The Pentavirate!

I had been looking for this clip for a while and finally stumbled across it today. From one of the funniest comedies I've seen (So I Married An Axe Murderer), here's Mike Myers playing the ever-funny Stuart Mackenzie:

If I Was Sending a Telegram...

It might read: "Tired. STOP. VERY Tired" My wife and I have both been a little more than wore out this week after finding out our little boy weighs about 17 and a half pounds (no wonder I have back issues!) and being dragged down by the cold. Winter can have a way of wearing a person out.

Work is busy; I'm now a part of a Bill Tracking Committee with the State Creditors Bar Association and I help track legislation that could adversely affect us as attorneys. One particular piece of legislation has all attorneys up in arms--the fact that a Senator is proposing to increase the filing fees for ALL civil cases, to the point where some pro se (meaning people who represent themselves) plaintiffs as well as small filers will be priced out of access to the courts. It's kind of fun making calls to other businesses and attorneys to get them on board to oppose the bill, simply because it's a break from the regular grind of working the accounts at our office.

I'm off to court tomorrow and hopefully I'll stay awake; though as tired as I am right now, Friday looks like a good day for taking a vacation day. But with all that's going on, I still have to trust that Christ is right there, in the midst of it all, providing grace all the way.

Our Bodies as Fragile Vessels

We are, as Adam, created from the dust; our bodies are temples unto the Lord, yet are subject to fatigue, injury, sickness and ultimately death. Today was one of those days weather-wise that really brought the fatigue and sickness to the forefront, but news from my dad about the state of my grandpa's condition made it even more real.

My grandpa is a retired Methodist preacher, a great man of God (I am named after him); he was a circuit preacher (meaning he traveled to three or four churches over a month's period) in some of the coldest country there is, North Dakota, when my dad was little then settled into Indiana. He has a great passion for the Gospel, but early Alzheimer's has set in and he has been dealing with numerous health problems. Lately he has had mini-strokes which cause him to blackout and lose his balance; this, coupled with not remembering certain things have started to rob him of who he is. Within the last week, he has been hospitalized with a severe bacteria infection (he has been put in isolation where you can only approach him with a protective suit because it's so contagious) and has been diagnosed with what's called "sundown syndrome." Sundown's has this effect: about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, my grandpa becomes a different person, very nasty and very curt with anyone (even his wife) that is near him.

This is really wearing his wife out physically, and she knows she really can't take care of him at home with all that's happened. I am most sad that due to finances and distance, my wife has never had a chance to meet the man I knew growing up, and if things do not improve, Josiah will never see or know his great-grandpa. This would be tough, but God has His hand in this. I imagine the hardest thing for my grandpa is that he wants to remember things and can't; I pray that the grace of God abides in Him and with his wife during this situation. I'd appreciate the prayers of any of those out there reading this as well. Most of all, I pray that the Alzheimer's doesn't rob him of his knowledge of the Gospel and that, if all else leaves, the grace of the Gospel will guide him through to glory.

All this reminds me how fragile we are, and that while we may be called to suffer for Christ's sake, the road is most certainly hard.