Month: February 2018

“I need you to listen with your eyes”

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A friend recently shared this comment his teenage daughter made to him. Ralph Waldo Emerson said “An eye… by beams of kindness.. can make the heart dance with joy.”

The reality of modern FB/Snap/Insta media is that the eyes are no longer involved. I believe this girl’s innocent statement captures the plight of our new norms of conversation, the plight of a new generation of kids trying to navigate their new social patterns without eyes.

Everyone agrees there are benefits to these new media. But let us not ignore the perils. I am making a commitment to establishing eyeball-contact with as many people as possible in my social circle of influence, to “listen with my eyes” (I may use social media for logistics!)

“The eye is the lamp of the body. You draw light into your body through your eyes, and light shines out to the world through your eyes.”  – Matthew 6:22

All Clear, Day #170

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CT Scan results are back and looking good! Doc said the radiation treatments appeared to get the job done, removing all masses and cysts found back in August. I am now moving into maintenance mode with 6-month checkups for a few years.

The Sjogren’s journey continues, though I’ve resigned myself to treating the symptoms as best I can (and continuing to pray for miraculous recovery!). I am going to the Johns Hopkins Sjogren’s Institute on 2/20. And no, Venus Williams never got back to me with me her successful strategies to minimize Sjogrens (I tweeted her!)

Thanks to all of you who offered up prayers for me, to my doctors who were great, and to my Chief Caregiving Officer Sheryl, my kids and my family for their patience and support!

Observation #1

Obviously this is fantastic news! While my news is positive, several people close to me are not getting fantastic news. Anyone that has tried to logically piece together why some get good news and other don’t, quickly realize that there is no easy logical answer.

Regardless you take the next step – with whatever you have faith in. Like Indiana Jones stepping off the cliff, we must continue to take those steps even when the ground in front of us is not clear.

As a follower of Christ, my next step is to continue to pray for those around me who are getting not-so-good news. I hope that my prayers contribute to good news for them on the health front, like many of your prayers did for me.

While I would love to measure the worldly effectiveness of my prayers, I know my prayers keep me in the right relationship with my God, focused on how I can be His ambassador – sharing His Good News – to others in this world.