Prayer for Little Brother

This was my Facebook post today:

Many of you know my youngest brother Dana Maxwell. He is having surgery today after suffering a heart attack. He had 5-way bypass surgery just a couple of months ago and we thought all was going to be well from there on out. Looks like one or more of the 5 stints have plugged up.

With all that said, we (Dana's family) would like to request your prayers for him today especially. We serve a VERY BIG God who can and does heal. God does not need our requests in order to act but He does lead us to prayer as a way for us to worship and praise Him. After that, prayer provides a way for us to stay in tune with and hear His heart.

"Lord, we praise and honor you for who you are and for what you have provided to all mankind...your son Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah. It is though Him that our, my, sins have been forgiven. Thank you Lord. Now Lord, we ask for your hand of healing for Dana today. Bless him and touch him. Guide the hands of all who are charged with his safe keeping, and Lord, bless them too, today. May all his caregivers go home wondering about the miraculous events that they saw unfold today. Amen."

I have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support for Dana.  Many of our friends and acquaintances have actually posted prayers!  Not just a promise to pray but actual prayers.  Oh how I needed to see that.  I’m going to send them to Dana when he gets well enough to spend some time with electronics again.  Maybe in a few days.

For those of you who did actually write something…thank you…from the bottom of my heart…thank you.  It has uplifted me probably more than Dana.

Blessings on you all. 

The LONG short Weekend

The Memorial Day weekend is now a memory and most of us are back to work.  Not a bad thing in my book. 

It was not a very restful weekend.  Kathleen and I did get to spend time with out son and granddaughter however.  It is always nice to have a little bit of 10-year old screaming in the yard.  Fun with the chickens and dogs and more fun with the  bubble wands we purchased at Walmart.

Jon and I went fishing on Sunday afternoon.  We found a really nice section of river to wade and both of us enjoyed our time on the water.  When we got home dinner was waiting – chili!  Nice end to a day of fishing.

Monday I spent most of the day in the barn.  Cleaning and cleaning and more cleaning.  It needed to be done and I truly do enjoy working in the barn.  It is my place to go when I need to be alone.  I could hear Jon and Sheri on the tractor.  Jon was teaching Sheri to drive!  Lots of giggles and yelling going on.  I did pray that they would miss the Jaguar but that was just about all.

The long part comes from looking forward to a long weekend with it just being K and me and then finding out that there will be other people around.  It does not matter who is around – that is not the issue – it does mater that someone is going to be around.  But, such is life.

Many times there are others in our lives who need to spend time with us.  Not so much that they need time with us as they need time with someone.  Someone with whom they feel safe and somewhere they can feel loved.  Life throws a lot of daggers and arrows at us and we just want a safe place to hide out. 

Me, I have a barn to go to.  Others need family.

And there in is the Long short weekend.

The Wonder of Worship

“It is beautiful to contemplate the nature of deity and to bask in His glory. This is really what worship is -- the adoring response of the creature to the infinite majesty of God.

While it presupposes submission to Him, worship, in its highest sense, is not supplication for needs, or even thanksgiving for blessings, but "the occupation of the soul with God Himself." Whatever the means -- preaching and hearing of the Word, celebration of the sacraments, singing of hymns, offering of prayers, quiet meditation -- the end of it all is the pure joy of magnifying the One who alone is worthy”.    Words by Robert E. Coleman

OK, there is not much more that I can add than to say that these words seem to really resonate with me.  So often – almost always – I forget to get lost in the wonder of the infinite majesty of God.  Why?  Why is it so easy to forget?  Is it because of all the distractions, the life events going on around us all the time?  Is it our preoccupation with “me” things?

Somehow I need to find a way to distance myself from the “things of life” and start spending much more time being preoccupied with the “things of God”. 

“LORD, you are the one whom I want to be occupied with.  I just don’t know how to make that happen.  Will you help me learn?  Will you help me find a way to excise out all the junk and distractions of my life and fill me with You?”  

Yes, I believe you will.

It Has Been A While

Wow.  I did not realize that my last post was in 2011.  I need to do better!  A lot has happened in the last few years.

My cancer scare is over…at least the surgeon said that they are confident that they got it all.  No chemo or other treatments needed.  Just regular checkups and lots of lab work.  They seem to want my blood every 3-4 months.  I told them once a year is fine with me.

I’m now on insulin.  Wow do I feel better.  Never imagined that one simple change could make me feel so much more like doing things.

Still doing my 2-3 fishing trips a year with Loren Ford from California.  We have been fishing together every year since about 1972.  That is almost 42 years.  Just about how long I have been married.  Oops, don’t let my wife see that statistic.

I should have some new stories to tell soon.  I will try to get them up in the next week or so.

In the mean time – Blessings on you!

Back To Work

Well, after 8 weeks off it is time to hit the road and become a producing part of society again.  I was offered a job working for one of the suppliers that supplied electrical parts to us for so many years.  I have never done outside sales before and am just a little bit worried that I may not have the personality for it.  However, I have made up my mind to give it my best attempt.

It will be nice to be productive again and have a daily focus that is not the “honey-do” list but helping our customers do their jobs more efficiently and better.  It sounded like they wanted me to spend about 1/2 my time in the field with customers and 1/2 in the office helping as I can.  I’m really looking forward to this new vocation.

The New Adventure Begins

It has been 2 weeks since my employment at Betschart Electric came to a close.  I am now busily starting to look for a new place of employment.  I am not sure if I want to continue in the same line of work I have done for the last 40 years of if I would like to look for something new.

New sounds nice…but challenging.  Maybe that would be nice.  A new challenge.  Yes, I think that would be really nice.  I don’t think that I am cut out for a chicken farmer or fast order cook but working somewhere that I get to use my hands for something other than typing on a keyboard sounds really nice.

I’ll let you know how things go as my search widens.

One More Day

Ha, ha.  Just one more day till its 2011.  What a ride this year has been.  Whew, I hope it slows down in 2011.  I’m not looking for anything close to a repeat.  My resolution for the new year is “NO HOSPITAL VISITS!” 

One of my friends suggested that he might take out an insurance policy on me.  He thought it might be a really good investment.  Hmmm.  Maybe he’s on to something.