Blog Alert!
The News! Page, located just under the blog header, was updated this evening, Sunday May 24, 2009.
Can you believe it’s already January 25???? Well, slow things down a little bit and get your giggle right here. It’ll do you a world of good!
Tim Hawkins Talks About Moms, courtesy of YouTube:
I think I mentioned here that I am now on oral chemotherapy instead of the intravenous chemotherapy that has occupied months and months (and months!) of time. It’s called Tamoxifen and I started it just before Christmas; it’s just one little pill that I take after breakfast. One little pill! The side effects have been much, much better than when I was on FAC, and it’s felt like a bit of a respite from the onslaught of advanced cancer.
Then Thursday my leg started to swell badly and resting it didn’t seem to make a big difference like it has in the past. By Friday, I had elephant-ankles (no offense to our pachyderm friends, but who wants their ankles???) and was making a call to the doctor. I figured they’d give me some advice on what to do here at home to bring the swelling down. No. Such. Luck. “Get thee to the emergency room,” was the advice. I argued for a home remedy. No luck. I begged to wait until Monday when I could handle the tests in the clinic instead of the E.R. Again, nope. Seems that my wonderful little pill can also cause blood clots, and while I’ve had no big success with my blood clotting anywhere else (the metastasis in the marrow has slowed that process to a crawl,) they thought it best to make sure a clot hadn’t formed.
Going to the emergency room at around 4:00 on a Friday afternoon can only mean one thing: it’ll be an all-night vigil. We’ve learned that much from the trips we’ve made there over the past year and a half. This Friday night was no exception. I literally spent the night in E.R. Room 11 with a magnificent, spellbinding view of the brightly-lit hallway and the restroom across said hallway. I didn’t sleep much but learned the toileting schedules of some of my neighbors there. Richly stimulating as that was, and with equally fascinating late-night television infomercials or in-hospital channels being the only other options, I realized once again the great value there is in being home in bed – and not at the hospital.
I know that’s not a big revelation. No one but the most confirmed hypochondriac would prefer the best night spent in the E.R. to a bad night spent at home, but as I was coming home at around 3:00 Saturday afternoon, after learning what I had suspected all along – there was no blood clot – I thanked God for home. Nothing’s as comforting, nothing’s as welcoming at the end of a long ordeal. It’s a blessing, to be sure, and one that doesn’t get it’s proper recognition all that often.
So, after spending all night in ER Room 11, I still don’t know what is causing the swelling in my leg, but I know one thing it’s not. That’s something, I guess.
. . . and, after spending all night in ER Room 11, I know this much for certain – Dorothy was right when she clicked her heels together and said, “There’s no place like home.”
I happen to love jazz. Vocal jazz, to be specific. Lately I’ve bought a few new CDs, and even checked some out from the library, because I need things around me to make me smile. Props, I suppose they are, but who doesn’t need propping up now and again? Jazz makes me happy, keeps me humming, and puts a smile on my kisser.
I was listening to one of my new tapes, this one by Steve Tyrell, and when the second track played “On The Sunny Side of The Street” I was struck by the funny, simply lyrics:
I used to walk in the shade with my blues on parade
But I’m not afraid . . . this rover’s crossed over.
It started me thinking about the times when we choose to stay on the darker side, the shadier side of life – disregarding the fact that we can make the choice to move ourselves – our attitudes, our outlooks, our minds - to brighter quarters. Tough times are going to come – that’s a given – but so much of life is about choices and how we decide we’re going to handle something, whether we’ll be reactive or proactive, whether we’ll seek joy in the midst of sorrow, whether we’ll search for a glimmer of light in the darkness – or whether we’ll let life and its circumstances overwhelm us and mow us down with all its trouble.
That song has it pretty close, but I love the way the scripture says it:
And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. ~ Philippians 4:8 (NLT)
See? Same thing almost. Just direct your feet (your thoughts, your heart, your mind, your energies) to the sunny side of the street! It’s your choice, but as for me – well, this rover’s crossed over! See you on the sunny side!
On The Sunny Side Of The Street, courtesy of YouTube:
I’ve shared some of David Wilkerson’s devotionals here before, but loved this one on trust, and wanted to share it so you could love it too!
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“My Life Is Preserved”
“The Bible tells us Jacob received an incredible revelation through a face-to-face encounter with God: “Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved” (Genesis 32:30). What was the circumstance surrounding this revelation? It was the lowest, scariest point in Jacob’s life. At the time, Jacob was caught between two powerful forces: his angry father-in-law, Laban, and his hostile, embittered brother, Esau.
Jacob had labored over twenty years for Laban, who’d cheated him time after time. Finally, Jacob had had enough, so without telling Laban, he took his family and fled.
Laban gave chase from the east, with a small army, ready to kill Jacob. Yet, only when God warned Laban in a dream not to harm Jacob did this man let his son-in law go. No sooner was Laban out of the picture, however, than Esau came from the west. He too led a small army of some 400 men, ready to kill his brother for stealing his birthright.
Jacob faced total calamity, convinced he was about to lose everything. Things looked utterly hopeless; yet in that dark hour, Jacob had an encounter with God as never before. He wrestled with an angel that scholars believe was the Lord himself.
Now think also about Job. In Job’s darkest hour, God appeared to him in a whirlwind. And the Lord gave this man one of the greatest revelations of himself ever witnessed by any human being.
God took Job up into the cosmos, then down into the depths of the sea. He led him into the very secrets of creation. And Job saw things that no person had ever seen. He was shown the utter glory and majesty of God. Job emerged from that experience praising God, saying, “I now know you can do anything, Lord. I repent for questioning your judgment. I see that everything is under your control and directed by your grace. You’ve had a plan all along, but now I’ve actually seen you with my eyes” (see Job 42:2-5).
Something marvelous happens when we simply trust. A peace comes over us, enabling us to say, “It doesn’t matter what comes out of this ordeal. My God has everything under control. I have nothing to fear.”
Maybe the question should be: Do you need a giggle as badly as I do? This week’s been a doozey already and I really, really, REALLY need to laugh!
Tim Hawkins, courtesy of YouTube:
There now, don’t you feel better?
