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November 27 living on whatever list im on... Well, ya'all here i am. Back here on the computer, getting ready to blast out another update and an encouraging message for me and for you. If you are reading this, I guess it means that all of us has survived Thanksgiving. The Dallas Cowboys won again, so it was good for me...Enough of this small talk, lets get into this thing and see where it goes...
The first thing I want to talk about is what thanksgiving really means. What are we thankful for? It is pretty obvious for me, you might think, but not so fast. Here is what I am thankful for. I have a conversation with my brother in Florida nearly every single day. I have not seen him in many years, but we still talk a lot. I have a huge family at Old Dominion Freight Lines (my employer) that stretches across the country. Many of these family members pray for me frequently. I have a badly damaged heart that absolutely refuses to give up. I am in contact with my mother and sister in WV quite often. I have a marriage that is being mended by God's grace and patience. I have Doctors who know my name and want to help me. But most of all I know what God looks like. If you look up Genesis 1:27, this is what you will find... " So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." One of the biggest hangups for a non beleiver is how can you follow something you cannot see? LOOK IN THE MIRROR HE IS RIGHT THERE LOOKING BACK AT YOU. It makes faith not seem like such a stretch doesn't it. I know it is not that simple, but he loved me enough to give me this little insight, and i had to share it with you... While I am on this subject, think about this... Somebody has to die for me to live on. He or she has to be taken from his or her father and lose his/her life that I may have life. Have you guessed where I am going with this? God the father had to give his son over to die for us to be able to live forever. All we have to do is accept that gift in the belief that Jesus did die for our sins to be washed away. Now maybe you will understand why I talk about God so much. Salvation is a very real thing to me...
I guess you all know I went back to mayo recently. That was so much fun. My weight is still not coming down so I have been retuned to a holding status on the "2" list. It is just how it goes. If I am able to drop a few lbs by time I return on Dec. 26th, I will be re-activated onto the "1B" status. There are many reasons why I am not losing weight, and many ways to combat the fat...I am trying my hardest to lose it through diet, but my condition does not allow me to get as much exersize as I need to have true weight loss. They are bringing me back up there to evaluate my options and discuss the plan for the future. It could be anything from gastric banding all the way up to getting an LVAD pump installed. One thing is for sure though. My teeth will finally get pulled on December 27th. The oral surgeon @ mayo is willing and able to do the extraction. I will miss my mother in law's cooking... although i am pretty sure chicken noodle soup should not be that crunchy. (just kidding pat, I do love your cooking) I am looking forward to the continual fight for my life and just remember this. I am always on the winning side in this fight. I am gonna give your eyes a rest for now and i hope to have another installment soon. I love all of you. Mark  November 26 to all readers... Hey all you guys, there is going to be more on the way...please stay tuned. when it is time...i will let it rip. (stop plugging your nose, that is not what i meant) November 17 get on with it Bear with me, I had an origional thought...The coolest part about dying is how we live on the way. Is that morbid? I will get into that. I think this is gonna be a good visit.
Hello kids, how are you all??? I have not blogged for awhile, and only a couple of you complained. It is good to be loved... Just kidding. It is 0414hours in Iowa and I have been up since 0321hrs. My head is bursting with things to tell you so lets get this party started.
The random thought I opened with might seem a little morbid at the outset. But let me explain why I shared that with you. I love the process I am going through. I have stated many times in the past that I am not in constant pain so I am one of the lucky ones. I embrace life everyday with a hug. I am a pretty good hugger, so I tend to squeeze every drop of living out of every day. In a technical sense I am dying. That is the process I must go through to eventually get a new heart. Life is so precious. Tim McGraw had a song that talked about living like you are dying. I am so in love with living right now. I embrace every emotional and physical hurt that comes my way as well as all of the joys. I have never felt this alive since I can remember. I am totally at peace with everything around me, because every single thought or action or feeling makes me tingle with life. I can only hope that when I receive a new heart that I continue to love living like I do right now. Please if any one of you sees me taking good healthy living for granted, kick me.
And now for the news.........................
I just finished the journey of a lifetime. During that journey I took a trip to my home in West Virginia. Please re-read that last line. I will wait...Against any sound reason or advice I loaded up my gas guzzling truck and hit the road home...alone. That trip really changed me. (now would be a good time to say "great here he goes again" here is the thing...It is called myspace for a reason. Deal with it.) I found a level of Godliness that I have only heard talked about before. I have never experienced it. I was given the oppurtunity to tell my story to a captive audience. The challenge was to fit it into 5-10 minutes. I struggled all night with what part of my story would have the most impact. How was I ever gonna fit all of that stuff into that short precious amount of time? At that time it was me me me.
After we proudly recognized those fine men and women who served in the military and thanked them for the sacrifices of their fallen comrades, it was my turn. How do you follow that??? Right then it came to me. I tell people all of the time "let go and let God." I say it so why not try it? So I did. I don't know what I said up there, I never do, I let God take me over and do the talking. He must have said something interesting, because when I became aware again every set of eyes in that congregation was upon me with an indescribable attentiveness. Even the children. That is the first time that happened to me but I pray that it not be the last. The funny part is that I think I stayed pretty close to my time limits, because we got out of there right on time. Another first...don't say it.
I want to interject here that I am in the best mood I have been in a long time, and I am always in a good mood. HE is so good to me. Right now I am happy and very content.
Later that day I was invited to sit with the teen group and tell the whole story. GULP!!!!!! they are teenagers, of course I was terrified. I had time to tell the whole story, but did I mention they were all teens? Well it worked that morning so again I let go and let God. Again he had me in his arms. Those beautiful young people were full of respect, attention, and hopefully awed at what God can and will do in a life. We had a Q & A period afterwards and I had a blast chatting with them. We get so wrapped up with worrying about the future and the kids that we are leaving this world to when we move on. I think they will do fine. Lets give them a break. At that age they have enough worries trying to figure out how best to not look like a goober let alone how they can and will be able to impact the Christian world. I gained a level of respect for those kids who paid attention and asked questions, they made me feel old with their tight skin and bouncy attitudes. I loved them. I hope some of them read and/or hear this, because we as parents of these eating machines tend to be more frustrated with them. Teens you are not off the hook here, because most of that frustration is justified.
I think I should stop here, because there is a whole other dynamic to my journey and I want to share it too. Maybe you will anticipate the next installment. I love each and every one of you, and I hope you found this somewhat interesting. TTFN, Mark
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