Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Keep Going

In Wednesday's Mark Mail post, the "Wonder for Your Week" is: If ceased means stopped, does that mean a deceased person keeps going?

The ans
wer is yes, most certainly.

One thing people just have a hard time wrapping their heads around is the fact that we are eternal. Our bodies may be temporary, but the stuff you can't see inside - the soul, the spirit, the essence of US - lasts forever.

I wonder (and, I confess, occasionally worry) about retirement. Do we slow down? Do we stop doing things? Does the central thread of our lives begin to unravel? I applaud all of you who are busier in retirement than you were during your occupational years. For two reasons: because you're now busy at what you want to be doing - which is always more fulfilling - and because you understand the eternal equation.

Death is only a speed bump. And I want the speedometer of my life to be red-pegged when I hit it.

I want to keep going ... right on into eternity.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

An eCommunity of Prayer

Many times those of you on the Mark Mail list will write to me. I always enjoy that. Sometimes we even get to strike up a wee bit of an "efriendship" though we've never met face-to-face. Some of you were already friends before I began sending this stuff out about eight years ago. It's good to hear from you, whether in my Inbox or the Guest Book of my website or on the Comment boards here at the blog.

Sometimes you folks will share a prayer request with me. Like the ones I got this weekend, from list member Pam W. about her husband, who just had surgery for colo-rectal cancer; or the one from list member Carolyn W., who is fighting her own good fight against cervical and ovarian cancer. Then there was the time list member Lee J. sent me an email about some family members who were in a tragic automobile accident and killed and would the list pray for the remaining family members?

Sometimes the prayers come closer to home, as when my own parents were in a collision this past summer, or when you prayed for my wife's appendectomy in 2004.

I guess the point is, prayer works. Revelation 5:8 talks about the prayers of God's people rising as incense to the Lord and filling up golden bowls in heaven. I like that concept ... that our prayers are heard and received and kept and, I believe, answered. Our job is to fill up those prayer bowls.

So why can't my list and this blog be more than just "yet another spot on the Web to toss my thoughts into the abyss" and actually be useful for one another? Let's turn this little corner of the Internet into an "eCommunity of Prayer" - at least periodically - and let's pray for one another.

I invite you to use the "Comments" link at the bottom and offer up something - let's keep it to just one thing per person, if you can - that you'd like us to pray about. And as you read the comments, read them in an attitude of prayer and intercession. And know that at the very least, *I* read each and every comment and I'll certainly be praying for you as I read them.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Gastroscopyville

So I had a gastroscopy today. You get the idea from the photo at the left, right?

They started an IV drip, hooked me up to some oxygen, strapped a plastic cylinder into my mouth, rolled me onto my left side and started a sedative. Next thing I know I'm feeling a little dizzy and the very next thing I remember is waking up with a sore throat.

A really, really, really sore throat.

And a hiatal hernia.

For which there really isn't any surgery, from what I can discover on the web. Just need to take it easy and make a few lifestyle changes. Like the way I stand, the way I eat, and everything else about the way I live.

Hmmm, this may take some time.

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Life's Little Rules

In my other body of work - Mark Mail - I've gone over "Life's Little Joys" and "Life's Little Nuisances" which will eventually make a decent coffee table book.

Now it's time to tackle "Life's Little Rules." Here's my Top Ten:


10. Spring ahead, Fall back, Winter where it's sunny.
9. Never pass up an opportunity for a good hug.
8. Never leave a restaurant empty-handed.
7. Sleep until you wake up naturally; trust that your body knows.
6. The only thing more important than a good education is a good heart.
5. Oil changes every three months or 3,000 miles really do work.
4. Pay your bills.
3. Understand that time is the true currency of life.
2. Do what you can and leave the rest up to God.
1. There are never any endings; only beginnings in disguise.


So what's your version?