Things unexpected

Sometimes life will take a very sharp left turn. So it has happened this past month. My wife had been exhibiting some very strange, but not rare symptoms of not so serious conditions, such as indigestion, pains in the chest and in her arms, headaches and so on. The doctor thought it might be gall bladder. She had it removed. The doctor found me immediately after the surgery and said he found something unusual. Those are words you really don't want to hear. He took a biopsy but it will take a couple of weeks to get the results. (other words you don't want to hear) The results? Ovarian Cancer. (most severe words you don't want to hear)
We had him fax the results to our primary care physician, a friend for many years, to discuss the options. The surgeon had been vague even nonchalant about the treatment possibilities. Our doctor....not so much.. She walked into the exam room with tears in her eyes and sat down across from us. She said, "You know me, I don't beat around the bush" (I like that) "You have stage 4 ovarian cancer."
Now at this point, a bigger hammer would have finished us off, but as we cried with her and then prayed with her, the staggering reality that I might lose my wife, my best friend, my lover, my everything, began to crawl into my brain. We discussed treatment options, etc. and then went home and began to work on it. We now have been in the hospital for five weeks as Tina is this morning preparing to receive her second round of chemo treatment.
I'v almost lost her several times in these five weeks. Three trips to the ICU, many scares, drug reactions and on and on. But here she is, sleeping next to me, fighting this insidious disease that is attempting to take her life from this earth. As she sleeps next to me, I think of all that we have experienced together and I have forgotten anything bad that has happened between us. I have felt guilt for when I wasn't all I should have been as a husband and I have forgiven anything she might have done that hurt me. None of that matters now.
I praise God that He has shown me His light, His love, His unfailing care for both of us throughout this ordeal. I'm not angry at Him, for I know that evil does not come from the One who is love. If she is taken from me, I will still praise Him, but now I own the peace that passes all understanding and am willing to walk that path that places me in a place of giving all I possess or for which I care in order to show it. Quite unexpected.

Thanks

Well, here it is Thanksgiving. What a wonderful holiday that seems to be unique to America. I find it sad that we don't think of every day, or at least a few days a week as Thanksgiving. Forget the turkey and the trimmings (I'm fat enough, already) but how about the real get down on your knees kind of Thanksgiving and tell God how much you appreciate what He's done for you. When you look around you, if you really look around you, you will see a lot of people hurting. And the funny thing is you will see a lot of people hrting more than you. Try this; offer a kind word, a cup of coffee, a hand up of some sort from the dark place they are heading and you will discover two things.
1. You will feel a lot better aobut whatever it is that is plaguing you at the present time...and....
2. You will become that for which they are thankful.
Now, don't you feel better already? Go out and give it a try....go on...See you next time.

Wake up call

I try to refrain from politicizing this space, but it is becoming increasingly more difficult with each passing day. It's very hard to watch our nation being flushed down the drain by those in power and even harder to realize that so many believe that what is happening is for the good of the citizens of the United States. Is it the beginning of the end times? Perhaps. As a preacher, I try to tell my people not to focus on anything or anyone than Jesus, but also to be aware of the times in which you live. To do otherwise is foolish. This is breif, but a warning is now necessary. Wake up America.
I guess the final nail in the coffin for me was last week at Fort Hood. Shouldn't someone have seen that coming? Muslim radicalism is not a good thing. The koran is not a book of peace. It is filled with hate and disgust for everything but its own. That may sound a bit harsh, but that's how I see it. When compared with the bible, which truly is a book of peace, it is found to be a loathsome book that is at the least incendiary and at the worst, provocative and inflammatory.
In the interst of political correctness, those in charge are afraid to say anything bad about the "peaceful" Muslims. Wake up America, before it's too late.