This is just taken from what i learned from a message i heard the other night. TAken from Philippians 3:13-16:
"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. Only let us live up to what we have already attained."
Okay, so Philippians was one of the letters that Paul wrote. He was encouraging the people of Philipi(sp?) to come together; form unity amongst themselves. now, what is meant by these four verses? As Christians we are called to keep up the pace; not stop till our goal is reached. But what is or should be our goal? to be more like Christ. Paul is encouraging the people to leave their accomplishments, our spiritual accomplishments, behind. To move forward, to keep "pressing toward the goal". In verse 15 he says "all of us who are mature". Paul is referring to those who are consistant with their walk with Christ or those who are continually striving.
When i was hearing all of this i started thinking. i need to get to that point. the point where i am consistantly striving to be more like Christ. what can i do...where do i start...
All of this is not only important to me on a personal level but also as im interacting with my church or other Christians. The unity that a church needs to have comes from the work of the Spirit in our hearts and lives. In verse 16 Paul encourages to keep moving on together. "live up to what we have already attained", walk together on the road that we have already made progress on, keep going, stay steady in formation.
God wil reveal his truth to his own. The source of his truth is through Christ. so to understand the truth is to come to know Christ more. how...how can we come to know Christ more...Christ is revealed through the Spirit. the Spirit guides us into the truth knowing and know Christ better. Its clear how important a realtionship with God is. I need to be in the word, and communicating with God through the way he worked it out for us; the Spirit. i need to be humbled, to be broken by God.
"break me, take me, and make me new...Broken, surrendered, before You"
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 04, 2008
: )
Praise God for a good day! some improvement today but there are still more tests that my grandpa needs to have done, thanks for everyones prayers! There is even some talk of my grandpa being able to go home if everything keeps improving! : )
Sunday, February 03, 2008
about my grandpa...
Thursday morning my grandpa was taken to the ER, where he was diagnosed with CHF(congestive heart failure), anemia, and was told that he had a heart attack. This is just the beinging of more diagnosos'. Heres a relay of a informational email that my aunt marsha(my moms sister, which is why she refers to him as 'dad') sent to friends and family, and also a better way for me to explain what is going on, rather than me repeating by word of mouth and not getting the facts straight:
"This is what the Dr. said happened to dad after they finished with his heart stint (about 10 minutes into the heart catheterization surgery). The Dr. was ready to move on to the kidney, so he could put the stint in the kidney artery when this happened, and he said he would have loved to fix the kidney at the same time, but it was obviously more important to save his life, so he had to stop what they were doing. Dad had pulmonary edema which lead to respiratory distress/failure. His heart is pumping at 2/3s the strength it should, aprox. 40%. (normal 60-65%)
The heart stint took care of the vein that was about 80% closed. It is what caused the heart attack that showed up on the blood tests. The heart is healthy for dad’s age and has good veins otherwise, but the stress on his body of the anemia, fluid, and other problems were too much for that vein blockage.
The Dr’s surgery representative told Mom, Janet, Robin and I, that dad has pneumonia, and had they know this they would not have done the surgery. However; the Lung specialist and his cardiologist didn’t mention this fact, or even mention pneumonia.
She said his potassium levels dropped a huge amount, and it might have been a false spike due to something in his blood, or a drastic drop. A large loss of potassium can cause heart failure, and dad said his kidney area hurt when this all started and he had muscle aches…..so who knows if that was the start if the symptoms of the heart failure, and physical reactions from the anemia. Dad takes about an hour to go to the bathroom. He also has a very swollen prostate…another thing that must be looked at the Dr. said. He said there is a lot going on in him, and all interacts with other problems and recovery. He said several times to mom and I that dad has many things going on, and is a very sick man.
The Lung specialist said that there is scarring on his lung. The cardiologist also said what dad breathed in while working (for years he sanded floors with his father--and they didnt wear masks back then) had damaged his lungs…..I got the feeling, more so that, than smoking.
The Cardiologist said he needs to get the stint in the artery of the kidney or he will eventually have renal failure. He thinks the correction of the blocked flow of blood to the kidney will help drop his high blood pressure and excess fluid levels, but the high blood pressure and fluid levels can also keep them from doing anything to his kidney. They also have to wait until the dye has left his system from the heart cath. A person can only handle so much dye, and for so long, or it will damage the kidneys. More dye will be used to repair the kidney artery, so it would have been ideal if they could have taken care of the kidney during the heart cath.
He said the anemia is very serious, and would be a huge problem for even a young man, but dad is older and has multiple things going on. The anemia could be from the polyps as we all suggested, or from something else.
