Back to the Journey

Greetings,

It has been a while since I last posted.  I had a very busy week last week providing pastoral care for a member of my congregation.  She lost her husband due to a heart attack and the funeral was last week.  Not to mention the cold, flu, whatever I have had this week.  I feel as if I am on the mend.  In any case I am back on my journey.

It's funny how things like illnesses pop up right in the middle of the busiest times.  I know I felt that I did not have the time to be sick this week.  I have a number of different projects on my plate and I really didn't want to be bothered with things like not spreading your germs to other people. 

Many people tell me that is God's way of telling me to slow down.  My remark back is that if God wanted to me slow down He wouldn't have given me all of these things to do!  Although, I know that is faulty reasoning.  I do believe that God wants us to rest from time to time.  After my second surgery I had to visit the Mayo clininc in Arizona.  I dreaded driving all that way just to have a neurologist tell me I had a cyst in my brain.  I sure was wrong!

I ended up taking a sabbatical from work for three months and Christine and I drove to Phoenix AZ to check in at the Mayo clininc.  Even though it was a very rough and tiring procedure I had to go through I look back at that time with great fondness.  Why?  Because I got to be with Christine, just Christine.  The business of the work day and the hectic pace of a pastor and teacher's schedules were not there.  For a week it was just her and I.

I think God God wants that from us as well.  Our busy schedules and hectic lives seem to always overshadow our time with God.  Many times we do not have the time to stop and pray or study.  It seems that sometimes our relationship with God is like my cold, "I really don't have time for this right now!". 

I have learned on my journey home that it's ok to stop and smell the flowers.  To be honest there are times in my life when I am moving so quickly that I don't even notice that there are flowers to stop and smell.  I hope I get better at that.  Until then I have Christine to remind me.

I pray that you will find time in this busy week to stop and smell the flowers and give thanks to God for what you have!  Until next time I hope your journey home is a good one!


Blessings,

Derek

Sharing the Load

Greetings,

Recovering from my surgeries has not been easy.  As I have shared with you before I feel like I am still recovering.  However, I have found on my journey home that God gives us the things we need to recover.  How many times have you heard the scripture that tells us that God never gives us more than we can handle?  There were times that I was sure that God was mistaken.  Or at least He thought to highly of me!  It has occurred to me, however, that perhaps didn't allow me to go through something that He knew I couldn't handle but, rather, He gave me someone that He knew could help me handle it.

I know very few things for certain in mylie.  I know that the sun will always come up tommorrow- my father taught me that.  I know that there is a God and that I am not Him!  And I know that God gave me a partner in life to share my burdens.  I know for certain that I would have never been able to survive my surgeries if it had not been for my Christine.  My wife is my rock, she is my compass, and she is my partner through this crazy ride called life.

Ever since my health problems began Christine has kept a diary.  This diary has been one part medical history, one part Derek history, and one part sounding board for Christine's feelings.  It pains me to read some of her entries.  It pains me because I know that I am the one who has caused the fear and despair that I, sometimes, read.  She assures me that it was not me but, rather, the situation.  I appreciate her for that.

However, the one thing that I always read in that diary is Christine's belief that God would get us through.  That is why God gave her to me.  She believed when I couldn't.  She prayed when I couldn't.  She protected me when I couldn't.  She was  a father when I couldn't be.  I truly believe in guardian angels and I know that I have two.  One watches over me in the heavenly realm and the other one is my wife!

I truly believe that God brings people into our lives to help bear the weight of life itself.  Who is it for you?  Or, perhaps, are you that somebody for someone else?  Life is hard enough for us to think that we are all alone in our sufferings.  God promises to be with us.  He says, "cast your worries upon me for burden is easy and my yoke is light". 

I don't know where I would be on my journey home if it were not for Christine.  However, I know this, she has been with me each step of the way.  Sometimes leading, sometimes following, but ever present.  Thank you God for giving me to her and her to me!

Blessings,

Derek