Isaiah 43:18-19
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
“Do not remember the
past events; pay no attention to things of old.
Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it?”
Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it?”
It is the last day of 2013 as I write this. It has been a
good year. It has been a bad year.
I retired on the first of July. This has freed up our time
so that we could spend about 10 weeks visiting friends and loved ones, seeing
the origins of our church, and reveling in the fall colors of New England. It
gave me time to start this blog, something previously unknown and mysterious to
me. I have been able to attend Spanish classes and to finally start
understanding spoken Spanish. This has also given me the real challenge; to
actually reach the point where I can understand and speak it as well as I have
some other languages. Without real challenges life could become very dull and
boring.
The year has also brought some rather scary events. Well
before dawn one morning I got out of bed, and my head started spinning. I
couldn’t walk straight and had to hold on to things or fall. My doctor looked
very serious and sent me off to the emergency room. He hinted at things like a
stroke or brain tumor or worse. The hospital ran a few tests and admitted me.
Finally a sensible neurologist sent me home and told me he was sure it was
simply BPPV. What is BPPV? It sounds less scary than benign paroxysmal
positional vertigo. The word “benign” seemed comforting. But the symptoms were
real. Like many scary things in life, the symptoms gradually faded away until
now I do not experience any of them. I can truly “pay no attention to things of
old” as far as BPPV is concerned.
Other challenges are a little more elusive. Having lived for
64 years a slave to the clock that was determined by forces beyond my control,
it is harder to marshal free time into productive time. Age does bring health
problems that don’t go away; for example I weigh nine pounds more than I did
last year at this time. My eyesight is a lot worse than it was 64 years ago
when I started attending school.
And, of course, there is the innate urge in all humans to
sin. We have by our very nature a rebellious attitude towards authority in
general and God in particular. I certainly have inherited an annoyingly
abundant amount of this quality. How grateful I am that God has provided a way
for forgiveness and growth away from such urges.
Thank You, Jesus, for
Your promise that “It
is I who sweep away your transgressions for My own sake and
remember your sins no more.” Isaiah 43:25
Yes, Wil, age does bring with the challenges that weren't there even 5 yrs ago :( . For your eyes may I suggest Eagle Eyes by Uniscience Group. I've been taking this for a little over a month and have noticed a big improvement. Try going off Gluten to loose the 9lbs and more!!! I lost 20 and it has stayed off!!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to look at the Eagle Eyes! It may be just what I need.
ReplyDeleteI'm not convinced that the gluten-free diet is much more than a fad. But I certainly can't argue with your 20lbs.
In your old photographs you always appeared with glasses on. Does it mean that your eye sight is now better.
ReplyDeleteYou blogged on 'past events'.
I find it very difficult to forget past events for then there would be no history to study.
Past events are worth remembering for they are part to us. Without it the Lords prayer would be a mist fit 'forgive us our debts as we forgive others....
We create enemies sometimes 'life time enemies' due to uncorrected past events.
One of your students has never forgiven you for the skirmish you had in 1971. He told me this in 2003. when we were sure that you would be coming to the Tanzania Union golden jubilee.
Since we had agreed to hoist a dinner party on your behalf in Dar, and since I was one of the organizing members I visited every other student of yours for a contribution.
Tuvako Manongi turned me down. He is now in New York as the Tanzanian Permanent Representative to the United Nations. I wanted to know why because it sounded strange as every body else was excited by your coming.
He told me the story of how you punished him unfairly unfairly at Ikizu. After he had completed doing the punishment you advised a prayer. He refused. That became another saga because, as he put it, had it not been for his uncle Elinihaki Tuvako, he was to be sacked from Ikizu. He has never forgiven you.
As we retire due to age, we become happier as we remember both the rights and wrongs of the past. They are part to us.
He never asked me to tell you this but I have been pondering it since.
Mathew 5:9
Thank you for sharing this with me. My eye sight is in one sense better, but is actually considerably worse. I suffered a macular hole in one eye on my return from Tanzania in 2003. This led to two surgeries on that eye, the first to seal up the hole and the second to replace the lens in the eye from the cataract that resulted from the first surgery. The lens they put in that eye corrected its vision. I wear a contact in the other eye. So I feel like a see better, but that is an illusion.
ReplyDeleteI'm very sorry about Tuvako Monongi. I don't remember why I punished him, or even that I punished him. If I could, I would apologize to him. If you see him, and think about it please convey my apologies to him. I realize that I am very human and have made many mistakes. I'm sorry that he was the brunt one of them. I feel sorry for him that he has continued to bear a grudge. It is easy to do but affects his health adversely.