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Lesson From My
Surgery Here I am, day 249 of my recovery. Just kidding, it only seems that way. Actually it has been a little less than five weeks at the time of this writing. One day I was joking with Hope and Noah concerning some lessons I have learned from my surgery. The first lesson was to not move on the operating table. The second was to not breathe deeply when they say to breathe deeply. The next thing I knew I was waking up with a hurt foot. That gets me to the third lesson, write the number 10 on a piece of paper and have it handy. I remember the nurse asking me, “On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your pain level?” All I could say was 5 or 6. The number ten was not in my vocabulary at that time. Believe me, it was a ten! I say all of the above tongue in cheek, but seriously there have been some lessons I have learned from this surgery. Pain and
suffering are not pleasant. You are probably thinking, “Duh, Dennis,
of course pain and suffering are not pleasant.” However, a lot of people seem
to think that hell is nothing to be concerned about. The Bible describes hell as
a place of crying and gnashing of teeth. Hell is a place of eternal torment.
Either some people do not take the warnings of the Bible seriously or they think
it will not be that bad. Yet, whenever we have pain we want relief. Saturday
morning after my surgery I woke up with real pain. I took the pain medicine and
waited for relief. After 4 hours I woke up Regena and told her to call the
doctor. One way or another I had to have a way to deal with the pain I was
experiencing. I cannot imagine spending eternity in such pain and agony. It also
made me think of the death of Jesus on the cross. Before Pilate, Jesus said He
could call the angels to rescue Him if He so desired, John 18.34. Yet He humbled
Himself to the point of death, Philippians 2. Let us not minimize that which
Jesus suffered on We often take our blessings for granted. I am tired of using a walker and hopping on one foot. Simple task become major chores, which used to take seconds or a few minutes now take much longer. We should use our blessings wisely for they may not always be there. The opportunity to serve God is a blessing that is time sensitive. Paul says as we are to do good to all and especially those of the household of faith, as we have opportunity, Galatians 6. I also realize that blessings can be over looked. Regena, Hope, and Noah have done a lot for me. I appreciate the brethren here for all you have done. While this has not been a pleasant experience, I have been blessed. Life offers a lot of humbling experiences. I am dependant on Regena, Hope, and Noah to take care of me. I have resisted the urge to “milk it for all its worth”, but I do call on them often. Right now I am restricted from driving, so Regena or Hope drive me around. Using a walker takes two hands so Noah brings water to me. I remember one morning, a number of years ago, Eli wanted to help me get dressed. Here was this little boy wanting to help me get on my belt. I told him to wait and one day he would have to help me just as I had to help my father. Our physical strength and abilities are for a limited time. A key to survival is patience. Another word for patience is “long suffering.” It means not giving up, and not easily provoked.” Regena, Hope, and Noah have exercised a lot of patience in taking care of me. I have had to wait until they could do what I wanted or needed to be done. In a time when we want things done quickly and waiting at McDonalds for five minutes is an inconvenience, we need more patience. We need patience with our spouses, our children, and some times our brethren. Luke 21:19 says, “By your patience possess your souls.” A person that is patient will not just up and quit, but they will endure to the end. Such is necessary if we are going to make it to heaven. Thankfully I am recovering and hopefully will be able to walk without pain in the near future. But there are not guarantees that something else will not happen. D.T. |