Is "Me too" for real?

     I do believe it is in the nature of the human male to be aggressive.  Males are bigger, stronger and faster than females and when it comes to physical activities men will always come out on top.  No, every male cannot defeat every female but overall the females are the weaker sex.  When it comes to other areas of life, emotional stability, intelligence, leadership, etc. the sexes are about even and maybe with the edge in the female corner.  My discussion is not about who is more dominant nor is it about the equality of the sexes.  It is about what makes men men and women not men.

  Being strong and being aggressive is meant to be a good thing. In  times past when wars and life in general took strength and endurance and aggressiveness to make things happen being a man was an advantage.  In todays society those qualities are not as necessary in the technology field and the business world but even so, men are hard wired differently than women.  That is why men have usually been the aggressors in all areas of life, including mate finding.
 
   As children, we all test the boundaries of parental permission.  That is how we establish what is right from what is wrong and what is permissible and what is taboo.  It is often that our parents have had to tell us no.  Sometimes we continue and the parent relents, sometimes the parent says no because they don't want to be bothered and sometimes the same act get different reactions.  We only learn that no means no when the same action always results in a no.

    Rightly or wrongly, the burden of saying no in relationships has always been placed on the female.  In recent decades girls and women have been given more permission to share responsibility and males are expected to take more of the responsibility for showing restraint.    Sometimes a boy or man will engage in an activity and be told no but if he persists the objection is withdrawn.  I see this all the time.  At church a child will be running and the parent calls him/her down and says 'stop running."  The child will watch the parent and as soon as the parent is distracted the child will resume his previous activities.  More often than not, the parent ignores the child.

   If that is the way the child was raised, then  when it comes to relationships, if at first the other person says no, does no really mean no or does it mean give me a minute to adjust to this new idea or does it mean to just slow down a little?  Has the behavior already crossed the lines of committing a crime?  Do we always have to ask permission before touching another person?   If being grouped by a boy in high school sexual assault?  if so, the almost every girl can claim "me Too".

   How many of us at 42 act or think the same as we did at 16?  Often I've heard people talk about the stupid things they did as a teenager.  If someone committed a crime against you then by all means report it.  If it is past the statue of limitations then live with it./   It's not right that things a person did when they were kids should be held against them for the remainder of their lives, especially when proof is no longer available.

   I am not advocating that overly aggressive behavior should be over looked or condoned.  I'm not.  I do believe we should show respect for each other in all stages of our life but sometimes we confuse what is acceptable and what is not when engaging in situations that are totally new to us.    Petty crimes we commit when we are kids are dripped from our criminal records when we turn 18.  No reason to ruin a kids entire life because of an act committed when immature.

    As parents we should do a better job at teaching boundaries and acceptable behavior and as adults we need to be more responsible when reporting crimes.  Report as close to the act as possible.  It doesn't matter if the authorities believe you are not. If every woman reported sexual assaults then when the third woman reports the same man for the same crime, it is more likely that he will be stopped and all vindicated.  Why wait twenty years and then cry rape.  People wonder what's your agenda.

Keeping up with the Jones"

   It has been many years since I've had a neighbor that seemed to care what I did.  When I owned my second home my next door neighbor duplicated everything I did.  That included the planting of trees, digging of a drainage ditch, to building a fence.  They had the nicer house with a deck out back while all I had was a utility closet that wasn't big enough for anything except for a few long handled tools.  When I decided to move my hot water heater out of the laundry room to the utility room so I could have a full size washer/dryer I suppose the neighbors had had enough so they sold their house and moved.
  My neighbor across the street isn't exactly like that but he does keep up with me when it comes to mowing the lawn.  Every time I mow, he will mow later that day.  The only difference is I have a riding mower and he has a walk behind.  Sometimes it takes him two days to mow because it gets too dark for him to see.

