Thursday (6/11/2015)

Update:

I head to the hospital early tomorrow morning (Friday) for my 7:30 a.m. surgery on my right kidney.  I’m scheduled for robotic-assisted, laparoscopic pyeloplasty (I think it sounds much cooler than it will feel when I wake up following surgery!).  Praying that everything goes well and the problem is repaired without complications.  I don’t look forward to the extended recovery time (5-6 weeks) but it comes with the territory.

My pain levels have reduced since having the facet injection on my spine on June 1^st.   My lower back pain has been reduced by 90%.  Whew!  That feels much better.  My wife says that I am the most chipper and relaxed that she has seen me in months.  The sciatic nerve pain that runs down my left buttocks was only slightly reduced by the injection.  It still hurts to sit more than 15-30 minutes.  The neuroma (hypersensitive nerve bundle) at the end of my residual limb is better only because I’ve stopped wearing my prosthesis.  The moment I try putting any weight on it (or even touch it lightly) all the pain comes raging back.  I’ve started going to physical therapy to see if that can help reduce some of the pain (so far it has been like a combination of massage, deep pressure, and chiropractic-like care along with specific stretching exercises).  I’ve drastically reduced the use of strong pain meds which makes me happy.

I’ve been going outside for an hour or so each day just to sit in the sun and feel the breeze on my face.  Stuck in the wheelchair and not able to go to town, being outside has been a great way to relax a bit.  On Wednesday afternoon, I went out my front door onto my ramp and there were two large cats having a hissy fit.  I have a new neighbor across the street with two cats and another newer neighbor next door who has three cats.  Apparently they were having a turf war on my ramp.  One cat tried to leave when it saw me by sneaking past me.  The other cat seized the opportunity to attack coming right at me in the process. I thought I was going to get mauled!  I yelled as loud as I could and chased the cat down the ramp at full speed (gravity worked in my favor).  The cat retreated across the street.  I guess that I proved that I was the biggest tom in the neighborhood (at least temporarily). 

It’s been a crazy week here in Fall Creek.  Monday there was a high speed chase of a man who had abducted a woman in SE Wisconsin.  She escaped when he stopped to get gas 10 miles away.  He ended up crashing his car and escaping into the woods with a rifle about five miles north of town.  Police surrounded the area and finally found him on Tuesday afternoon.    Then on Wednesday, a van refused to stop for our police.  The guy ended up running on foot just south of the school.  I live one block north of the school.  All day there was a plane flying around as police on foot and ATVs narrowed the search for him.  Police finally arrested him on Wednesday evening.  Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.  This kind of stuff never happens in our small town!  Until now!  I am thankful for the response of the many law enforcement officers called in for both of these events.  Outstanding job!

Thought for the Day:

How many times when things are going wrong in our lives have we wondered, “Why is God doing this to me?  Why is He allowing this to happen?” 

The bible has numerous examples of God testing people.  People find themselves in difficult, sometimes painful, situations and God watches to see how they will respond.

“You might ask, ‘Why does God need to test us?  Doesn’t He know everything, including what we would do in every situation?’  Yes, God knows—but we don’t know ourselves!  God doesn’t test us in order to find out something He doesn’t already know.  He tests us so that we can learn something about ourselves and His love, power and faithfulness.”  [Os Hillman, ‘Today God Is First’ on-line devotional, 6/11/2015]

Now that is an important concept!  God tests us so that we can find out about ourselves and about God.  When I considered this idea is this, according to God’s standard I realize that I am a failure.  I am flawed.  No matter how good I look to others around me, I know that I cannot keep promises.  I am self-willed, selfish, and disobedient.  My motivation is often defective.  My attitude is improper.  I harbor bitterness or anger against people or situations.  The bottom line is that I am a mess.  I may sometimes get a passing grade, but on way too many occasions I have fallen short.  I am not proud of my behavior.  I put on a good show and appear pretty pious so that I can even fool myself sometimes.  But this is what I learn about myself when I am painfully honest.

Maybe more importantly, here’s what I learn about God.  His love is unconditional.  He doesn’t love me because I am so awesome and do everything correctly.  I’m a failure and He knows it.  He isn’t surprised when I blow it big time.  He doesn’t give up on me or disown me.  He didn’t accept me based upon my goodness and He doesn’t reject me when I fail.  He loves me.  He accepts me.  He provides for me.  His love is something that I could never earn or ever hope to keep if it was based upon my test scores.  He loves me despite who I am and so I can rest confidently in His love.  Wow!  That is a great feeling!

In no way does this give me license to purposely fail God’s tests.  My goal and desire is to pass each one.  But when I fail (and I know that I will) I can rest confidently that God’s love still surrounds me, it comforts me, and gives me peace.

I hope you take a moment to honestly evaluate your test scores and ponder their significance.  What have you learned about yourself?  What have you learned about God?