July 15, 2023 - The Swim

     I have been trying to swim every day to try to get in as good of shape as possible for me before the stem cell transplant.
     I swam this morning the longest that I have this summer.  I usually feel better after the swim.  I have toyed with getting up early on Sunday morning to swim before preaching.  I am not sure if an extra hour of sleep or the swim would be more conducive to feeling stronger.
     Over the years I have said that I never wanted a pool.  When we bought our house four years ago it came with an above-ground pool.  We bought it in April and with the remodeling that we did, the pool took a back seat.   By the time I found the time to clean the pool it was a mess.  I sucked out maybe 1000 little tadpoles.  Why I never wanted a pool was confirmed by the time I got the pool swim ready.
     In God’s providential wisdom maybe He knew that I need a pool.  Because of the surgery for the cancer in my leg I can’t run, ride a bike, etc.  But I can swim.  In some sense the pool that I never wanted may very well be my salvation—physically.  Obviously not spiritually.
     I have been charting some things as I look ahead to the transplant.  Four things in particular: Each day how many laps I swim and my weight.  Then each treatment day my blood pressure and my heart rate. 
     As I look at the chart it is obvious when the weather was warm enough for me to swim.  From that time my weight, blood pressure, and heart rate have declined.  Exercise is vitally important!
     When I started the chemotherapy the doctor said that he didn’t want me to gain weight or lose weight.  I thought a two-pound variance either way would be a good goal.  When I weighed in yesterday at the hospital I was within the variance.
     Things that can be varied help.  The chart verifies by the numbers that I may be doing the best that I can to get in shape.
     It would be nice if there were more concrete verifiers to give us insight into the shape of our spiritual lives.  How many times you go to church, how often we pray, or how often we read the Bible may help, but we can do those things and still be far from God and weak spiritually.  If done with the wrong heart, they may even be counterproductive.
     As much as I want to be in the best shape physically, the most important thing for me is to be in good shape spiritually.  I have tried to stay in the Word and “pray without ceasing” with the realization that God is never far from whatever I am doing throughout the day.
     After the swim I went down to the dock.  I took along a Bible, one that you could hold in your hand.  Like lots of folks in our day I often read the Word on a device mainly because I can make the words large enough to read.
     Though I had to squint to be able to read the words, I audibly read through the book of 1 John.  It has been quite a while since I have done something like that.  I would recommend it to you—both using a Bible you can hold and read, as well as reading out loud. 
     Then I spent as extended time in prayer.
     A dock at Beaver has been my holy ground for close to 15 years.  I can’t explain it, but I know what I sense of the Lord’s Presence.  I hope you have a holy ground where God meets you.   It doesn’t have to be someplace in nature, but I do believe it has to be someplace different than where you normally pray.  It could be outside in the backyard or a different chair than where you usually pray.
     Like Jesus, we need time away from the crowds and the pressures of life to spend time alone with the Father.  The daily times are vital but there must come some moments when we seek His face. 
     Jesus often went to the mountains and prayed all night.  I went to the lake and prayed for a while. 
     When I get up to the all night, I will let you know.   It might be the night before the chemotherapy or the transplant!