On and on it goes

I wish sometimes that I could just push the right buttons and everything would be better. Imagine it, push the stop pain button and the pain would just go away. Not just physical pain but emotional pain as well. In the physical realm, I could have saved my mother many years of pain and suffering. In the emotional realm I could saved my father the years of anguish and duress of watching my mother suffer and finally to die. Imagine, no more death no more pain caused by the unthinkable horror of what men do to one another.

I'm afraid I don't have the power to do any of that. As all of you are aware if you know me at all, I have been suffering with my own malady of late. The dreaded urinary problem. I'm nowhere closer to a solution to this than when it put me in the hospital for a week near death from septicemia.

What is a person to do? I have asked myself that question over and over the last few months as I endure this. Have I done something to displease God? I don't think God plays tit-for-tat with anyone. That would mean that I a mere man could somehow make myself more acceptable to God by doing something right. Or make myself less acceptable by doing something wrong. That is simply not the case. I cannot do anything to make myself more or less acceptable to the Almighty. That would mean I have replaced God's providence with my efforts. It's a hopeless state. I believe He's more interested in having a relationship with us. Simply put, Jesus paid it all.

Is my body just old and worn out? No, I'm only 52 for crying out loud. The Apostle Paul had an infirmity he spoke of in II Corinthians 12:

⁷To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. ⁹But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. ¹⁰That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

It's truly a conundrum. When I am weak, I am strong in Christ. Right now I feel helpless and weak. In Jesus though, I'm strong. I may get discouraged and sometimes absorbed in self-pity but, I know who is ultimately in control. I'm glad it isn't me. I could really mess things up. I can see now that through my life, God has orchestrated things to bring me to one inescapable conclusion. He has given all of us a way to have joy and hope. By having faith in the free gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ.

For now I'll keep on keeping on and hope and pray for a recovery from this problem. My bladder feels full so I guess I'll go try again.


Until next time, ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR me hearties!!!!


OLD GUYS RULE???!!!!!