A Greeting and a Response

   All across the world this coming Sunday people will greet each other with the words "He Is Risen", and others who receive this holy greeting will respond "He Is Risen, Indeed".

   From the cross, on that long ago Good Friday, Jesus Christ pronounced the words, "It Is Finished", signifying the sin debt was paid for all men everywhere by his death at the hands of his enemies.

    When we contrast the bleakness of that Good Friday with the joy of Easter Sunday, we see a microcosm of mankind going from:

          Sadness to Joy

          Despair to Hope

          Death to Life

   Why do we say that Good Friday is Good? Without Friday we could not experience Sunday.

   Resurrection Sunday, The Empty Tomb, New Life Begins...

   If that Greeting and Response is your heartfelt condition, rejoice to affirm again, the truths of God and of His Love for All Men Everywhere.

   And if not, look within your heart to see why not.

   Don't be stuck in the sadness, despair and death of Friday, Sunday is coming.

   He Is Risen!

         YES

   He Is Risen, Indeed!

        Amen and Amen

Journeys, Short and Long

   I am in the middle of a book, one that traces the story of the author as he walks the old pilgrim walkway in Spain called the Camino de Santiago.

   Originally the Camino was a pilgrimage path ending at the Cathedral in the northern area of Spain. The distance a pilgrim walks depends on where he or she begins, but regardless for most, it is a pretty long way. For the author of this book the walk was around 1,000 miles.

   The historical symbolism of the walk shows a person, a pilgrim, seeking God and asking for direction in his or her life, but nowadays it is a mecca for hikers and others seeking an adventure.

   The author, who is a hiker looking for a long walk, shows no religious inclination for his walk, nevertheless does slide into several along the way. Probably his most important, to him, discovery is to not be so focused on getting to the end that you fail to live in the midst of your journey.

   Living in the doing of the journey, taking your time to see what is around you, who is around you, and the life that is happening while you are walking....these are his insights for himself.

   Life is filled with different journeys. We are moving on several at the same time, depending on the time element.

   The journey from birth to death is one that encompasses the entirety of our earthly lives, but many others come and go within that same time frame, several taking place at the same time. That life journey is always running in the background of whatever is going on in our lives at the moment.

   As you readers know, or should know, we, at this household, are on a health journey. It is seemingly the overriding one at this point, but I realize that, although it almost consumes our lives right now, it is only a part of the life journey that we are on.

   Some days, my ambition is to get to the end of the day, get my spouse in bed, and sit down and read and think and pray and....That is not good for either of us to have that goal in mind as the hours go by, sometimes slowly, in our day.

   I like it when I read in that pilgrimage book that there are times in our journeys that we need not to rush, but look for meaning and inspiration as we travel that road. I feel that is true, but sometimes the mind is just too filled with the tyranny of the urgent.

   Rushing to the end is not an option.

   God has called me to be the loving caregiver that He desires, and that is what I have pledged to do. Possibly I can look back down the road and see how it all fit together. I trust that this is so.

   Others have it so much tougher in life, I know that, but I still have the wish that it did not have to be this way for us. I miss a lot of the laughter, the fun times, the interaction over common events. We still have some, but....

   So, when you think of us, Pray and then pray some more. Not that it will rush to an end, but that we can both see that Jesus walks the road with us, and He cares.

   It is not what the road looks like, it is who we travel it with.

 

It Is Coming, I Know..

   As I get up this Monday morning, I see by the forecast that it is 59 with a high of 60 today, tonight will be around 40. It is also raining...

   BUT, from my day yesterday, I know the seasons are about to change.

   There was this rose in the area of the condo pool.

   The crepe myrtles were showing off their new leaves.

   Some, but not all, the azaleas were showing off.

   Even the wildlife were about enjoying their habitat.

   The current forecast calls for cool, but not cold weather for most of the week ahead, then warmer by the weekend.