   I mowed my grass last Monday.  I had gotten behind in my mowing duties due to my surgery recover period of six weeks and it is more than just tall grass.  Weeds took over the flower gardens and vegetable gardens and it is impossible to get a smooth cut on tall grass because the moisture holds the grass flat so it doesn't cut smoothly or evenly .  I got my okay to resume working in the yard on a Monday so I cut my grass the following Tuesday and the first of the week ever since.  
  I prefer to cut my grass on Thursdays  because I'm used to going to swim class M-W-F and I like my yard to look nice for the weekend.
   The week after my vacation I had cut my grass on Monday and when my neighbor got off work he cut his grass also.  Knowing that I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and my wife had one Tuesday and the weather man was calling for some rain on Wednesday I made the decision to mow again on Saturday so if I didn't get to mow this week it would not look so bad the following week.
Again, my neighbor mowed his grass on Saturday as well.  I wondered if it had dawned on him he had mowed twice in one week?
   I'm not complaining about him mowing on the same days I do except that he mows in the evening when everyone is in for the day and having supper, preparing lessons or reading or even watching TV and the noise is distracting.  Even so I'm glad I have a neighbor that takes care of his yard.

There are no buts

   My former pastor was talking with a preacher of a different denomination.  My pastor believed in assurance of salvation and the other pastor believed one could lose their salvation.  My pastor quoted a scripture that seemed to support his viewpoint and the other preacher quoted the same verse and then said "but"  and then proceeded to expound on why that was fully accurate.
   My pastor informed me of the conversation and I told him there wasn't any "but" in the bible.  He misunderstood me and thought I was saying that the word "but" was never used in scripture.  That was not what I was saying at all.  I really meant that there was no "but"  after that verse in the bible.
  I realize one cannot pick one verse and build a doctrine out of it.  One has to take a verse in context and then interpret it in light of it's usage in the entirety of scripture  But neither can one add your own interpretation to a scripture because you don't want to agree with what it is saying.
  It is hard for some because to accept that salvation is free and one doesn't have to do anything to get it except for accepting it.  Some think that becoming a Christian is a get out of hell free card and that once saved they can live like they want to.  But the bible makes it clear that once you accept  salvation that you have been purchased with a price.  You are no longer a servant of sin but you still have a master.  You have to serve one or the other.  If you say you belong to the Lord and yet still serve Satan, scripture says you are a liar.  You no longer want to live the way you did when you were lost nor will you.
  Those people who believe that you have to follow a set of rules and live a certain way in order to go to heaven have missed the reason for Christ's death on the cross because if you have to live a sin free life then what is the point of the cross?
  No, God said what he meant and he meant what he said and we cannot be adding "buts, if's or maybe's to the end of scripture.

'Vengance in mine"

   "Vengance is Mine" saith the Lord but sometimes getting even is so sweet.  Back in the days when I was a working man (I mean with a paying job)  I usually has a day or two off during the week. My wife worked manufacturing so was employed Monday through Friday.  Even though she worked close to home she preferred to take her lunch to work but one of her friends who also worked at the same place preferred to eat a home cooked meal.  Unfortunately for me it was my home where she preferred to eat.
  She would pop in several times a week while Nana was fixing lunch and help herself.  She did this once when I was home and I ask Nana about it.  Nana was a quiet woman and didn't complain much but she did confess this habit was unsetting because it often left the meals skimpy for herself and the kids.  I decided then I would fix her a meal she would never forget.
   My next day off during the week, I saved some leftovers and added some unsavory ingredients to it.  Nothing would make one sick or be hurtful in any way;  it just tasted awful.  Anyway, the woman stopped by for lunch that day.  She just walked it, grabbed herself a bowl and helped herself.   and never bothered to even tell me hello.  She took a few bites and remarked that I needed to speak to Nana about her cooking as the food was really bad.  "How can she even think about feeding this stuff to the kids?" she remarked.
   "She doesn't intent too." I answered.  "She made that for the dog."
   Needless to say she didn't finish her meal nor did she ever come back for a free lunch.

