The fog is starting to lift, not
just outside but in my mind. It takes me
longer to recuperate after these procedures but I’s a comin’ around. Finally got my thank you cards written, Carla
and I will take them up tomorrow. I am
not driving at the moment; don’t need an ‘impaired’ driver out there. ‘nother day or two should do it.
Did have some interesting
times. Since my body doesn’t react to
the drugs the way it is ‘supposed’ to work, they can’t give me drugs. I told the ER doc that I have three
electricians and a cop for kids that have all said they would do the shocking
for me, he said it would be better if he did it. He stepped out of the room for a few minutes
and after consultation with another doctor, came in and said “everyone wants to
shock you.” That doctor was involved in
my last cardio version.
So, the instruments and ‘stuff’
is brought into the room and several people are standing around following a
check list to make sure each person does his part knows when to do it. He said he would be using a quick acting
anesthesia; it works for about five minutes.
He put the stuff in my arm and
told me to count backwards from 20, but I would be out before I got to one. So I counted, to one, then minus one, minus
two. They figured they didn’t give me
enough – so after five minutes, they gave me a larger dose, I counted backwards
to zero.
They started checking my IV, it
was fine and I didn’t lose any – he couldn’t figure out how my body was
absorbing it and having no effect. So,
another, larger dose and a backward count from 30 – I went to zero. Now, they are really scratching their
heads....and then figured out they were giving me milligrams instead of
grams.
That, of course, could be a very
dangerous situation; fortunately it was less, not more. The poor nurse and doctor, both of whom
should have figured it out before, were kicking themselves for not realizing
it. I figured since MY steps are ordered
of the Lord, that the lesson was for them to remind themselves to always check
their double checks. Better learn it
with me then with someone who could be seriously hurt.
Anyway, I cardioverted and was
out of the ER in a couple hours. Carla
says I am looking and acting much better than my last visit. We figure that the heart, while back to a
more normal rhythm the last time I was there, my heart wasn’t completely back in
sync, and the next few days I started going back into A-Fib – full blown Monday
afternoon. Doing better, improving
daily.....I think....
Mathew
27:22-24 Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do
then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be
crucified.
23 And the governor said,
Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be
crucified.
24 When Pilate saw that he
could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and
washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of
this just person: see ye to it.
Nope, not my fault. How that excuse rings out through the
ages. I did this because you made
me. I did this because I had no other
choice. If I didn’t do this then we
would have all manner of problems. So it
isn’t my fault; I was forced into it.
It is society’s fault; it is the
fault of this race or that one; it is the times; it is the peer pressure, oh,
how the excuses can build up to make a person say it isn’t them, it is you.
Our leaders today take polls to
see how they should speak, they have a certain section of the population they
want to please and if it persecutes others, or makes them instant criminals, so
be it.
Most of our political figures,
today, are no different than Pontius Pilate; they know what the right thing to
do is, but they yield to the pressures of lobbyists, of those with an agenda to
change the very base of America. All but
the vilest of crimes have been excused in the name of social consciousness and
even some of the violent crimes are exempted.
The criminal is a product of his
growing up, of his environment, of his ‘diseases or illnesses.’ He hasn’t had the opportunities; it is the
bias of those around him because he is different, we just don’t understand
him. Excuses for bad behavior can be
dreamed up for anyone looking to defend their own or someone else’s
behavior.
The same goes for good behavior,
I didn’t do it because I was afraid of what others would think; there were
others there that were more qualified than me, so it is not my fault that no one
did anything. I was busy, I was too
afraid, I didn’t want to get involved.
Any excuse will do if we don’t do what we know we should have done.
In the case of God, He is too
repressive, His Word doesn’t fit in today’s society. He has no business, and neither do any of His
followers, in telling me what to do. Man
is a master of his own fate, and answers only to man – but man also can change
the rules, or make excuses for bad behavior – so there are no absolutes if you
don’t accept God’s Word.
We condemn Pilate because he
didn’t have the moral courage to stand up for what was right. To him, Jesus was just another Jew, many were
slain for various reasons – what difference does one more make – even if He is
innocent. While he agreed to have a sham
trial, he knew that Jesus was not guilty of any capital crime under the Roman
Laws – the Jewish leaders conceded that fact.