The Card. Dr. said other things are showing up in his blood tests that aren’t good, such as raised levels of protein in his liver and other raised levels from his liver, and that there may be something else seen in blood tests, that is causing the anemia and they are looking into that. (I still can’t remember that name, but it makes no difference since they are speculating right now, and we need to know when they have facts)
He is on this critical care ward until he goes home. He coughed up blood tinged fluid during the heart cath, and this episode of pulmonary edema is why he was brought there…..video monitored care, greater nurse ratio to patients."
Alright, so hopefully that explains the most of it. Friday night wasnt good, he almost died. Saturday afternoon they said he was looking beter than the night before. My granpa isnt saved. Actually no one on my moms side fo the family is saved, except one of her sisters: my aunt janet. Please pray for my family, pray for my mom as it has been a really rough few days, because they are all in Ohio, and she cant be by her dad's side, or with her family right now. PRAY for my aunt janet. Pray that as doors are opened to talk about God that she would have the right words to say. PRAY for my grandpa's salvation.
Thanks for taking your time to read this. Youll never know how much your prayers are appreciated.
"This is what the Dr. said happened to dad after they finished with his heart stint (about 10 minutes into the heart catheterization surgery). The Dr. was ready to move on to the kidney, so he could put the stint in the kidney artery when this happened, and he said he would have loved to fix the kidney at the same time, but it was obviously more important to save his life, so he had to stop what they were doing. Dad had pulmonary edema which lead to respiratory distress/failure. His heart is pumping at 2/3s the strength it should, aprox. 40%. (normal 60-65%)
The heart stint took care of the vein that was about 80% closed. It is what caused the heart attack that showed up on the blood tests. The heart is healthy for dad’s age and has good veins otherwise, but the stress on his body of the anemia, fluid, and other problems were too much for that vein blockage.
The Dr’s surgery representative told Mom, Janet, Robin and I, that dad has pneumonia, and had they know this they would not have done the surgery. However; the Lung specialist and his cardiologist didn’t mention this fact, or even mention pneumonia.
She said his potassium levels dropped a huge amount, and it might have been a false spike due to something in his blood, or a drastic drop. A large loss of potassium can cause heart failure, and dad said his kidney area hurt when this all started and he had muscle aches…..so who knows if that was the start if the symptoms of the heart failure, and physical reactions from the anemia. Dad takes about an hour to go to the bathroom. He also has a very swollen prostate…another thing that must be looked at the Dr. said. He said there is a lot going on in him, and all interacts with other problems and recovery. He said several times to mom and I that dad has many things going on, and is a very sick man.
The Lung specialist said that there is scarring on his lung. The cardiologist also said what dad breathed in while working (for years he sanded floors with his father--and they didnt wear masks back then) had damaged his lungs…..I got the feeling, more so that, than smoking.
The Cardiologist said he needs to get the stint in the artery of the kidney or he will eventually have renal failure. He thinks the correction of the blocked flow of blood to the kidney will help drop his high blood pressure and excess fluid levels, but the high blood pressure and fluid levels can also keep them from doing anything to his kidney. They also have to wait until the dye has left his system from the heart cath. A person can only handle so much dye, and for so long, or it will damage the kidneys. More dye will be used to repair the kidney artery, so it would have been ideal if they could have taken care of the kidney during the heart cath.
He said the anemia is very serious, and would be a huge problem for even a young man, but dad is older and has multiple things going on. The anemia could be from the polyps as we all suggested, or from something else.
The Card. Dr. said other things are showing up in his blood tests that aren’t good, such as raised levels of protein in his liver and other raised levels from his liver, and that there may be something else seen in blood tests, that is causing the anemia and they are looking into that. (I still can’t remember that name, but it makes no difference since they are speculating right now, and we need to know when they have facts)
He is on this critical care ward until he goes home. He coughed up blood tinged fluid during the heart cath, and this episode of pulmonary edema is why he was brought there…..video monitored care, greater nurse ratio to patients."
Alright, so hopefully that explains the most of it. Friday night wasnt good, he almost died. Saturday afternoon they said he was looking beter than the night before. My granpa isnt saved. Actually no one on my moms side fo the family is saved, except one of her sisters: my aunt janet. Please pray for my family, pray for my mom as it has been a really rough few days, because they are all in Ohio, and she cant be by her dad's side, or with her family right now. PRAY for my aunt janet. Pray that as doors are opened to talk about God that she would have the right words to say. PRAY for my grandpa's salvation.
Thanks for taking your time to read this. Youll never know how much your prayers are appreciated.
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