Going around in circles

  I celebrate each victory no matter how small in my battle to regain control after my prostate cancer surgery.  There has been small steps and there have been some setbacks too.  I am supposed to do these squeezing exercises to strengthen  the muscles that control the bladder release and I had been doing them faithfully until one night they seemed painful.  The next morning I passed a small amount of blood.  I held off on the exercises for a while and have resumed them but not so vigorously.
  Friday was my best day making it to the toilet 5 out of six try's without any leakage but yesterday was a disaster.  I felt like I have regressed back to the day when the bag was first removed.  Every little move, no matter how slight, created a sprinkle.
   Things are starting out a little better this morning ,  I crawled out of bed at 1:30 because I couldn't get comfortable.  Having to crawl in and out of bed every hour and a half is hard on my back and after the second or third time it gets sore and I can't get comfortable.  I usually just get out of bed, play a game or two on the computer, check my face book page,  and read the news until time to fix breakfast, then read some commentary before taking a nap until my wife gets up around seven.
   But this morning I can't have breakfast as I have a doctor's appointment and I have to fast. My appointment isn't until 10:30 and that is almost my lunch time.  I'm okay for now with a glucose reading of 100.
  I'm at that age when one thing gets better another goes wrong and some things will never get better
but I'm not old enough to accept defeat.  I'll keep doing what I can as long as I can.  

Vacation's Over. It's time for church.

   Went to the mountains for the week and the weather was absolutely perfect.  The traffic was heavier than expected due to people fleeing the hurricane.  The locals were courteous drivers and we only saw one aggressive driver; some guy in a white pickup truck that thought he had to be first to where ever he was going.  However, once you got near the college, you were on your own.  The college students were discourteous and aggressive.
  The GPS on my wife's phone didn't like me.  I wanted to head from my motel to the Mast General store.  The shortest and quickest way was to turn right out of the parking lot, go 1/2 block and make a left and  go straight for two miles.  The store would have been on my right. Instead it had me make a left. go two miles and three turns then make another right on Blowing Rock Road and then drive the two miles back to the store.
   The only time the GPS had me turn right out of the parking lot was the one time that turning left would have been quicker.  Once, we were headed to the Moses cone Estate on the Blue Ridge Parkway and the GPS sent me winding through backroads and residential neighborhoods and then into desolate areas where the roads were not even paved.  It got us there however freaky the route and we had a good time, which was what was important anyway.
   Spectacular September is half over with two preachers down and two to go.  The first one was kind of hyper and had the ability to work the congregation into a frenzy.  I'm not a big fan of this style of preaching because so often it consists of a series of well worn phrases that are designed to get one excited and contains little or no real substance but this preacher had a really good message to go with his delivery.  Well done.
The first preacher was young and has been a pastor only 6 years, the second week we saw an older man (56) who has been pastor at the same church for twenty of those years.  His style was more of a teacher and he used a lot of illustrations.  The first preacher came on the 4th and the second was there on the 11th.  They were both good and I can remember what they both preached about.  Most people can't tell anyone what the sermon was about by the time they get home for lunch so they had to have been good messages.
  The third installment is this coming Tuesday night, the 18th.  I have no idea what to expect accept another good message is spite of the delivery style.  But before then, we are having our regular church service this morning.  Will you join us?

Pastor David Mims Sept 11. 2018

Sam's club is hard to deal with.

