Well, my Cardiologist is both happy and a bit perplexed with me.  My numbers are good, I do not seem to have any plaque blocking arteries and my A-Fib has settled down.  However, the medication he had prescribed for me to take to the ER next time if flairs up has been withdrawn – it might cause the same reaction the last one caused, and it is life threatening.

I am taking the lowest doses of High Blood pressure medication I can take – which of course helps keep down the heart rate – but since I have such a low heart rate he can’t give me anymore to keep the high rates – when they happen – from being so high for the danger of placing my heart rate on the lower end in a danger zone of being too low.

He started going over options, but said, they weren’t necessary at this time, just advising me that they might have to be done later – whenever that may come.  And I heard that term again, I am a ‘problem patient’ because of all this, he wants to correct something, but he can’t figure out just what that means – especially since I seem to be doing okay – but there is always a chance A-fib will start in again, if it becomes more frequent we can evaluate what to do at that time, but right now......  I spent an hour with him scratching his head and the one thing I did learn is that the heart is currently functioning well, not to take the medication he had previously prescribed, call him if anything changes and if it doesn’t he will see me in a year.

Actually, not a bad outcome, I am convinced that your prayers have been a big part of this, thank you.

Now, if I can just get a couple of other things rectified I might even feel better!  

Proverbs 15:18  A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

Everywhere we turn today we see people angry and lashing out at others.  Frustrations abound, clerk wasn’t fast enough, car in front of us is deliberately driving slow, that car cut me off, that person is blocking the sidewalk, their music is too loud, my internet shut down – again, that person looked at me wrong, he insulted me, and the list goes on and on.

We are so frustrated about different things that the littlest inconvenience can set off tirades, or ever worse, violent reactions.  The world is full of irritations and it is just getting worse.  Government actions or inactions, businesses taking advantage of customers, trouble spilling over from the middle-east into other countries and the fear it will be coming here soon.  Ideologies clashing, officials lying and/or promising things that are pie in the sky and unreasonable; we turn on our Televisions and see more reasons to be upset with the world.

No one wants to speak up, everyone wants to shout, no one wants to take actions, everyone is taking the wrong actions.  You want turmoil, it is there for anyone for almost any reason we wish to use.

One of the first things my training officer told me when we hit the streets was ‘whenever possible go in slow and easy, talk softly, try to get people to calm down.  As an officer we can always ratchet up our actions, but it is difficult to come down if you go into a situation too hard.’  There are lots and lots of situations this does not fit, but I found most do – you learn to figure it out.

The police are supposed to be calm in the face of danger or crisis, we are trained to not take things personally, to not become angry – just apply the law.  Now, that ain’t always easy, but when done it can make a world of difference in a tumultuous situations.  It takes time and experience to handle a Family disturbance and calm people down while still being aware of how dangerous these situations are.  Be too defensive (protecting ourselves from attack) can cause distrust, be too offensive (attacking by words – usually) and the situation can escalate.

Police Officers make decisions quickly, it is part of the job, we don’t have a lot of time to evaluate and react on serious situations.  If we can’t take control of the situation by our soft words, we will use firmer words and/or result to physically separating people and possibly arrest – and we don’t take very long in making that decision.  But that is our job; that is why we get called into disturbances.  People want the officer to be truly a peace keeper to get control of the situation. 

Most of the time that is what happens, usually though, someone is not as satisfied with the outcome as the other party, but it is resolved at least temporarily.  Another thing that was taught was don’t become part of the problem, or make it escalate by your actions – again, easier said than done – but still a goal to ascribe to. 

How we react when faced with people that are angry or frustrated can make all the difference in the world to them and to us.  ‘Most’ people just want to vent, given an opportunity to have their say they will readily calm down IF WE are calm. 

That is not easy, many of us, when attacked, immediately strike back in one form or another.  However, if we take a step back in our emotions, bide our time – count to ten so to speak we can help relieve the tension of the moment. 

As Christians it is even more incumbent on us to be slow to anger, to ask the Holy Spirit to give us patience and the right attitude and the right things to say.  If we learn how to do that in less tense situations, we do much better in more serious situations.

I wish I could say I am good at that, I am not.  However, I have also learned that certain words, accusations or phrases will tend to affect me in a more negative manner than others – so knowing that I try NOT to let them bother me when said. 

I have also learned that if I go out into the world with the frame of mind that I am a Christian and those things I do impact my witness to others, I am less likely to be frustrated or to display that frustration in a negative manner.

As Christians, we should be the level headed person in any crisis, if we find ourselves reacting in a negative manner we need to take that emotional step backward, we need to ask God to strengthen our resolve to serve as His ambassador and calm things down.

There will always be those whose opinion is heard so loud and forceful that we cannot calm them down.  They win over their ‘audience’ by being loud and obnoxious, we know there is no point in trying to talk to them and when we decide it is not going to go anywhere they feel they have won.  I don’t like them to have that feeling, but to get angry and resort to their tactics rarely quiets things down.  In fact when we do that we become part of the problem, and someone else has to be the peace maker.

I have rarely been timid when confronted, but I am learning that to automatically go into attack mode doesn’t help either.  It is just one more thing, in my baggage of things, that I have to put more work into.

Later, Art :-)

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous
May Our Good Lord Bless and Keep YOU....’til we meet again