   We had a pretty cold January (for us), and February was milder than usual. March was its unpredictable self, with a lot of wind.

   BUT, the times they are a'changin.

   God is coloring the landscape, and we are beneficiaries of His grace and beauty.

   Come On, Spring

Personal Reflections, Billy Graham

   Like many others, I believe that Billy Graham was and is, one of the greatest personages to walk across the world stage in my lifetime. He was used by God in so many ways and in so many places, and the world and the church is so much the better for it.



   When I was subbing up in Charlotte for a few weeks, I taught a section of American History in the 20th century, using individual people living in those years to illustrate what was going on in the world, and especially in the US. Billy Graham was one of those people, and he had his headquarters and library less than 20 miles from our campus.

   The surprising thing to me was the fact that so many of the kids in that class of high school juniors, only knew of this giant of God by the fact that his hame was on one of the streets of the city that intersected with the main freeway downtown.

   I watched a documentary of Billy's life on TV last evening. The shear masses of people around the world that were challenged and brought into the Kingdom of God, through the words spoken by this man cannot be overestimated.

   His legacy will live on in the lives of children and grandchildren till the world ends one day, and then forever in Heaven.

   I have a couple of stories of my personal touch with this man and his team.

   Way back in 1953, when I was a junior in high school at McCallie, Billy Graham came to Chattanooga. He had been there in 1950 for a meeting at Engel Stadium, the baseball home of the Chattanooga Lookouts, and was coming back for a crusade in March of 1953.

   The city of Chattanooga approved the building of a field house built by private funds, which would then be turned over to the city at the end of the meetings. The tabernacle was begun in January and finished by March.

   My memory is a little fuzzy, but I do remember Dr. Bob McCallie, who was my English teacher, volunteered his class to help put together benches for seating the crowds. I'm not sure if it was just our one class or if other classes and grades went to Warner Park to help in this construction or not, but I do remember doing it and then sitting on those same seats during the crusade.

   I'm also not sure if this work project was taken on by the students as a way to get out of school for the day, or whether we felt the call to help and did. Regardless, the tabernacle was ready when the people arrived.

   Billy Graham did not come to McCallie, but several members of his team spoke at an assembly in the study hall on one afternoon.

   The other memory I have of Dr. Graham's ministry relates to his Atlanta crusade. The youth group pastor at our church took some of the young people to the meeting, and our daughter, Donna, accepted Christ there. The rest of our family did not go to Atlanta, but we were sure glad that Donna did.

   My two little stories are just a drop in the bucket of the millions that are related to Billy Graham, and they will all be totaled up one day. The result will be amazing. Changed lives related to all his meetings and ministry will make a huge difference in eternity.

   P.S.I could not find a picture of the Fieldhouse in Chattanooga on the internet, perhaps one of my Chattanooga friends could furnish one.

 

News, What News?

   For years now, Mayre and my normal weekday evening routine has been to have supper, get the dishes done, fix a little desert and go in the den to check out the latest news on the TV, before we head off to read and get ready for bed.

   But for a few months now, the tv news has become less and less news and more and more talking heads stretching to see and report what they think lies ahead. There is more and more opinion, and, in a way, I guess it helps to fill the time allotted to that program. The 24 hour news cycle needs a lot of fodder to make it through the day.

   But there is another reason that the evening news has less and less appeal for us.

   A lot of you all may have days like this, but it seems my days are filled with:

   Getting both of us up
   Deciding what to have for breakfast
   Fixing same
   Deciding what to wear for us
   Dressing
   Listening to Christian podcast
   Thinking about a mid morning snack
   Fixing same
   Do we need anything from the store?
   Go there
   Lunch is coming, what to have?
   Putting lunch out
   Let's read a book
   How about a car ride?
   Or just around the condo area in the wheelchair?
   Uh oh, time for an ice cream snack in mid afternoon
   What will we have for our main meal, supper?
   Prepare that meal and eat it
   Turn on news, which we taped earlier
   Get through most of it, then decide to go to bed
   Showers, dental hygiene
   Get dressed for bed
 
   Then as you drift off to sleep, you remember that this will also be your schedule tomorrow, and, with some minor interruptions and activities, your go to schedule for future days as well.