  We purchased some playground equipment from Sam's club and paid to have it installed.   When the installers finished they took our existing playground equipment with them.  They were contacted and promised to return the merchandise within the week  but didn't.  They said they had been busy but would return it soon. They never did.
   I contacted Sam's Club and informed them of the problem and their response was that there was a miscommunication between myself and the installation crew.  I said there wasn't.  It was made perfectly clear that the kiddie slide and balance beam were to stay.  They said they understood.
Sam's Club then responded that they needed the purchase order number.
   I said no you don't.  My merchandise just needs to be returned.
  Sam's Club then replied that since I failed to respond they considered the problem solved.  I told them they solved nothing.,
  We were given a replacement kiddie slide by someone in Charlotte and I rebuilt the balance beam.
it is just a shame that big companies like Sam's club have no concept of good customer service.  It's just not them.,  Almost all the big companies are that way/  I've had problems with Duke Energy, CPI, AOL, and other extra large and large companies. Often one cannot talk to a real person and if you do get a person they can't solve the problem or don't speak good English.  I think Sam's Clubs problem is that they don't want to discipline their crew and they have no interest in making fair compensation for the items taken because that would cost them their profit margin.
   The small amount of business I could do with them isn't enough to entice them to do the proper thing and they know I cannot influence enough people to hurt their bottom line.
  That's okay.  I can live just fine without Sam's Club.  Big companies come and big companies go.  people go where they get the best deals and everything being equal, people will shop where they get treated better.
  But the situation is our own fault because we are motivated by the almighty dime.   I've seen people waste a dollar of gas looking around to save a penny or two per gallon.  Even if they save 5 cents a gallon they will have wasted more than they saved.  I, for one, would rather shop at Melvin's than Walmart.
  But some of the big stores better watch out.  Amazon is putting a hurting on some of the big box stores and for good reason.  For example I'm in need of a new chain saw chain.  Stopped in Walmart and they had a 10", a 14": and several 16", some with a new bar and some with just the chain but no 18".  Went home, searched Amazon and ordered one cheaper that The chains at Walmart.  I'll get it tomorrow.  I didn't have to get dressed, waste gas, or look around.  The only reason to go to a brick and mortar store is for an idea you need immediately or for one that you know is going to be too expense online.  That's what I was doing there in the first place.  I broke the tip off of  a fishing pole.  Shipping would have cost more than the tips.
  One would think with competition from other retailers and from Amazon that the big box stores would try harder to please their customers but the decision makers have so isolated themselves that the system is not flexible, the employees hands are tied and the owners only care about their lifestyle.  But like Montgomery-Ward, W. T. Grants, Sears and Roebuck, Roses, JC Penny, A & P, and a slew of other companies that have died or are dying, they had better learn to care  Saving a penny is not always worth the price you pay.  .          

First Spectacular September Service a Success

  Our first Tuesday night Spectacular September meeting was a huge success.  Pastor Tyler Gaulden conducted the services.

Good report from the doctor

  Went to see my Urologist Tuesday and received a good report.  My incisions are healing properly and I was released from restricted activity.  During surgery 7nodes were removed for examination and all seven proved to be benign.   That's a really good thing.  I hope to get the results from mu PSA tests in a day or two.

   My next appointment is in 2 1/2 months but the doctor wants me to go to Kernersville for a PSA test a week before seeing him.  After that, all my exams should be in Kernersville.

  Before surgery, I walked every other day and did water aerobics for and hour and a half every other day but since been on restricted physical activity it seems I have grown soft.  Starting today I'm going back to walking and hope to be back to my old self soon.  It will be a while before I can go back to the pool.  I have to regain bladder control, otherwise it would not be fair to everyone else to be constantly leaking into the pool.

  The doctor said it would take me about twice to heal as it takes most people because of the size of my prostate as more nerves were damaged.  He suggested that I do my exercises every hour 10 times instead of the 20 times 4 times a day normally done.

Recovery from Cancer

    I'm able to do more physically but where my incisions were feel like little pin pricks so make me aware I need to reduce the amount of stress I'm used to putting on my body.  Yesterday I built a balance beam for the kids at church.  There was no heavy lifting involved yet I could tell I had maybe overdone it a little bit by how pronounced the incision pricks were.  I can live with being careful about how much strain I put on myself but it is the bladder control problem that is hard to deal with.
   I can sleep for an hour to an hour and a half before I have to go.  The pressure isn't painful like it was before surgery.  In fact the pressure is so light that it isn't really recognizable except the urge to go woke me up.  If I scoot to the bed's edge and swing my legs off the side of the bed while sitting up, I do fine.  But if I roll over then swing one leg at a time off the bed, then I squirt.
  During the day, every time I stand I must go immediately to the bathroom .  If I hesitate or do anything on the way I will squirt and once that starts going to the bathroom becomes a mute point in many cases.
   Monday will be 6 weeks since my surgery and I do go back to see the surgeon so he can access my progress. And as frustrating  as each day seems to be I know I am making progress.  I change undergarments less often and they are getting drier overall.  Most trips to the bathroom are successful.  The trips I have the most problem with are at church.  The bathrooms are to far away so I try and stay seated
  Yes, it is embarrassing and uncomfortable and inconvenient  and necessary to wear black pants it is getting better.

