Struggling
Ira spent a lot of his Wednesday awake. Still sloshed a bit but awake. His eyes were open and he followed us as much as possible. And the good news is that he tolerated being awake. No de-satting or anything...until last night. He had a pretty hard night. He is in no kind of diurnal rhythm so last night he thrashed about which eventually led to a couple of de-satting episodes. He struggled much of the night. It all comes back to his dependence on those sedation meds. Addiction is an ugly thing.
They took him for an upper g.i. yesterday as well. The preliminary results show that there is no reherniation. Yeah, the placement of things (intestines, stomach, diaphragm, etc) is pretty screwed but we already knew that. No reherniation? That's some good news.
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I appreciate the conversation the past couple of days. You won't believe what happened to me last night. Ira's respiratory therapist (r.t.) was in the room last night. It was late and I was trying to get some reading done. The r.t. asked, "What are you reading?" I said, "Struggling with Scripture." He looked at me oddly. I then, with much confidence and without a disclaimer said, "I'm a pastor." His reply? "I knew there was a reason I didn't like you."
He was joking, I think...
They took him for an upper g.i. yesterday as well. The preliminary results show that there is no reherniation. Yeah, the placement of things (intestines, stomach, diaphragm, etc) is pretty screwed but we already knew that. No reherniation? That's some good news.
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I appreciate the conversation the past couple of days. You won't believe what happened to me last night. Ira's respiratory therapist (r.t.) was in the room last night. It was late and I was trying to get some reading done. The r.t. asked, "What are you reading?" I said, "Struggling with Scripture." He looked at me oddly. I then, with much confidence and without a disclaimer said, "I'm a pastor." His reply? "I knew there was a reason I didn't like you."
He was joking, I think...
posted by jch at
7:04 AM
5 Comments:
Joe, I had a dentist in New York whose wife was a dedicated member of our congregation. I have bad teeth, so there's always some work to do, so I dreaded seeing him. And I knew that his occasional visits to our church were under duress. Things were a little awkward between us.
So one time I went into his office and said, "Hey, doc, do you hate coming to my place of business as much as I hate coming to yours?" He laughed mightily and we were friends after that.
No miracle of conversion to report. My teeth are still bad, he's still... well, maybe recalcitrant is too strong.
peace -- Kate
"Struggling with Scripture" is an excellent, albeit dense, little book. This was really my first introduction to the writings of Brian Blount, who I have come to really appreciate ever since he got so turned on to Revelation. He's coming to Fort Worth next week to be the keynote speaker at a local ministry convention sponsored by Brite Divinity School (kind of like Lectureship at ACU).
I don't comment much, but I follow this journey closely. Thank you for being so faithful with updates.
shalom
Don't you know clergy have cooties?!? LOL! People don't want you as neighbors, either. Afraid you're going to preach to/at them, I guess. Or maybe that you have some insight into their souls and their sins.
Post a review of the book when you're finished.
One of my least favorite scriptures..."If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." John 16:18, and then it tells us why, "They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me."
Count it gain when you are persecuted. I don't know about most people who profess to follow Jesus, but generally we are a likeable sort. Trying to be a light in a dark world. But the truth is the world is dark, they don't like the light. One day the Savior will open the clouds and come back to earth to call His followers home, because this is not our home, when we think that we should fit into the world we need to read what Jesus says about His followers.
All that said, the man who gave the off the cuff comment you wrote about must have issues to hit a man when his kid is struggling for his next breath.
I know that the times where I have struggled, cried out, questioned God, I have come out on the other side of that trusting God's word more than ever. Blessings to you and Laura.
Maybe you can thrown in a couple well-placed curse words next time you converse...? Just to let 'em know you're, you know, not that kind of pastor...
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