November 6, 2013

Weeks ago we designated November at Wesley Church as 30 days of Thanks. Our goal is to focus upon the gratitude we have for all of God’s blessings. On November 1, I awoke and lost my balance, falling to the left as I got out of bed. As I went outside to get the paper and looked up into the beautiful sky it began to spin a little. Later in the morning I felt numbness on the left side of my face and decided that I really should not pilot a small plane. Learning that my blood pressure was 200 over 124 I decided to visit the emergency room. After EKG, blood work, an MRI, and a follow-up visit to my doctor, it is likely I had a small stroke. There is no apparent permanent damage. Further tests and observations will continue.

I am grateful for so many things. For my caring wife Audrey and her concern for my health and well being. For our son David, his wife Danelle and our daughter Bethany as their young adult lives continue to develop along healthy pathways. For Wesley United Methodist Church, including the adoption of St. Paul United Methodist Church, as we chart new territory into the Year of Jubilee and beyond.  For the medical communities of Springfield, and for each person who has invested their life in training to treat the human body and its anomalies.

And today, I am grateful for my health, and the strength to continue to serve Christ through the vocation of being a pastor. With no serious health history, the reality of surviving stroke-like symptoms gives me a new sense of awe and appreciation for the way God has created life, and all the complicated systems of the human body. Fred Luper (director of facilities at Wesley) likes to call these bodies our “earth suits.” Mine malfunctioned and thankfully it survived and did some self-repair. Now it is under closer scrutiny!

I invite you to continue this month in celebrating 30 days of thanks. Count your blessings, name them one by one. God is at work among us, and will do even greater things than we can imagine!

 

November 5, 2013

I awoke at 3:30 am, gave my body a good 30 minutes to go back to sleep, and when it didn’t, I got up. The coffee tastes delicious, my blood pressure was 125 /70, pulse 52 (on my new BP device from Walgreens) and the soreness in my throat does not seem to be severe. Upon opening the back door the house alarm went off, so I had a nice chat with the good people at the 24 hour monitoring center. Audrey was awakened, and asked me who was calling at 4:15 in the morning. Now she is back to sleep, and I have this beautiful day to serve Christ. I have read and prayed the first part of John Wesley’s prayer for Tuesday morning. I will return there after I read more in the scriptures. 

I Samuel 31, I Chronicles 10

Saul and his three sons are killed in battle on Mt. Gilboa. Saul was guilty of actively disobeying God (seeking to kill David, seeking advice from a medium) and passively disobeying God (did not consult God for direction.) There are so many lessons to be learned from the life of Saul that might be overlooked because of how quickly he becomes a villain as David becomes the hero. Leadership is learning from the mistakes and successes of others, and my main take away this morning from the life of Saul is: do not trust in yourself, in chariots, or horses, but remember the name of the Lord your God. With my 30 years of experience, my academic degrees and the gifts God has given me for pastoral leadership, today the prayer of Wesley reminds me to not think too highly of myself, but lowly, and to give to God all the praise, credit, and glory for each day, each hour, and every blessing.

From Wesley’s prayer for Tuesday morning:

“Pour into me the whole spirit of humility; fill, I beseech thee, every part of my soul with it, and make it the constant, ruling habit of my mind, that all my other tempers may arise from it; that I may have not thoughts, no desires, no designs, but such as are the true fruit of a lowly spirit. … Herein may I exercise myself continually, when I lie down and when I rise up, that I may always appear poor, and little, and  mean, and base, and vile in mine own eyes. O Convince me that ‘I have neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy.’ Give me a lively sense that I am nothing, that I have nothing, and that I can do nothing. Enable me to feel that I am all ignorance and error, weakness and uncleanness, sin and misery; that I am not worth of the air I breathe, the earth I tread upon, or the sun that shines upon me. And let me be fully content when all other men think of me as I do of myself.”

I am yours, O Lord, I have heard thy voice. Use my feeble body, my weak mind and my vacillating commitment to accomplish your great purposes today.