Mid-week church services

   I enjoy Wednesday night church services.  Prayers are more sincere and deeper and bible teaching is more informative.
  Our attendance on Sunday morning is increasing.  In fact it has almost doubled since I have been attending the church.  One thing I realized this morning is that almost half the people attending Sunday morning have little idea of who I am.  To most of them I am the man in the bow tie who operates the camera.  But there are many other things about me that these people do not know.  To know me is not the important issue here.  What is lacking is the many blessings that are being missed by not becoming more involved in Christian service.  
   I doubt that any of the ones who just come on Sunday mornings has ever said a prayer for me or any other member who is or has suffered physically.  None of the Sunday only crowd attend Sunday School so they are missing out on some great lessons from scripture.
   I am fully aware that some have good reasons for not being there on Wednesday nights.   Some have jobs that have them working late or have them out of town.  But most people just don't see the need to be there except Sunday morning.  I've noticed that the Wednesday people are actively involved in the church while the Sunday morning crowd have a more passive role.
  There is a difference in the services for me also.   On Sunday morning I am in a more giving role.  I teach a Sunday School class, I video tape the services, I am the church treasure, and occasionally I am called on to preform other tasks.  Sunday nights and Wednesday nights I am more of a receiver .  On Wednesday nights I take the prayer requests and do video tape the services but I have less to do with people and have more time to devote to the learning and study of scripture.  That's the part of church I enjoy the most.

Five weeks later

  I'm a couple of days past the 5 week mark since my surgery.  The incisions were deep so there is still some pain associated with them and I am still not in control of my bladder yet.  I do well when sitting but if I stand I must go immediately to the rest room.
  My sleep isn't very good as I wake every hour and a half to two hours to go relieve myself.   I'm still limited as to what I can do physically.  I still have all the wood from the playground set stacked up in the yard and there are several trees I need to cut down but I'm having to wait until my body can handle the stress.
 It is my hope that no one else will ever have to go through this surgery and I am glad there are other choices now.  If I could have chosen radiation I certainly would have.  I suppose I could have but my prostate was so large it would have taken at least two years to shrink it to a size that would allow for radiation treatments and in that time my cancer could have spread beyond the prostate.  It wasn';t a risk worth taking.

 

Fuishing Trip

   Yesterday I picked a friend up and headed out to City Lake park in Jamestown for a morning of fishing.  I baited my hooks in hopes of catching a big one or two for my friend.  He caught nine; none big enough to keep and I caught none.  It was a cool overcast morning so the day was perfect weather for being outdoors fishing.  I suppose the rains overnight had washed enough bugs into the water there wasn't much need for the fish to get excited about our bait.
  Even so, I enjoyed the day and so did my friend.  I know he was disappointed that we didn't catch enough for a meal but he came away with breakfast, a new rod and reel and a tackle box and I came away glad that I finally had gotten away for a while after being cooped up for a month while recovering from surgery.
   Hopefully we will have better luck Thursday when we try a friends private pond.  

Real Christain Behavior

   So many people believe they are Christian even though they seldom, if ever attend church, never read their bibles, never tell others about Christ, and usually only pray when they need something like their favorite team to score or to obtain some goal they had set for themselves.  People who attend church regularly often feel that they are more Christian than most.  When they speak to others it is usually in a condescending way.  They say things like "You two shouldn't live together." or "You drink to much.  You need to leave that beer alone and start going to church."  In other words, many regular church attendees want to correct the lifestyle of the people they consider "lost".
    So far, I've never met a person that said "Yea Grandma, you are right.  I'll quick doing drugs and become a Christian."  It is far more likely that the only reaction Grandma will receive is one of disdain or anger.  It is like telling a stuntman that he needs to quit doing stunts because he might get hurt.  he knows that.  He doesn't care;  he just wants to succeed at a more dangerous and thrilling stunt.  maybe what he needs to hear is "In order to make that stunt work, what you need is a lighter motorcycle with a more powerful engine.  Perhaps we can find a person that knows how to design such a bike."
   I think that many Christians lack compassion for others.  We all have problems and shortcomings. If we can keep the joy of Christ in our lives and live our lives as a positive example of what Christ can do with a sinner,   then how we live our lives will speak louder and more positive about Christ than all the urging to change ever will.  It is our job as a Christian to light the way.  It is God's job to
do the changing.,  

