Saturday, September 22, 2007

Confident

I recently had the pleasure of experiencing all the symptoms of a heart attack. The pain was so intense that the next day I decided to get it checked out. (Yes, the next day. Never was known for my smarts.) I went through the blood work, a cat scan for blood clots, and a nuclear stress test; all came back fine. So then they wanted me to have an ultra sound of my heart. Kind of cool to lay there and watch & listen to your heart beat. I could even see the valve flaps opening and closing. The technician kept trying to see it from different angles, so we started to chat. I finally asked him what he really saw. He told me everything looked really good, in fact he said, "your heart appears to be really confident." Made me smile. You see, I know the pain was real and I have a few more things to test to see if we can figure out what happened; but in the mean time, I can say without reservation, I have a confident heart! Which I really already knew. Not because of anything physically, but because of Christ Jesus Who took up residence there 29 years ago. I can only hope and pray, you can say the same.
PJ

Thursday, September 13, 2007

You jJust Never Know

At my weekly Bible study in the retirement center, one of the ladies asked for prayer for her son who is dealing with clogged arteries and in need of surgery. I asked her if that was a condition that she or her husband had to deal with. She said quite emphatically that not on her side of the family, but her husband had heart issues. 'In fact', she said, 'he had everything wrong, you name it and he had surgery for it.' I started to laugh to myself, but she caught me and asked what. I told her, not to get me wrong because sometimes I have a weird sense of humor, but I doubted that he ever had a mastectomy. She laughed and said as a matter of fact he did. he developed a lump and had to have part of breast muscle removed. You just never know, do you?

I will be gone for a while, not sure I'll be all that missed, but I'll check back in when I get back in a couple of weeks. Take care everyone and God bless.
PJ

Thursday, September 6, 2007

It All Goes Back In The Box

I started reading a new book by John Ortberg titled 'When The Game Is Over, It All Goes Back In To The Box', that got me thinking again about how one lives their life and what is truly important. You see I say again because as Epictetus wrote, "This is our predicament. Over and over again, we lose sight of what is important and what isn't."

Last week-end my family gathered where my folks live and celebrated the fact that this year they will celebrate 80 years of life and 60 years of love. Over 90 family members came together for this event, and to honor their life accomplishment. As we gathered and celebrated what became very clear to me was what really mattered after 60 years of marriage was that they still loved each other as much as when they first said 'I do.' That they stayed together and kept loving each other was what mattered most.

You see, you can gather all that this world has to offer. Money, property, pleasures, power, health, accomplishments, compliments, security, whatever you can imagine; but in the end, when it is all over, the only thing that will last is your love - your love for God and others. The only things that will last forever is God, your relationships, your soul, and your deeds of love. That's it! Everything else goes back in the box! I wrote a a few months ago that this life is but a dash, and we are to live it wisely. If you really want to be wealthy and leave a legacy that matters - learn to love! Love God and love others; never forgetting you make a living by what you get and a life by what you give. Give love and be rich toward God.

PJ