His wife told him to have
nothing to do with Jesus. His laws told
him Jesus was innocent. He, himself said
that Jesus was not guilty of any crimes – that He was ‘a just man.’ Yet, he turned him over to the Jews to be
crucified, trying to pass the blame onto them in the symbolic washing of his
hands.
In his eyes it was better to let
one Jew be killed than to incur the wrath of the Jewish leadership over this
man. He meant nothing to Pilate, just
one more Jew. So, if he was killed it
mattered far less than if he had an uprising instigated by the Jewish leaders
because he didn’t give them Jesus to crucify.
I can hear him now, “I had no
choice, God, if I didn’t do this there would have been far more damage done to
your people (and my political aspirations.)”
“Can’t you see, God, it was better for Jesus to die, than everything else
that might have happened?” “I didn’t
know He was your Son, yes I figured out He had done nothing wrong, but I had no
choice – It was YOUR own people who forced me to give Him up.” “Besides I washed my hands of the whole
thing; it wasn’t me that killed him.” “I
even heard that Jesus was supposed to die and that by doing so He saved people –
so I didn’t have any choice, see, you set this all up. So, why are you judging me?”
We condemn, Pilate, we are upset
with our leaders, but are we really any different? As individuals do we pass the buck and say it
isn’t our fault?
We look at a world beset with
sin and the results of sinful behavior.
We see young children starving and dying of diseases that can easily be
dealt with given proper medical treatment.
We see the world in turmoil
where groups of people are killing other groups of people because of they don’t
agree with them; differences in religion, ideology, color of skin or anything
else they can use to further their violence.
We see a world on verge of
another World War where the boundaries are not defined and the enemy is
everywhere around us – indeed, in the Middle East it is already in a full blown
war. We have had some of the fringe
elements attack us, but we are ripe for this new war of anything goes and it is
difficult to identify the enemy.
Our heart cries out, our mind
cannot cope with all the needs of the world.
How do we help those incarcerated or persecuted for their belief in our
Lord? How can we possible feed all those
mouths? How can we proclaim Christ when
the need is so far flung? It is
overwhelming.
For most of us, God doesn’t
expect us to go into foreign lands and preach the Gospel. He doesn’t expect us to be great leaders and
rally thousands of people to our causes.
That is not to say that if we are willing He cannot use us to do just
that, but not everyone has the same gifts or ministry (responsibility.)
What He expects of us is:
Mark
12:29-31 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments
is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one
Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment.
31 And the second is like,
namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other
commandment greater than these.
When we accept that God is God,
Creator, Jesus as Savior and Lord of all things, then we can accept that we need
to be obedient to Him.
We need to listen to His Holy
Spirit who guides and directs us. We may
not be able to save the whole world, but we can witness to our neighbors, we can
make sure they are clothed and fed; we can contribute to ministries that serve
God and man; and, we can live a life that gives Glory to God.
We can allow ourselves to be
used of God, for His purposes. Jesus did
not preach to the Gentiles, while some heard of Him and believed, His primary
mission was to the Jews. He stayed in
Israel; He did not go to other parts of the globe to preach and teach. His mission was to the Jews – He knew of
course that we, as Gentiles, would also have an opportunity to make a decision
for Him – but, His mission was in Israel and His people.
He had others go to the utter
most parts of the world to preach His Word.
To tell them of His life and His sacrifice; others had that mission, not
Him. As a man He was limited in where He
could go, as the Son of God, obedient to the Heavenly Father, He did what He was
placed on earth to do. And thousands of
years later His Word and salvation is still bringing people to Him – from all
over the globe.
WE can only do what we can
do. We should not ‘beat ourselves up’
for what we cannot do – nor what we have failed to do in the past. We need to move forward, listen to God, obey
and then do what He wants us to do – not only will He show us, but He will help
us.
We have no excuses when it comes
to obeying God. Each of us has a place
in His design to bring others to Him, we just need to find that place and
fulfill it.
Later, Art :-)
From
the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we
meet again
