The Third Day of Christmas

On the 3rd Day of Christmas
Nearly three weeks since surgery. We have been snowed in and iced in: have celebrated a quiet, unique Christmas, and have bravely--if tentatively--attempted new tasks such as going into the garage (so that I could travel outside without the need for the medical transport.) Today I may even go up the stairs!

Sometimes Jerry and I look like Frick and Frack, two folks trying to do normal things from a sort of abnormal position. Yesterday I fell off my scooter--no big deal since I only fell about 18 inches onto my right knee. You should have seen us trying to get me up. Suddenly I realised all I had to do was put my weight on my left foot and get up--simple as pie! That's what convinces me I can go up stairs: as long as there is a chair at the top for me to land on and launch from, I should be OK.

The commode has been moved into the bathroom. That means a lot, believe me.

Susan will come for supper tonight. It will be our Christmas supper. She went to San Jose to visit Lisa last weekend and her return home was delayed til Christmas night. Late! Jerry gave her the Trooper (with its 4-wheel drive) to get home--she needed it! Thus we were even more stranded yesterday. But the weather has changed; the snow is melting and the Court is clearing for driving. Things are slowly getting back to normal.

But it is NOT normal for us to be confined to this house. Jerry has gone out (to get the mail, change the hummingbird feeder, shovel the front path) but there has been no driving because of the ice and snow--and the fact that on Christmas just about everything was closed! We've spent the time quietly reading, doing a puzzle (thanks to Joanna, my neighbor), inspecting the Garmin Nuvis we each gave the other for Christmas (imagine that: two old folks each giving the other a means of getting directions so we can know where to go!!)

I've spent some time thinking about Bethlehem and the Nativity and how things went on the first Christmas. When we were there (just four weeks ago!) the guides spent a lot of time talking about the veracity of the traditional sites of the manger, the barn, etc. But I figure that, for the most part, Jesus was pretty much an unknown. Folks likely didn't know his family all that well (since Joseph had left Bethlehem to practice his trade somewhere else, like Nazareth) So the likelihood of his birthplace REALLY being remembered after even thirty or forty years let alone a couple of centuries is pretty low. I can go along with what is known as the "Traditional Site" but I also realized that the site is not as important as the fact. ANYWHERE in Bethlehem is good enough for me. . .so long as I can stand in that tiny city and say my Savior was born here!

I saw the TV shots from the Church of the Nativity at Christmas. Of course it was crowded and rightly so. Interestingly, there are three churches which use it but each church celebrates Christmas on a different day! Nevertheless, each service is full--just as when I was there there was a Patriarch coming so folks had filled the Church; there were lines of school children (all in their school uniforms!) come to pay honor to the Cardinal. It made for an impressive sight! But it also meant for crowds so we didn't see the traditional birthplace. Ah, well. Like I said above, I really didn't need to. And I wonder if I could have ambulated and stooped down to see!

One Week and Counting

It has been one week since I was transported home from St. Vincent's. This has been an experience worth commenting on to be sure. Moreover, I have at least three more weeks of the same to look forward to--three weeks including Christmas and New Years. Rah!

Day by day not much changes. Jerry is great about bringing me the paper and my morning orange juice. I have been dressing--I think that is helpful in bringing a certain amount of normalcy to this routine. Today I actually sat at the kitchen table for brunch (left-over Michigan macaroni. Yum!) The PT who came on Wednesday suggested I get up and move around on my scooter.

Today I actually entertained a couple of friends in the living room. That's what moving around on my scooter means! It was nice to sit in a real chair rather than on the bed or the Lazy Boy!

All of this is meant to point out that, even though I am still pretty limited, I can get around and do a few things, more and more every day. I am really grateful for this situation--inconvenience and all! When I was in Israel we walked--MARCHED!!--everywhere. It was painful to say the least. And I was well aware that, had I been alive in Jesus' time, I would have had to walk with all that pain ALL THE TIME, or not walk at all. OR, I could have sought out Jesus and asked him to touch me and heal me. But that would have been only if I had been in the same place at the same time as he was. Honestly, I felt the hopelessness that folks must feel when they found they were crippled or otherwise handicapped. I can remember thinking how fortunate I was to be able to anticipate going home and having this surgery. God's timing is pretty good after all (Jeremiah 29:11)!

