New Steps and New Days

I emailed Dr. Schoenberg last night to see if I could take the next steps in returning to a normal life.  Monday will mark six weeks since the surgery.  I will be able to start driving again.  I will be able to start exercising, and I can stop wearing the surgical stockings that add to the general impression that I am an invalid. 

I found that the whole process of recovering from the surgery was about taking one step at a time.  First, it was getting past the vomiting and getting out of the hospital.  The next step was getting rid of the catheter.  Next is getting back to driving and trying to get my body back a little bit.  Monday, I start physical therapy for learning how to control the new plumbing.  I am cerainly looking forward to any and all help that I can get in that area.  I am not sure if I am really gaining any control, or if I am just learning to manage the plumbing by going to the bathroom at the right times.  As I get back into a "normal" life, I will need more control in addition to an ability to manage.

The whole process is a reminder that I have no real control in my life.  Of course, this is a lesson that I should already have learned.  I fought glaucoma for years, and while I can see pretty well, my optic nerves are very battered, and my continued ability to see is definitely another example of God's grace in my life.  Now that I am ready to get back to resuming an exercise routine I am very thankful that God allows an old guy like me with significant scoliosis to start again.  I am looking forward to life that God provides.  However, it is clearly not by my strength that any of this is possible.  In so many ways, my life just hangs by a thread.  It is through His mercy and goodness that I may find strength in Him. 

There is a great deal to be done.  Kelli is an awesome wife, and I need to be a blessing to her as much and as long as possible.  Matt and Danny are growing in so many ways and teaching me so much about being a father and better teacher.. Speaking of teaching, each year I hope that this is the year when I will become "fully-functioning" as a teacher!   This year will be no exception.  Kelli and I are in our infancy as far as helping to get an orphan ministry started, but the possibilities are so exciting.  I cannot believe that I am going to Arkansas to participate in The Called to Teach conferences that we dreamed about for so many years.  I love God's plan that allows human beings to play a role in his plan for redeeming the world.  I will be going forward with a keener sense of humility about my abilities and a stronger reliance on His strength and His guidance.

I will also know that I am extremely blessed to live in a place where I could get the chemo treatments and the surgery that gives me yet another chance at this adventure.  Most people on this planet don't have access to this kind of medical care, nor do they have the finacial means and health insurance to afford the high cost of such care.  I don't understand why I was born and allowed to live in such a blessed land, but I do believe that God's people in America have a huge responsibility to reach out to the rest of the world.  It looks to me like God's plan, and it is up to us to say yes to that plan.  Then we can rely on him to give us the strength and wisidom to follow Him.

This is the day that the Lord hath made.  I will rejoice and be very, very glad in it!