Abide.

“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” 

(John 15:5).

ABIDE.  A week has passed since surgery on my left ankle. Praise the Lord it went well! As I reflect one week, one word comes to mind, abide. Abide was critical for a successful recovery and it is critical to live the Christian life.

WIRED.  Last week, as I counted, at least eight things I had to abide in for recovery.  First, as seen in the photo, an IV; it was the first thing that went into my body and the last thing to come out of it. It supplied me with everything from pain medication to antibiotics.  Second, an ice water boot was placed on my foot to keep the swelling down. Third, a oxygen monitor was placed on my finger to ensure there was enough oxygen in my blood. Fourth, a catheter to relieve me of nature’s liquids. Fifth and sixth, two drains that caught the blood/fluid from the wound area in my ankle and from the bone graph from my pelvis. Seventh, an oxygen line was inserted into my nose to keep my oxygen level satisfactory.  Eighth, a heart monitor, consisting of six pads was affixed to my chest, to monitor my heart rate.  All of this stuff reminded me of an astronaut preparing for a rocket trip to the moon.

Thankfully, as I made progress in my recovery during the week, each piece of equipment was removed.  Finally, on Sunday when I was ready to come home, the IV came out. There were times when I did not want to be wired to all of this stuff, especially the oxygen in the nose. A couple of times I took it out to give my nose a rest, but a nurse's aid kindly reminded me to get it back in.

APPLICATION.

Do I really make it a focus each day to abide in Christ? I needed to abide in everything I was connected to for successful recovery. I am dependent on abiding in Christ not only to live for His glory, but to bear spiritual fruit. Apart from Him I can do nothing. I am reminded of Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Apart from Him, I can do nothing.

Even for life I am dependent on God. “And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else” (Acts 17:25).

Ready.

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).

It is hard to believe today, Sept. 23, is the day--surgery on my left ankle. Everything that has taken place on my right ankle will now be done on the left. A fusion of the subtalar and calcaneus bones with reconstruction of the ankle will happen. Plus, there will be a bone graft taken from my pelvis bone used in the ankle reconstruction. And after a quick visit with my surgeon this morning I may need my big toe broken and realigned.

Here in the last chapter of 1 Corinthians Paul gives a charge with five commands. These verses of scripture challenge and encourage me in my walk with the Lord and as I prepare for surgery today.

Be on your guard. Be ready for the spiritual battle that is at hand. “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:10).

Stand firm in the faith. Standing firm in the faith is in Christ alone. 

“Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ” (2 Corinthians 1:21).

Be men of courage. May I be found as a man of courage. This too is through Christ!
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

Be strong. Praise the Lord that I can be strong even in weakness.
“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians12:9-10).

Do everything in love. May my life be marked as a life of love.

 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”
(John 13:34-35).

This x-ray provides a good picture of what the final product will be after surgery today. Thankfully, it's not as painful as it looks.  The screws you see will be removed in three months when the ankle prosthesis is put in.  You can see an x-ray of the prothesis under the post, "New Wheels."

New Wheels.

Today was my 12 week post-op check since I got my “new wheel” installed on June 17. It is not easy to explain to people what takes place with ankle replacement surgery.  Thankfully, this picture provides graphical assistance.

As you can see, there is a nice prosthestic below the tibia (bigger bone) and fibula (smaller bone) and above the talus bone.  This new joint, the Agility Total Ankle Replacement System, gives me a greater range of motion with no pain--sweet!   I will not realize the full benefit of this surgery until I begin to walk again without a boot or crutches in March 2009.  This will be after the left ankle has gone through two rounds of surgery with the first one on September 23.

Dr. Haddad liked what he saw in the films today.  I am now off crutches and walking with only the aircast boot—Praise the Lord!  I have been on crutches for six months since my first surgery on March 11.  There have been days when I have wanted to chuck the crutches and walk. Thankfully that day arrived today!

Although I will not be running, with this new ankle replacement I am reminded of friend of mine whose nickname growing up was “Wheels”.  He got the nickname for how he motored around the bases on the baseball diamond.  I doubt I will be able to motor like Wheels, but I am optimistic I will keep up with him in a fast walk.  Stay tuned for the results in 2009!

