3.22.13-The day my life changed in a gigantic way.
Our life can change so suddenly. I got up on March 22, 2013 set to go to
church and try to encourage folks there as they always had done for me for the
30 years I served there as their minister.
Things were fairly normal until about 1.30pm.
About 8am we had a meeting to make
some plans and pray together.
About 9am we ended the meeting and
some of our group began to plan for their Bible class assignments and some
moved to work on some praise songs for the morning.
9.30am Anthony Bush started teaching
our Bible class for the older adults.
10.30am We had a great worship of
Jesus.
11.30am We had a pot luck
luncheon. Might have been a special meal
to support our ladies ministry for their retreat. I’m not exactly sure. What I do remember was that a sister had some
flowers she wanted to give us.
1.10 pmI took a couple of sets of flowers
to deliver to some special neighbors. It
was snowing which is fairly common in Denver in March. I drove up to the neighbors near our home and
gave some flowers to the Sullivan family who had lost a son in the Aurora
Theater shooting and then drove in the drive way making sure to drive steady
and carefully into the garage in our smaller car which fit into the left side
of our garage.
I took out one set of flowers
across the street to our neighbors who had not been able to go to church because
of the light snow falling. Then I walked toward their home across the street
where my neighbor, Jerry, was shoveling snow.
I got to the middle of the driveway walking down in the path my car tires
had gone which had been pressed into ice.
I didn’t have on snow boots but my new balance sneakers. Then something happened which began and major
change in my life at age 66. I slipped
down and landed in such a way I didn’t think I was hurt. I tried to get up and I couldn’t get my left
lower leg to cooperate.
My wife was
nearby and Jerry, my neighbor, came over to try to help me up, but it was not to
be. I crawled up into my garage out of
the snow. I told my wife something is
wrong with my left leg. I have no
control of it. I told her to call 911.
She did and soon the sirens could be heard. They put me on a gurney and took me to an ER.
It was strange that I had no pain at
all.
As we sat in the ER examination room when we waited on the doctor to come Sheila looked at me and said, “Is
this the precipitating event?” We had
planned since I turned 66 to move into a situation where we could be watched
over closely by our son, Jeff, who had offered to help us in our retirement
years. I said, “Yes, I think so.”
The nurse came and the ER doc and
they surmised that my “femor muscle” had popped loose from my knee cap. I had a stiff brace placed on my leg. In a few days some surgery and in a few
challenging months we had made the move
to North Richland Hills. My life timing
and “work” changed in an instant.
We never know what a day
contains. Our life can change in a
instant. I moved from being an older
minister helping a beloved congregation and helping to train younger ministers
to a “slow go” volunteer minister in North Richland Hills in an instant.
What have I learned in five years?
Life as you know it is temporary.
Live each day fully.
Go with the flow and try to learn
from what is going on.
Remember that God is in control.
Cry out to God for help and receive
and appreciate the help He sends.
He sent Jeff, our son to come and
help with the transition. Our daughter, Amy, was busy in Atlanta raising our grandsons and working hard, but supporting my phone.
He sent Reniece Jones a neighbor and
friend to help on a day that Sheila and I were both down.
He sent Ben Cross, a friend, to
carry me to the doctor when Sheila was down.
He sent the leaders from our church
to say to us after thirty years of being the minister there, “What do you want
to do and how can we help you?” We said
we thought it was time for our big change.
They reluctantly agreed with our opinion and that of our kids, Jeff and
Amy.
We made plans and had a scheduled down shifting
in our work and a wonderful brother from church bought our house to make that a
lot simpler. We found marvelous realtor, Debra Biggers, to hlep us find the right house.
Sheila worked hard to wrap
up all the boxes and we had a garage sale and gave away some things.
On May, 19, 2013 we bought our home in
NRH.
On July 16, 2013 we moved in.
We have enjoyed our five years of our
life here.
We have enjoyed more time together
as a couple.
We go to our GP, Doc. Every six
months he does blood work and says that generally we are well. Sometimes he has
the hope to ask me to try to drop some weight.
We see specialists as needed.
We have generally gone to the health
club together each week for our rehab and made many new friends there.
We had had more freedom to visit and
support our kids and grandkids.
Time with siblings.
Time with cousins and the church where
I grew up at Oak Ridge.
Time with high school friends from
Fannindel High School at reunions.
Time with friends from all over Texas whom we have known from college days until now.
Time with men’s groups over coffee.
Time with our church, The Hills
Church, North Richland Hills.
Time visiting with our friends in
Colorado.
Both of us have volunteer ministry projects
following Jesus’ in our own way. As most
of you know my thing Scripture study, prayer and meditation and writing. Much is writing my family history and devotional
pieces on my blog and social media. It mostly
a written record for me and my family and friends. Most items there just my view of things.
I am a
substitute teacher at my church.
I have volunteered to help support and
encourage in men’s ministry in my town with friends from several different
churches in a variety of settings. We
are also in a couples community group in Fort Worth and have come to love the
people in this group.
On this day I am reminded to be
thankful for all the people who have blessed this phase of our lives.
3.22.13 and day of life-change for
us.
I am reminded to live each day fully
and thank God for all the blessings
I think of a couple of passages from
the Bible.
Matthew 6.
34 “So do not worry about
tomorrow; for tomorrow will [v]care for itself. [w]Each day has enough trouble of its own.
2 Corinthians
16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but
though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.
17 For momentary, light
affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all
comparison, 18 while
we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen;
for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen
are eternal.The Temporal and Eternal
5 For we
know that if [f]the earthly tent which is our house is torn
down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the
heavens. 2 For
indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling
from heaven, 3 inasmuch
as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. 4 For indeed while we are in
this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but
to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life.
5 Now He who prepared
us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a [g]pledge.
6 Therefore, being
always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we
are absent from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by [h]sight— 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather
to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as
our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for [i]his deeds in the body, according to what he
has done, whether good or bad.
Thanks for reading.
Larry Wishard
3.22.18
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