one I tried on was a bit too small so I
just grabbed the next larger size, made our purchases and then left. It wasn’t until I got home in WI that I found
out that the label was wrong on the shirt.
It was too small for me to wear.
So I stuck it in a cabinet for “someday.” Recently when I was looking for smaller
clothes to wear, I found that shirt and found out it fit! So today for Youth Sunday, I wore the
shirt. I told my wife that the shirt was
a bit too loud for me—but I wore it anyway and got many compliments. What is funny is that I’ve continued to lose
weight and the shirt is actually too big for me now. I’ll soon give it away. I had originally
purchased it with the idea of wearing it on Youth Sunday in support of our
teens, so it fulfilled its purpose. I
really can’t believe that I never got rid of the shirt for all these years. I wore the shirt to lunch and my boys said
that I looked like Shawn Spencer’s dad on Psych.
I rode my motorcycle into Eau Claire for lunch with my family and then
took the long way home afterwards.
Although it was hot, windy and the gnats were out, I rode my bicycle for
10 miles on Sunday afternoon to make up for eating too much at lunch.
The prescription-strength antiperspirant for my residual leg really
worked! Sunday afternoon’s bike ride in
the heat proved that to me. I checked my
leg after the ride and I barely had even a sheen of sweat on my leg instead of
the large puddle of sweat on the floor.
It is a very weird process to apply it the night before and wrapping it
in Saran wrap overnight—but it is supposed to last for a week—so I am satisfied
right now.
On Monday, I have another eye injection scheduled for the morning. This is in my good eye (left) so I will be
out of commission the rest of the day and into Tuesday. That being said I won’t publish and
Update/Thought on Tuesday because I won’t be able to see well enough to use the
computer.
Thought for the Day:
“Years ago an experiment was conducted to measure people’s capacity to
endure pain. How long could a
bare-footed person stand in a bucket of ice water? It was discovered that when there was someone
else present offering encouragement and support, the person standing in the ice
water could tolerate pain twice as long as when no one else was present.” [John Maxwell, Encouragement Changes
Everything].
Who do you have that stands alongside of you to give you encouragement?
Encouragement may come in many different forms. It may be someone’s physical presence, an apt
word spoken at just the right time, a note card or phone call that expresses
support, a prayer offered, a meal or act of kindness, or even just knowing that
the person is rooting for you wherever they are located, near or far. Sometimes it can be as simple as a friend
“liking” your Face Book post or as drastic as them dropping everything, taking
time off work and flying cross country to be at your side.
If you are going through difficult times don’t be afraid to try to
gather a cadre of encouragers. There are
going to be days when your “go-to guy” isn’t available and you’ll need someone
to stand in his place. Or perhaps
whatever you face is so big and overwhelming that you need several encouragers
all at the same time to give you what you need to hang in there.
And as much as possible you should personally seek to be an encourager
to other people. Give back to others
what you have received (or give what you wished you would have received). Be a friend that is there for other
people. Take time to write the note,
drop in for a few minutes at that hospital, or pick up the phone for a short
visit. Over time those little things add
up and can make a huge impact on others around us. There have been times when I am amazed at how
people fondly remember the little things that I did for them like they were a
big deal! It obviously wasn’t a terrible
hardship on me if I don’t even remember doing it; but it meant the world to
them.
People around you will be standing in their own bucket of ice water and
will need your support to get them through their ordeal. There will be days when you are shivering in
the icy waters of pain and need someone to lean up. Find a friend to lean on and it you’ll be
able to bear up under the pain much better—whether it is physical or emotional
pain, we all need encouragement.
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