   So, what about Syria? The President, an Earthquake, a School incident?

   They seem to fall into line behind, "what do I need at the store?".

   Could be "the tyranny of the urgent".

   It seems to me that the mind of the caregiver is filled up to the brim with "care".

   I guess I will have to leave the other stuff to those who have time to think.

   And, as I think about what I am writing, my hat is off to those moms, and sometimes dads, who do the same things multiple times per day depending on the number of kids in the house. Amazing!

   Speaking of care, we are beginning next week with a nurse one time a week and an aide two times. This will bring some relief, if even for an hour, for three days in the week.

   But I doubt I will be going in the den and turning on the news for that respite time.

   It is the least I can do, for all the years my wife has taken care of me, and everything else. She deserves her ice cream, and she shall have it.

   My mission in life for these days is to take care of my wife, and regardless of news stories and opinions, that is what I will do.

  And we will pray a lot...

Flower Report and Other News

   Well here it is...

   Two buds opened and others on the way.

   Now in other news from this front.

   After much urging and soul searching, I have made some arrangements for some help on care for Mayre. She insists she only needs me, but I know otherwise.

   Dwayne and I had a good talk the other night while he was here, and I told him my thoughts, which I implemented on Monday with some calls.

   My friend at church had some contact with an outfit, Georgia Hospice Care. whom I called and set up a Monday afternoon meeting with their manager and their clinical nurse director.

   First of all, the patient does not have to be near death to get their services. They operate under Medicare, and if a patient has what they consider to be a terminal illness, they will cover costs.

   Without going into a lot of detail, they come 2 days a week with a nurse to keep checks on the one involved and 3 days a week with a nurse aide that helps with bathing and other stuff. We had the nurse today and will have the aide tomorrow for a about 45 minutes to an hour each visit.

   They take over the responsibility for all the care, come whenever you need them and are on call 24/7 (365). This peace of mind is worth a lot to a caregiver who does not know a lot of times what to do.

   The easiest part was getting it set up once approved, the hardest is convincing the patient that she can benefit from it.

   The nurse today received a not-so-enthusiastic welcome, but will be back on Thursday.

   We'll see about the Aide tomorrow.

   Pray for all of us

Finally Rising...

   Just like the Amaryllis in the picture, our lives have finally arisen from the rigors of the last three weeks or so.

   One of our families gave us this plant-in-a-box for Christmas, but it too had its problems. Going by the instructions on the box, I planted this guy and waited, and waited and waited, but no action. Not being sure if I did it correctly, I replanted the same bulb in the same medium, and left it be.

   Then, one day, it began to move skyward. Nurturing it along, it continued until, today, it is showing color at the top. Maybe it was the soft voice encouraging, who knows?

   January has been a challenging month for caregiving. It seems as though Walking, speaking and hand coordination has declined, so that there are less and less activities that can be undertaken with any regularity.

   We know we are dealing with a progressive problem, one that has no upside, outside of a miracle, and our job is to do the best that we can each day, and let the future work itself out as in God's will.

   We believe in "the prayer that never fails"...Thy Will Be Done

   And we also believe that God in His perfect Wisdom and Plan will make it for the best. It is our job to be faithful in the task that we are handed, and we try.

   So, like the Amaryllis, we are rising, and we will enjoy that flower as it blooms, for as long as it blooms.

   It did not help a whole lot that I got the flu for a week, but we had the help of neighbors and church to help us get through. Thankfully, it was not as bad as some had, so maybe we are out of the woods on that one.

   I'll try not be be silent so long next time.

   Maybe I get a bloom on this page one day soon.