Living for the Red Part?

If you follow me on Twitter or FaceBook, you know I've spent the last 5 days in the PACU waiting room of University Hospital in Augusta, GA. My father-in-law had a valve replaced and a stint placed in his aorta on Thursday. Complications from the surgery caused him to bleed all day Thursday; bleeding that could not be controlled by medication. As a result, around 11 pm Thursday he was wheeled back into the operating room so the doctors could surgically repair the bleed.

Fortunately, God's hand guided the surgeon and the bleeding was quickly controlled. Unfortunately, it delayed dad-in-law's recovery to such an extent he was not removed from the ventilator until Sunday late morning.

Sitting in a waiting room isn't much fun. Sitting in the same waiting room for 5 days straight is even less fun. I've had the opportunity to watch a lot of YouTube videos, and was really impressed with this Francis Chan video about life; "Living Eternally."

Chan really nails down what Christian's have missed in the modern age. In another Francis Chan video, he talked about how modern American Christianity has become, "add a little Jesus to your life" as opposed to the call of Jesus in Matthew 16:24-27 (The Message)

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Those who want to come with me must say no to the things they want, pick up their crosses, and follow me. ²⁵Those who want to save their lives will lose them. But those who lose their lives for me will find them. ²⁶What good will it do for people to win the whole world and lose their lives? Or what will a person give in exchange for life? ²⁷The Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory. Then he will pay back each person based on what that person has done.

Jesus made it clear: we are not to live for today, we are to live today realizing our choices will impact eternity. I believe Chan's message is dead accurate to Jesus' teaching.

Francis Chan also references Paul's words from Philippians 3:10-16 (The Message)

^10-11I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself. If there was any way to get in on the resurrection from the dead, I wanted to do it.

^12-14I'm not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don't get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I've got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I'm off and running, and I'm not turning back.

^15-16So let's keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision—you'll see it yet! Now that we're on the right track, let's stay on it.

Paul understood our life is temporary here on earth, but permanent beyond our time on earth. Paul knew what he said and did here in life affected his eternity. This from the man who called himself "least" among the followers of Christ.

I too get caught up in the "red part" as Francis Chan demonstrated in his video. Far too often my thoughts are of my next project, how I will pay my bills, where my next meal will be, or just too focused on all the inferior stuff. Far too often I'm more focused on myself than the world around me; a world God has commanded me to love and serve. I need to keep my focus strong, I need to reunite with the goals of God and then live each day striving to achieve them.

Can you imagine what our world would look like if everyone who claims the name of Christ also followed this same path? I have to admit, that is a world I'd truly enjoy living in. Wouldn't you?

Waiting is Hard to Do

So my lovely bride and I made the drive from Lexington, KY to Augusta, GA last night ... Her father is having heart surgery today, so we came down to be here for that major event. Her brother from Michigan and his wife met up with us in Lexington, so we could all carpool down.

After arriving at 1 am this morning, we were awakened by my bride's parents at 4:30 as they were getting ready to head to the hospital for pre-op. We then lay back down for another hour prior to getting ready and heading out the door shortly after 7 am ... We arrived at the hospital in time to have a prayer session with my bride's father, mother, brother, sister-in-love, my bride, and me ... Her dad was then given his first round of sedation meds and rolled down the hall at 8:20 for surgery.

We headed to the surgical waiting area and found some seats to get settled in for the next 6 hours (the scheduled time for the surgery) ... Unfortunately, a few minutes later, a nurse came in and said a Cath Lab emergency had pushed our surgery back at least 4 hours. Oh, waiting is hard to do!

It seems to me we are often in "wait" mode ... Waiting on a paycheck so we can pay some bills. Waiting on God's answer to our "urgent" prayer request. Waiting on approval of that loan, that college application, that job promotion. "Hurry up and wait" seems to be the American model.

I'm not sure what has caused this "epidemic" of waiting ... Maybe in our effort to make life easier, we've become so successful at the "instant gratification lifestyle" we are actually moving faster than God intended. Maybe the waiting is God's way to show us He remains in control, and all our best plans are futile if He isn't included.

Regardless of the why, I sit here in a hospital waiting room this morning, waiting on another patient's surgery to finish so my father-in-law can once again be wheeled back for his procedure. And after that occurs, we will continue to wait the 4 to 6 hours it will take for his surgical procedure. And if that isn't enough, we will then wait the hour or more while he is in recovery, waking up enough the staff will let us go back and see him.

So here I sit ... Waiting is hard to do !!