Other things....
Monday, November 05, 2012
Just & fair
Thursday, October 18, 2012
See you on the other side...
Basically, the doctor does some stuff to get the heart stirred up and acting up. They run a wire through a vein starting in my thigh, up to the heart, and then use radio frequency to "zap" the bad piece of wire so it doesn't cause a circuit loop anymore. Fascinating stuff...
Those of you who know me well, know I worry a lot. I worry a lot about things I can't control. And so you can imagine how much I was worrying. Well, believe it or not, I didn't do much worrying about the procedure that morning.
I could tell you I had sudden spurt of spiritual growth and purged the "sin of worry" from my life...but I can't.
What I can tell you is that I had a ton of people praying for me, and because of that, I had a peace about the whole process which can't be explained. If you are a believer though, I think you might know what I'm talking about.
Prayer is a tool we often take advantage of instead of "relying" upon. Yeah, it was easy to pray "Lord, please take care of me and bring me through the surgery without any complications." And I did pray that. But as they had me laid out on the table and were about to give me the happy/sleepy stuff, I also prayed that if the time for me to go "home-home" was now, that was okay too.
Don't get me wrong, I was relieved and happy when I woke up, opened my eyes, and saw my wife and family there in the recovery room. Also, I don't want to over elaborate this procedure. It wasn't heart by-pass surgery or something where they give you a 50-50 chance of making it through, but I do think it's one of those points in your life where you put an asterisk* beside this paragraph of your life timeline. It makes you step back, re-assess, and hopefully put the things of God and the things of life in perspective.
My Pastor and friend shared Psalm 40 with me before I headed into surgery. Here's a piece of it for you to read:
11 Do not withhold your mercy from me, O Lord;
may your love and your truth always protect me.
12 For troubles without number surround me;
my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
They are more than the hairs of my head,
and my heart fails within me.
13 Be pleased, O Lord, to save me;
O Lord, come quickly to help me.
14 May all who seek to take my life
be put to shame and confusion;
may all who desire my ruin
be turned back in disgrace.
15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”
be appalled at their own shame.
16 But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation always say,
“The Lord be exalted!”
17 Yet I am poor and needy;
may the Lord think of me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
O my God, do not delay.
I continue to learn about the goodness of God. My life journey continues on and not only do I learn about God's goodness, I'm beginning to recognize and "see" His goodness. It's more real to me than ever before. God is good, all the time.
-- 1 Chronicles 16:34 - Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Life Matters...Committed to a cause
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Life Matters...what do you call God?
Monday, February 15, 2010
Life Matters - Life as I see it...
**For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
~ Hebrews 8:12
Thursday, September 03, 2009
Life matters...and so does tennis
Hey folks,
How’s your week going? I hope it’s going good. It’s Thursday and we’re on the downhill side to a three day weekend…woo-hoo!!
My daughter and I went over to the lake yesterday and played tennis and it brought back some fun memories. I really like tennis. The first time I played (I was probably in the 5th grade) was when my neighbor took his boy and me over to the tennis courts off of 21st street by Hi-Crest Community Center. This is how old I am…we played with wooden racquets..ugh. That doesn’t even register to the younger folks. It’s like saying you rode a horse & buggy to school or you communicated on a telephone via “party line”.
Well, after a few times playing, I talked my dad into buying me a real aluminum racquet and he & I would go play tennis at the junior high. What I really remember about playing back then was my dad would come home from working 10 hour days (he was an electrician) and there I would be waiting holding my racquet ready to go play. I can remember only a couple of times when my dad said he didn’t feel like going. I’m sure there were more times than that when he didn’t “feel” like it, but he did anyway. As a parent, I think about that often. I hope I’m as giving of “my time” as my dad was.
All of that just to share a good message I read this week from the New Rebellion devotional. It’s called “Imitate That Serve”. (Get it? Serve? Tennis?...)
Basically what the devotion talked about was that people usually imitate the people they admire. Our kids can quite accurately emulate their parents. Teens model their piers in dress, talk, and values. Young professionals climbing the corporate ladder find a leader and imitate them. But Paul said that we need to follow the example of Christ and His passion for the world.
There are many important things Jesus did, and as Believers, we should be imitating the things of Christ:
Compassion, willingness to give up personal comfort to reach the lost, prayer life, discernment, passion for the truth, faith of miracles, reliance on His Father, joy during hard times, kindness, relationships with friends.
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2
Have a great rest of the week!!
Todd Nincehelser
Ps – My youngest daughter is pretty good at tennis. She’s the only member of my family that can hit it over the net consistently and not make me feel like a ball boy at Wimbledon. : )