Science is better than God

   A lady claims she believes in science but not in God.  I can fully understand where she is coming from.  The bible says that to those who do not believe scriptures are foolishness.  I can see that.  It's hard to fathom that some being created everything with just a spoken word, then decided the only way to save mankind from his own folly was to come to earth as a human baby, die on the cross, and rise from the dead.
   It takes a great deal of faith to believe that.  But it also takes a great deal of faith to believe that where nothing existed, that two forces that didn't exist collided and a perfectly formed and in sync existence was created.  One scientific law is that something cannot be created from nothing.  If there was once nothing then where did the two forces come from?  The fact that something exist is proof that something has always existed.
  So many things that science didn't know is recorded in scriptures. Isolation of plaque victims was Jewish law and it wasn't until doctors practiced that was the black plaque ended.  In one country 11 out of 14 pregnant women died until the doctors discovered hand washing, which also was a Jewish law.
    The bible also said that God sat upon the curve of the earth, the word for curve meaning a ball or sphere.  The Egyptians, great mathematicians, believed the earth was supported by 5 pillars but the bible says it was suspended in space.    Sailing around the globe was made possible when one sailor realized the bible spoke of pathways in the sea, or currents.
   The bible is not a book of science but many scientific discoveries were mentioned in the bible hundreds of years before science discovered them.
   It takes less faith to believe in God that in happenstance but one has to accept Christ.  Then the bible makes more sense than any other explanation.  So what are you going to do about Jesus?

Free apples

  Several of my apple trees produced this year but the trees are infected with cedar  apple rust, a disease I've been trying to find the solution for without success for several years now.  There are plenty of apples but they are small and most are deformed.  The taste is good though.
   I suppose the best use of these apples would be for deer bait.  I don't deer hunt and the woods surrounding my neighborhood are full of deer but my health won't allow me to pick the apples myself.  If anyone would like to come pick them you are welcomed to.  No charge.
   I'm seriously considering cutting the trees down as the disease seems impossible to control and they block the sunlight from my peach trees and cause brown rot.
Also, I know some craftsmen like apple wood for some of their crafts so I will have some available.  