Better Than Olympic Gold.

But He knows the way I take; 

When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

Job 23:10

Last week in Chicago over 170 U.S. Olympic athletes, who recently competed in the summer games in Beijing, gathered in Chicago’s Millennium Park for the taping of the season premiere of the Oprah Show. The show will be aired on Monday, September 8. Basketball stars Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade, gymnast Shawn Johnson, five-time Olympic swimmer Dara Torres, decathlon gold medalist, Bryan Clay, and the man of the Olympics—eight-time gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps—were there.

Winfrey planned to ask the Olympians questions like what does it feel like to achieve their Olympic dreams? What does it take to be the best in the world? What’s next for these world-class athletes?

All of the Olympic athletes who participated in this summer’s games gave it their all not only to compete in the games, but to win. Many of the athletes, however, did not win gold or medal at all.

Better than Gold.
Gold and medals reminded me of what Job reminded himself about God.  “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10).  Job, a man who was “blameless, upright, feared God and shunned evil”, was not competing in the Olympics, but he did face tests in his life (Job 1:1, 8). He lost family (seven sons and three daughters), home, and livelihood (7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants), but he still did not deny faith in God.

 
As I look at how Job responded to the trials that came into his life, I am encouraged.  He knew God and trusted Him. That’s why he could say, “But He (God) knows the way I take.”  Job was confident in the end result that through the trials that he faced he would “come forth as gold.”

For the life of a Christian, trials and suffering should be expected.  “For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him” (Philippians 1:29). But trials are for our good. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2-4).

Trials cause us to see our dependence on the Lord, grow us in our faith in Him, and conform us to be more like Christ.  Peter writes that our faith in Christ is more valuable than gold.  “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (1 Peter 1:6-7)

Even though we will most likely not compete in the Olympics or win a medal, if we are a believer in Jesus Christ we have something better than a gold—faith in the Lord Jesus Christ which is a gift from God.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and 1that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

One Thing.

Balance.  Since the beginning of July, I have been in physical therapy (PT), twice a week, to regain range of motion in my right ankle. In foot terms, I am working on plantar flexion – extension of the ankle resulting in the forefoot moving away from the body and dorsal flexion – flexion of the ankle resulting in the top of the foot moving toward the body.  Toe crunches, stretching the big toe and achilles tendon are also part of every PT session.

During the last couple of weeks I have been working on balancing all of my weight on my right foot/ankle.  In three weeks, Sept. 23, the right ankle needs to “step-up” and carry the load as the left ankle goes under the surgical knife.

Balancing on the new ankle is not easy.  Initially I could only balance for 2-3 seconds. The left foot/ankle, on the other hand, has no problem supporting my body 30+ seconds.  Gradually with a lot of work I am able to balance on the right foot/ankle for 20+ seconds.

Mr. Miyagi.  All of this balancing reminded me of movie, The Karate Kid, starring Mr. Miyagi and Daniel La Russo.  Mr. Miyagi plays the role of surrogate father and karate coach to Daniel. Daniel pursues Mr. Miyagi after he is beaten-up by a bunch of older guys (i.e., thugs). Daniel wants to know karate and how to defend himself.  Miyagi imparts not only karate techniques, but life values to him.  Daniel ultimately battles these thugs in a karate tournament and it comes down to facing the best one in the championship match.

Daniel fights injured throughout a number of the matches in the tournament.  He does not have full use of one leg.  As he fights through the championship round, it comes down to a move he learned on one leg.  The stance for the move is captured in the photo above.  Daniel uses this move to win the final point that captures the karate tournament championship!  This scene is a bit anti-climatic since it is at the end of the movie.  It is best if you watch the movie from start to finish to get the entire impact of this scene.

I am not Daniel by any stretch in terms of athletic ability or balancing yet.  But his balancing reminded me of the one thing that was important to him: being able to defend himself and win the karate tournament.

One Thing.  The Word is clear in the one thing I need to pursue:  Seek the Lord Jesus Christ, abide in Him, and live for His glory daily.  This theme is found in both the Old and New Testaments.

“One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4).

“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33).

What is the One Thing you are pursuing?