So I hop around here or flop into a chair and elevate my leg (to remind me not to put any weight on it.) And I thank God for the surgeons and the cast technician (who put a racy "cast cap" on my toes) and Jerry and his loving care. I am blessed. And then someone calls to tell me she is thinking about me and praying for me and I am blessed even more!

Two weeks ago I was in Israel on a tour I'd dreamed of for years and planned for starting last February. I went before this operation because I knew my rehab would require up to several months. For sure I would be minimal weight bearing for several weeks and then, depending on how fast I healed, it would be months before I could travel extensively. My doctor had a baby in June and we couldn't schedule me before then. Which meant travel in November, surgery in December.
We left for Israel on November 20th, returned home on the 30th. That gave me a full 8 days in country. We "marched" everywhere! Well, maybe we didn''t march but we walked. A lot. We spent the first three days in the Galilee--northern Israel. It is green and hilly and quite beautiful and really my favorite part of the country. We traveled to Caeserea on the Coast where we started the tour in an ancient Roman out-door theater. Just as we began with "Holy, Holy. Holy" the heavens opened up and it POURED! What a way to start a trip! Fortunately I had my Columbia Sportswear rainjacket so was dry from the top of my head to my hips!
We thought we might be dry in the tunnels but found that the rain was coming down so hard that they were flooding! It made for instant bonding!

We spent the rest of that day drying off in Acco/Akre and Cana and then back to Tiberius to our hotel and supper. Our days were often long--we usually stopped for lunch for about an hour (falafel!) midway through and had worship and supper at about 6:30. Remember, Israel is above the Equator so they, too, are anticipating winter complete with early sundowns. That affected Sabbeth time.

My favorite spot was Ceasarea Philippi (see above left), the spot where Jesus asks who folks say he is, then asks Peter who he says Jesus is. It is a beautiful spot on a cliffside which had been used for altars to a variety of Hellenistic gods and goddesses. I could picture Jesus and Peter and James and John strolling in the cool of the glades, a waterfall which is one source of the Jordon. They were there to relax and in this beautiful place Peter makes his confession of faith. It affirmed my faith: I stood there and said the same thing: You, Lord, are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.
That's about all I can do these days, affirm the Jesus is Lord and that He knows what is best for me. Tomorrow I go to the doctor to see how this ankle is healing. It feels fine so I expect the best. Of course, tomorrow we may have so much snow that I can't keep the appointment! We'll see!

Nine days ago I underwent an ankle replacement. The surgery itself was "unremarkable" in that it went well, resulted in relatively little pain, and should produce an excellent result--in several weeks.
But the rehab period is something else! This quilter mom is on bed rest with her right foot elevated above her heart (nose to toes). Moreover, there is to be NO weight bearing on that right foot for the next several weeks.
BUMMER!

Well, it is really not THAT bad. I can use my knee scooter to get me to the family room where I eat the meal Jerry prepares for me and watch TV--"Jeopardy" and the News. But there is a lot of learning and reflection time here!

For the next several days I plan to use this spot to "ruminate" and reflect on this experience. For now I am going to post this and check my e-mai. You see, I am ensconced in the library on one of the bunk beds. I have my lap top here with me as well as a great many other pieces of "stuff" to ease my time. I am sure that by the end of this "rehab" I will have constructed quite a cozy little nest--the operative words are little and nest!

I will sign off now, consider that I now have access to it (that in itself is a story!) and come back later--maybe even with a picture!

This says SO MUCH BETTER what I tried to say below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFvlfc2VkN0

God's Wisdom

Election Day, 2008
It is long before 8 a.m. so there should be no report of election returns yet. But of course, CBS News "called" the election last night on the Evening News: Obama in a landslide.
So much for Campaign 2008!