Whole Hog or Die

   My dad had a few saying and "Whole hog or die" was one of his favorites. That means to give something all you have and don't give up, no matter what.   In many ways my father and I are alike.  I can see of lot of my mother in me too.  I am a composite of my parents.  My personality is more like my mothers but I am more like my father in my physical makeup and motivations.
  I have taken a "whole hog or die" approach to many things in life.  When I do I am successful.  When I do not fully commit to something, then things don't always work out as they should.  Once, when I was in the military, the base was hosting a horseshoe tournament and I decided to entry and not just to enter but to win.  I practiced at least eight hours a day  and was often seen practicing all night s well as during the day.  I not only won the tournament but I was national champion of Puerto Rico and All-Navy Campion as well.
  At Chowan College I took an Economics class under Mr. Helms.  I remember he was from Cherryville, NC and he graded different from every other professor.  In fact in his over two dozen years of teaching, no one had ever earned an "A" in his class.  I determined to be the first.  I was.
Unfortunately,    so few things in life have so motivated me to give myself over to it completely and I've had a half hearted approach to life.
  Several years ago, I began to realize that doing things my way wasn't getting me where I wanted or needed to be in life so I decided to live for Christ.  But if I live for Christ, I was going to go "whole hog or die".
  It's more than church attendance, bible study, or even prayer and it's certainly not about trying to be a better person.    I didn't seek out any offices in church nor did I try to live up to what most people consider Christian values.  I didn't have any preconceived ideas about what a Christian was supposed to be or about what the scriptures mean.
  I just started attending church.  The first thing I did was ask if I could mow the grass.   Then I spent much of my spare time clearing the overgrowth from the church property.  The land was in such poor shape it took two winters working 4 hours a day to get the job done.  Then I planted a pumpkin patch.
 I cleaned the church, did maintenance, changed the church sign,  planted flowers and bushes, laid timber to define the parking lot, cut trees, took care of the trash and recyclables, nd every other task that needed to be done.  I purchased my own equipment for mowing, my own tools for other jobs.  I never took one dime from the church for anything.
    No, I wasn't trying to work my way to heaven. Christianity doesn't work that way.  But if I'm not willing to serve and do the small stuff then how could God use me for the bigger stuff.  And eventually He did.  But I learned many things along the way.  I learned that He is good and faithful and when I needed Him most, He was there.  I've learned that in seemingly tragic events  that the only real tragedy is if we fail to use that event for His glory.  He puts us through things not only to strengthen us but because he knows we are strong enough to handle the events and know how to properly view things.
   A good example of that is my cancer.  How in the world is having cancer a good thing.  It is and I give God thanks for allowing me to go through this.  I've learned that we will all die of something sooner or later so the fact that I have a life threating disease is not the tragedy here.  It is just part of living.  We will all die of something.  That something is "sin".  Even the best Christian in the word will die a physical death because of sin.  That is the nature we were born with and that can't be changed.  We cannot live good enough lives to overcome that sin nature.
  But there is a way out of the situation.  God sent His son to pay the death penalty for us so that we don't have to die that second death.  The cancer doctors gave me three options in my battle with cancer and God gives us three choices in our battle with sin.
   We can ignore the problem and we may be lucky and not die of cancer but we will die of something.  Another options is radiation treatments and the third option is surgery.    God gives us three options:  We can ignore or deny or sin and eventually we will die.  We can turn over a new leaf and try to live a better life, maybe even become church members and maybe even leaders in the church.  We will still die.  Or we can take the third option, accept Christ, and live.
   In my battle with cancer there are things I need to do to speed my healing and to improve the quality of my life.  I don't have to do these things and I can live in my misery.  Or I can work hard and recover sooner.  The same is true in my Christian life.  I choose to serve Christ "whole hog".

It is appointed unto men once to die

I can detect small changes for the better with each passing day. Some days I have had setbacks and I know I have months of healing before I can consider myself recovered. Please don't feel sad for me because I don't. I thank God for allowing me to go through this. I'm consider it a reward because He trusts me enough to use my illness for His glory .
How can I do that?
When I was first told I had cancer I was given three options: I could take a wait and watch approach which is the best approach in most cases, I could take radiation treatments, or I could have surgery.
Chances are good that if I made the correct choice, cancer would not be the cause of my death. It doesn't matter for all of us are going to die of something. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead but he died later anyway.
A friend asked me what caused cancer and I said I didn't know, but I realized I do. It is sin. Our physical bodies are infected with sin and we will eventually die because of it one day.
But we also have a spiritual side. We have three choices: we can take and wait and see approach to life, waiting for that moment that we have that great revelation of truth or we realize our life is used up so we might as well give in to Christ.
Choice number two is we can start to live better, maybe even attend church on Sunday mornings. Or we can use option number three and accept Christ and live for Him.
It's appointed unto men once to die. Yes, we will all die one day but we only have to die once. Reject Christ and we die twice. Don't let the cancer of sin take your soul too.

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Rainy weather hides the truth

 
    I don't know many of my neighbors by name but all my neighbors recognize me because of my yard.  I do so enjoy getting outside and working in the dirt.  One neighbor uses a professional lawn care service so he has the greenest grass but I have the prettiest and best kept lawn.  That is, until my operation.  I cut my grass as close to the time of surgery as I could   but I left the grass a little on the long side due to lack of rain.
  The last few weeks we have seen a lot of rain and the grass has grown substantially the last week yet my lawn  has not been mowed.  I'm sure the neighbors have noticed but with the continual rainy days, I have an excuse for not mowing.  It also keeps the neighbors from knowing there is something wrong at my house.