Two Surgeries Scheduled

----- Original Message -----
From: Fink Holloway
Subject: Two Surgeries scheduled for today, December 30th

Our son David is having surgery on his shoulder today and we would appreciate your prayer for a speedy recovery for him, and it looks like I will have the reconstruction surgery today too, December 30 at 1:00.

I have been to the doctor or a lab five times since the surgery was delayed on December 10. If my day goes as planned, I'll have my surgery at 1:00 and be home to sleep in my own bed--or maybe on the recliner tonight.

One of the verses I read this morning was Jeremiah 10:23, "The way of a man is not in himself; it is not in man (even a strong man or in man at his best) to direct his (own) steps."

We buy planners and calendars this time of the year and we try to plan what each day will hold, but the truth is we really do not know what the day will bring. I'm okay with that, because I trust the One who knows it all. A few days ago I was talking to a man who is currently undergoing treatment for pancreatic cancer. He and his wife said they were trying to have faith. (I presumed that they meant trying to believe that he will be healed.)

I told them that when I was in the middle of my treatments I often sang a song based on a statement of Paul, "For me to live is Christ. To die is gain." The song says: "If I live, well, praise the Lord! If I die, well, Praise the Lord! If I live or die my only cry will be--Jesus in me. Praise the Lord!" I felt peace trusting God to work out the details of my life. I know the Bible has a lot to say about the miracle of healing--and the very fact that I am up and working full time and able to write this day is a testimony of incredible healing that has occurred in my body.

But the Bible also has a lot to say about death. Believers are supposed to die too. Most word pictures that the Bible uses to describe death point to a gradual change of the body. Flowers fade, grass withers, vapor vanishes. The Bible does not use a lightening bolt to describe death--although some people do die in an instant. We can see changes in the flower before it drops to the ground. And you can see the changes in the body of most people who approach death. The Bible tells us to expect that. So if my time to die comes in a predictable way that is not going to rock my faith at all. The focus of my faith has nothing to do with my body. I have faith in God. I believe God's Word is true. When I feel great--God's Word is true. When I draw my last breath--God's Word will be just as true then, and I look forward to the day when I see Jesus face to face. But while I'm here, I can trust him to work out all the details of my life. Delays, detours, celebrations, crisis--God is with me in everything.

I can say I certainly enjoyed the benefits of the delay--I picked up my grandchildren and walked and bounced them and carried them to my heart's delight with no lifting restrictions.

Thank you for all your prayers. I think David has a more difficult surgery than I do so remember him especially.

Love,
Fink