Thursday, April 24, 2008
Unconditional Love
Series
Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and
my salvation – whom shall I fear?”
No Matter
What
No matter what I have faced, God has never let me
down.
Of course,
if you have had a history of heart disease periodically you are required to take
a thallium stress test. I always get very nervous before I have
these heart tests. The memory of the stress test I failed haunts
me. Although, I will say, when I had the original heart issue, while
running, I got up and ran home not knowing what happened. I believe that I
could run if only a portion of my heart was working.
Monday morning I got up and ran with Mark for about an
hour, then showered, put on more running clothes to go to the cardiologist to
have my stress test done. If you have never had a thallium stress test the
first thing they do is put you in a frigid igloo. Then they give you an IV, and
place you on a casket-like tube with your arms above my head for about 20
minutes. Being skinny, lying in a casket with my hands above your head, it
always strikes me funny when Wesley, my tech, always asks, “Are you comfortable
Reverend Hale?” After said experience you go into the room
with the treadmill and the doctor with three technicians watching. My
greatest comfort is Dr. Massey, my cardiologist, who is the most wonderful
doctor in the world and all the nurses and techs who are truly supportive and
encouraging. Then they put about twenty suction cups on you with lines to
each. Underneath each suction cup they sand you down a bit after they
shave your chest. I wisely had already shaved the 15 hairs I had on
my chest at home.
I was so nervous before I began running that I did
something I’ve done unfortunately many times and never learned not to do.
In all the sports I ever did: swimming, running, and biking- most of the pants
have a drawstring. Before any event I compulsively tie and retie the
drawstring and in my nervousness I occasionally pull the drawstring
out. Unfortunately, I repeated my old habit on Monday. Not
good! When you begin running you have an IV in one arm and these
twenty suction cups with heavy wires going over the other side; it is
nerve-racking. I started to walk and said a prayer asking God to be
with me and help me not to be fearful with a P.S., “Please keep my running
shorts in place.” With the wires in my arms and gripping the front of the
treadmill I was afraid I would be exposed. Fortunately, everything was
just as I had prayed. After other ultrasounds, I went home feeling
God had sustained me one more time.
I pray for God’s guidance every day but when I have to
face something difficult or frightening I pray in earnest. I
am grateful for my relationship with God that I can go to Him and ask for help
in all fearful experiences. My granddaddy said that he always knew
he needed God but he especially knew he needed God in the foxholes. When
we need God, He is unconditionally there. Even if you haven’t prayed
in a while, God is still there. I am grateful in whatever crisis big or
small that God will meet us where we are unconditionally.
Prayer:
Dear God, thank you for your unconditional acceptance
and I know you will never let me down. Amen.