I have been thinking about this day for several weeks. To be sure, I voted two weeks ago. There is nothing more I personally could do to change the outcome of this election on the national level. (Oh, sure, my post about Obama and the abortion issue was a small attempt. But I am not foolish enough to believe it changed a single vote. Some of the responses I got called me heartless when all I considered was a few "unwanted babies" and not the starving millions in Africa or the killed innocents, victims of war in Iraq. I pray for those who wrote thus!)

More importantly I have been thinking about why God would allow a person to be elected president who would lead this nation so far to the left. I guess I am resigned to the fact that Obama will win this election. And so I wonder what God has in mind for the United States of America. And that took me to consideration of God's part in the Passover and the death in Egypt of the firstborn son of every--EVERY--Egyptian from the Pharaoh on down to the prisoner in the dungeon and the firstborn of all the Egyptian cattle. What a distruction of human life and lives of the livestock! Surely that left Egypt with a great hole in their leadership! What was God thinking? Why? I considered the firstborn males in my family: my own husband, my son-in-law, my first grandson. It said a great cry rose up from every house in Egypt. Well I would think so!

But WHY would God do that? I mean, after all, He could have killed just a dozen firstborn and accomplished the same thing, right? What did God have in mind? As a typical rational western thinker, I have to ask again "WHY?"

God Himself answers me throughout Exodus. Whenever Moses or the other Israelites ask these questions, God replies with a simple answer: "I am the Lord. Beside me there is no other." What this tells me is that God is in charge. God knows the End from the Beginning. He knows WHY He does WHAT He does. In short, He knows the big picture, far beyond what I or any other reasonable person can even begin to see.

My husband tries to reassure me: The Republic will survive. He has a better grasp of the wisdom of God than I do! I will simply have to depend on God's faithfulness and soveriegnty and His ability to know the future beyond this evening--yea, even beyond this year or this decade! And it follows for me to depend on that faithfulness to carry us all--the Republic--through the next several years. We will still be a Country bound by the Consititution and Checks and Balances in the Federal government. Though we may see more liberal supreme court judges, we still have a people with a voice. Since I am part of that voice, I will continue to write and think and reflect while I sew those darn star blocks and finish up the Christmas stockings. (Of course all that plus go to Israel in two weeks and have ankle surgery in five!)

Today I heard some women agree that the term "born again Christian" is often perceived as being "stand-offish" or "exclusive." The group thought it might be nicer to refer to themselves as "followers of the teachings of Jesus Christ."

I, of course, disagree.

I have seen too many folks who call themselves "followers of Jesus" who have never made a commitment to place their faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is too much of a gap between being a "follower of the teachings" and being a Christian who is "born again"--or, as the Message puts it, "born from above."

In too many of the standard brand churches--Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, United Church of Christ (many folks would call those and others "mainline churches")--membership in the denomination is predicated on having gone through some sort of an initiation ritual. In most of these churches that ritual is infant baptism. It is generally agreed that if a person has been baptized, either as an infant or an adult, her continuance in the faith and ultimate entrance into heaven is assured. To be sure, there are MANY mainline churches that call their members to a life of commitment to the work of Jesus Christ and encourage an assurance that the person is "saved" by virtue of either her baptismal vows or her definition of a time when she has received Christ as her personal savior; frankly, however, these churches, at least in the United States, are few and far between. What is left in the remaining churches are members who consider their spiritual well being to be contingent on maintaining membership in the church in whatever manner the local congregation dictates--be that adequate pledging, attendance, holding church positions, even moving into ordained ministry. These are people who would be more than correct in holding that they are "followers of the teachings of Jesus Christ."
But ask them if they have made a choice to place their faith in him and his work and oftentimes the work of God is obscured by the work of the follower.

