Here's To You Lonely Blog Follower

I gather from an email that was sent to me with writing suggestions that someone misses my writing. I do apologize for the lengthy absence. I really am having trouble with the whole motivation to write thing. It seems often the motivation strikes and the computer is not available and then it's gone. Yes, it is a flimsy excuse since all I need do is ask to use the computer but oh well: there it is.

Big sigh and onward.

I have a lot on my mind lately regarding my father.
In order to understand how all of this transpired one must first somewhat understand the dynamic of my family. My father is married to a woman who is only about 5 years older than me; wife number 4. She has done some things that, well just say if I were Santa Claus she would be on the naughty list for life. My brothers and I do not have a working relationship for some bad things in my past. I don't want to go into detail just trust me when I say it is not petty. Okay, so here we go. I found out by reading a comment one of my brothers had posted on Facebook that some thing was wrong with my dad. I called to find out that he had been taken to a hospital ER due to having passed out. When I called his wife didn't say much just what that he had passed out on the kitchen floor. She then handed the phone to my dad and he said a doctor had not been in to see him yet. I thought I would get a call back when information was available. I was wrong. I did not hear back and when I called back I was told he has a blockage in his neck. I was not told how much of a blockage is was but told that he would have surgery the following day which was a Sunday. I got home from church and checked my phone; no one had called. I thought maybe they got a late start on the surgery so I waited a few more hours. No one called so I called again only to find out the surgery had been postponed. On Monday the same brother posted on Facebook that he was wanting prayer for my dad adding that he had 90% blockage in his neck. The routine was the same Monday; no one called me. I called and talked to my dad again and he told me the blockage had been removed and he was waiting to find out when he could go home. (My dad hates hospitals more than most people) Something about the way he was talking made me realize he wasn't really clear on what was done to him so I called the nurses station and asked for information. I was told he had had a heart capacity test and no stent was put in or anything done with his neck. By then I was ready to scream and throw things in frustration! Here I am stuck hundreds of miles away with no one to get any real information from!

I continued to call every day, sometimes twice a day to try to find out what was going on. He continued to believe that he would be released any time. When I called Tuesday he said the doctor had not come back in to see him at all on Monday and he was fed up and wanted to go home and have his church pray for him. Sure enough, when I called back later that day he was home.

God has been dealing with me about trusting Him and I have to say this one has been a whopper of a trial in that regard. I know God can heal my dad miraculously and completely without the help of modern medicine. But I also know all wisdom comes from him and doctors are gifted by Him. Yet I can't make my dad choose to let doctors do what they want to do and I can't intervene. Okay God, here I am trusting You that You have all this in Your Mighty hands and if You choose to take my dad home to You I will have to be okay with that. I want to see him again before that happens but I know I will see him again in any case.

Germs And Bugs; Oh My!

The big news story lately is Ebola and I have a few things on my mind about it. I am seeing a lot of postings on Facebook and the like that say people are worried. It is being said that the media is not telling us the whole truth and so on. Here's the deal folks, if you are depending solely on the media to inform you of anything; shame on you! Most people have at our disposal a plethora of information via the internet. We also have books, you know those things with pages between a cover that may or may not have a picture on them? Inform yourself; and take reasonable precautions. Panic and rumor mongering do no one any good and usually do harm. Worry is pointless and sinful. Our hope, as Christians is in God as well as should be our trust. As I indicated above; we need to use the brains God gave us and be rational folks. Ebola has been in the country for a long time; in labs being studied so that treatments can be developed. Yes, it is a new strain and we can't predict how much it has mutated at this point but we must; again I say not panic. A bit of aside here is that I am appalled at the lack of knowledge people have about the necessity for basic hygiene. I was in a public restroom a few days ago and a young woman was leaving a stall as I was washing my hands and went directly out the door. I wanted to run after her and yell at her; DON'T YOU WASH YOUR HANDS AFTER YOU USE THE BATHROOOM! (By the way, she was quite able bodied and come out of the handicapped stall and I with my cane had to use the narrow stall.) I also can't believe the number of people I see coughing and sneezing into their hands! Come on people! Cough or sneeze into your elbow; I taught my kids this when I they were toddlers and I know it was taught at school too. I have auto immune disease and when I leave the house I get sick about half of the time. Some stores have sanitizing wipes for one to wipe down cart handles with but not all of them do. I wonder how much urine and other unimaginable things do we touch every time we grab a shopping cart? Now think about how easily something like Ebola could take hold just because we don't think! Back to my main point. What are we to so in this time of uncertainty? Panic? No, but spread the word about hygiene, practice it yourself and pray. Pray for your own protection but more important pray for those in charge of studying this problem and for those in other countries who are in the throws of this epidemic and seeing loved ones and friends falling dead all around them. Pray for wisdom for the leaders of other countries as well as the leaders our country. There is so much going on in the world that is troubling and downright frightening. Yet we are not powerless and without hope. We have the very power that raised Christ from the dead within us! Maybe we should start acting like it. I know I need to! My intention is not to beat up on or offend anyone. I am just sharing my thoughts. Love one another and pray. I close with this Matthew 6:25-34 Grace and peace CAC