He Is Risen

       This is very personal and I do not apologize for it.

     Fourteen years ago, on Christmas Eve, I was rushed by ambulance to Stanford Medical Center with complete blockages in both of my subclavian arteries. My plans for leading worship had to be scraped, but our Associate Pastor did well as we all knew she would. 

     On Christmas morning my family came by to celebrate the holiday as I lay in bed. I was not sure if I would see another Christmas. That day was spent in tests by people who would have rather been home with family and I understood completely. At one point my blood pressure peaked and they called the Rapid Response Team for me. The following day I went into surgery to have a Dacron tube grafted in across my chest and down my arm. Within an hour it failed and I was back in OR getting it fixed. It was an attempt to save my left hand from gangrene. (It worked for about a year before occluding and by that time I had new growth of arteries around the clot.) 

     My body and mind had changed in an instant. No longer strong and invincible, I was harmed, depressed, and without much of a future. I had to quit my job, which you must understand was a loss of identity too. I was isolated from my friends. I am not sure how much was physical and how much was mental.  

      Under the care of several doctors I became over medicated and went into kidney failure. I should have listened to my primary physician. I ended up three days before another Christmas in the ICU of the medical school in Portland, Oregon. A team of young doctors - like the ones I work to support now - took away my medications and put me on water and sodium bicarb. After  a couple of months I was lucid and back to the gym. 

     Since then, I have returned to my work and career, my volunteering, my art, and traveling. The travel you see here is post-resurrection. Indeed, I know a little about receiving new life. 

     As today is Christmas Eve, I reflect on the bounty that is mine. I no longer need anything nor want anything - the definition of a very rich man. My riches mean a responsibility to give to others. I was not given new life to waste it on myself. 

     I wish you all a Merry Christmas and, if you need it, a Happy Easter with new life, wholeness and joy. God bless us, every one.