As a human, made in the image of God, I may have many good qualities. But one thing I cannot do is take care of the fact that my sin nature, brought about by the act of Adam and Eve in the Garden, separates me from God. Eternally. There is NO way that I can bridge that gulf by myself. It is only be the work of Jesus Christ on the cross that the gulf can be removed and the relationship repaired. As I place my faith in that work, I am put into relationship with God and assured that my sins are forgiven and I am in possession of eternal life.

No one can achieve that position by simply following the teachings of Jesus. It is an act of faith to make the choice to accept his work that brings about reconciliation. Followers are hangers-on; believers are heaven bound.

An important vote--and politically hot!

To my friends-

It is getting really close to election day: one week from tomorrow!

Below is a message I sent out to some of my close friends. I had promised several that I would refrain from sending political messages: those folks were tired of some partisan e-mails (but that didn't stop them from sending the same to me!) Anyway, I felt that one issue was too important to be "polite" about, that the issue of human life was too important to dismiss as simply one more campaign issue. So I took the bull by the horns and sent out the below message to many people in my e-mail address book. Here it is for a potentially larger audience.

I know many of you disagree with my position on abortion. I am a long time opponent of the procedure that basically kills a living human infant in the womb—or on her way OUT of the womb! As a nurse I have been a consistent advocate for compassionate care for women who may have had this procedure (several of the hospitals I have worked in have performed abortions; many of the new mothers I have cared for have had abortions in their past) but I still am an adamant opponent of it. You may recall I have a bumper sticker quoting Mother Teresa: "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."

So it should come as no surprise to any of you to learn that I am actually promoting a vote for Sen. John McCain and NOT Sen. Obama as president. Here is why:

Sen. Obama has promised several things in the course of his campaign. But the one promise that I KNOW he will keep—and will require only his signature and no action on the part of any other member of Congress OR the Supreme Court—is his promise to sign the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA). This piece of legislation states—simply—that "It is the policy of the United States that every woman has the fundamental right to choose to bear a child, to terminate a pregnancy prior to fetal viability, or to terminate a pregnancy after fetal viability when necessary to protect the life or health of the woman."

What this means for you is that you, the taxpayer, will be responsible to pay for any and every abortion, whether it be for a medical reason or for convenience.

I know several of you are concerned about freedom of choice—a woman’s right to choose whether or not she desires an abortion. May I point out to you that the FOCA will eliminate your right to choose; you will no longer be able to choose NOT to pay for an abortion of convenience—abortions which apparently make up 85-90% of all abortions. (It is not my purpose here to go into statistics but I WILL provide you with them if you really want them. Yes, I have them.)

Moreover, FOCA will nullify informed consent laws, waiting periods, health safety regulations for abortion clinics, etc. This doesn’t sound like good Federal policy to me. But it is exactly what will happen if Sen. Obama is elected president.

You can see, I am NOT basing my urging for you to vote for Sen. McCain on any other social issue or any fiscal or military issue. I agree that all of these are very important. But it seems to me that the issue of human life and the value that FOCA puts on it is too important to dismiss. We are talking about human infants. And remember: abortions as defined in the original Roe v. Wade decision allowed for the procedure at any time UP UNTIL AND INCLUDING THE ACTUAL BIRTH OF THE INFANT. It places no value on “possibility of life” (e.g. premature babies) or “quality of life” (genetically affected babies—Down Syndrome infants.)

I am saddened that Sen. Obama has been so “progressive” in this area. Many of his other ideas are worth considering. But this is the most important issue to the future of our population (ask me more about that if you wish) and our country. It tells folks about the value we place on human life.

For this reason I am urging you to strongly consider voting for Sen. John McCain. He is a man who respects life at ALL levels. And he has demonstrated that position throughout his career.

Again, if you wish to simply delete this and ignore it, I cannot stop you. You do not need to respond in any way—although you may and I will respectfully read your response. I send this to you because you are a friend and a person I know who is thoughtful and careful in your decision to vote.

That's my message. Thanks for reading it. I look forward to your responses here in this blog.