Week 7 begins

Tomorrow (Monday) marks my 6th week with a reconditioned heart. This has been an interesting and yet sorrowful week. My heart goes out to the survivors and families in Aurora Colorado. There is nothing that will provide the kind of answers to this kind of tragedy that families usually seek. And a fellow minister on the Eastern Shore passed from us much too soon. He was an EMS and Fire Fighter and the truck rolled on the way to an accident. Again, there are no good answers as to why these events happen when they do. But the thing that we have is hope. Did you know that in the NRS version of the Bible, variations of the word Hope appear 209 times. Maybe not as many times as other words, but I find comfort in the fact that God's love provides us the kind of hope we need to face these events in our lives that overwhelm us. There are events that we remember so intently that we can tell you the hour, the people and the place when we heard the news. But in Christ, we have the one thing that allows us to not only survive, but to flourish and find joy in the midst of suffering and sorrow. And that is hope. Hope in the resurrection of the body that we will be made new in the image of God and stand in the presence of God. Hope that there is a place for us when this physical life comes to an end. Sometimes it is hope that is the hinge by which our lives flow from one room of life to the other.

This week physically has brought highs and lows as to be expected at this stage of my recovery. The highs are that Bonnie and I are up to 30 minutes of continuous walking at a fairly good pace each day. My daily intake of food continues to improve and some of the taste of food has come back. We visited with the Cardiologist and Endocrinologist this week. The Cardiologist says that I am progressing on a normal pace, that this stinging in my chest might last six months (not what I wanted to hear) and that my strength will slowly improve. The Endo says that my sugars will normalize in three months and then based on the numbers I may be able to back off some of the medicines. So all in all, good news this week. I have too say that the stinging sensation in my chest (like a extremely bad sun-burn) is tolerable most days. I did have to laugh when the Endo suggested that I need to set 180 pounds as a personal goal. Haven't weighed that in 40 years and that would require losing another 20 pounds. I am already down 24 from my pre-surgery weight. Well onward for another week. This week I will involved in Vacation Bible School at Grace, the first time in eight years and then preaching this upcoming Sunday.