A day in the cave

As David learned compassion in his time in the cave at Adullam, our little tragedies and inconveniences teach us about our ability to forgive and move on in our lives. Life is bigger than our hurts, but sometimes it takes a while to figure that out.

Nearly five years ago when I had a brain stem stroke, I gained some things and lost some things. I am not as agile as I was. My balance is not as I would like. Through rehab and the wonderful folks there I slowly learned how to get around and became stronger. My (primary) right hand grip strength was 35 psi (75-80 is normal) after my stroke, and 120 psi after rehab--took some work though.

It took a while for me to get my head on straight. From June of 2005 to December of 2007 I drafted and completed my doctoral dissertation. That helped on my future mental tasks.

What I gained was a true appreciation for the blessing each day was to me. My emotions were also much more available to me which was a blessing to both me and my wife, although I still have some trouble trying to figure out what to do with them.

Yes Toto there is life after OZ

I'm beginning to think that what is important is not spoken of or understood, and what is not important is bandied about wildly, with even less understanding. Without relationships, life becomes meaningless. We all desire to be connected. We only have only one little problem -- we are not connected to ourselves. Nothing in our well structured educational path (I should know as I have 23 years of post-secondary education!) teaches to understand who we are or what we are about.

There is only one place that gives us a clue, Holy Scripture. It is an ongoing transformational conversation if you give it a chance and listen to it ".. Be still and know that I am God".