Another Sad Goodbye And Another Miracle - What A Week!

If you read my last post, you know that my wife's mother suffered a severe stroke and was seemingly just waiting to die.  But then she somehow (through the power of prayer I believe) regained full consciousness and got to spend another three days with her children and loved ones.  You may not know, however, that she passed away on the fourth day.  My wife lost her mother but was so happy to get those last three days with her.

My mother came to visit us on the following Sunday, and attended the funeral with us.  My mother-in-law was buried on this passed Wednesday.  My mother stayed with us and was to attend my daughter's baby shower today, April 12th.  That did not happen.  Unfortunately we received word that my grandmother has passed away on Thursday evening (the 9th).  My grandmother had been fading for the past several weeks, and we knew her death was imminent, but we were still saddened by the news.  Mom and I packed quickly and made the long drive from Midland to Gatesville, some three hundred and twenty miles.  I did not race, just drove the speed limit, while Mom and I talked about our memories of life with my grandmother.

About midnight we arrived at Gatesville and immediately received a phone call from my uncle.  He told us that "Grannie" was resting peacefully now that they had given her some stronger medication.  I was in shock.  I had been about to tell my uncle I was sorry he had lost his mother.  But she was still alive and was breathing on her own with little difficulty.  Mom and I spent a basically sleepless night then made our way to the nursing home.  There we gathered with several other relatives.  We talked among each other and watched over their mother.  She had not regained consciousness overnight but was still breathing with no mechanical assistance.

As the relatives talked, I sat silently at the foot of my grandmother's bed.  One of my aunts was sitting in a chair near my grandmother's head.  My aunt whispered to me, "Wesley, I don't believe she's breathing."  I looked at my grandmother and I saw that indeed her chest was neither rising nor falling.  I checked her carotid artery and felt nothing.  And she was not breathing.  I told everyone there that she was gone.  A nurse came into the room and confirmed that this dear lady had indeed passed away.  With no more than a missed breath, she slipped away into forever.

Tomorrow we will bury her body, but tonight I know that she has already made that final journey and is resting in the Good Shepherd's arms.  Yes, Grandmother died, but my mother and I, and the others there, were able to spend her last minutes with her.  Had we not received the call from a misinformed person, we would have been in Midland when my grandmother passed away, not at her bedside.  I was still reeling in amazement from the first miracle, the brief return of my mother-in-law, so I was nearly overwhelmed in the miracle Friday, the miracle that allowed us to spend a little time with my sweet grandmother before she passed on.

We don't need anymore death in our family for a little while, yet just today my dear sister suffered the loss of one of her loved ones.  Death will be with us always, and will visit our closest relatives from time to time, but we do not live in the fear of Death.  With the crucifixion and resurrection of the Good Shepherd over two thousand years ago, Death has lost its power and its sting.  It still saddens those left behind, but those who are taken are secure in the knowledge that they are going to the arms of the Good Shepherd.  I hope Death does not linger in my family, but we are not fearful.  Instead we are confident of our hope in Christ.

Rest in peace, my sweet Grandmother (Grannie) Curry. 

Kitchen Chores....And A Miracle!

I really should be doing household chores now instead of typing on this computer, and I will do the chores in a few minutes.  First, though, I have to stop for just a while, and appreciate a miracle, to tell what I have seen.  They say "seeing is believing," but I am having a hard time believing what I have seen in the past few days.

You see, on Monday night one of my loved ones suffered a massive, severe, and deadly stroke.  In just a matter of minutes she went from talking and enjoying the sunset to not knowing her name and not even recognizing her own daughter.  And then...she collapsed on the hospital bed, not talking, not seeing, not even breathing on her own.  She was placed on a ventilator and we were told to "call in the family."  The machine was to keep her alive until everyone assembled and said their farewells to her.  The brain damage was so severe that life functions could not even be guaranteed. 

A short...yet it seemed forever...twelve hours later, after all the goodbyes were said, after so many tears of love and sorrow were shed, this lady was taken off the ventilator.  We all sat there in the room with her, sometimes in silence, sometimes with words of comfort for one another, sometimes talking of memories of the life spent with her...and we waited.  The end was near, only hours or minutes away.  She was breathing on her own, but this would not last, the doctors told us.  As the hours slowly crawled by, many of her friends came to see her one last time, hugged her, touched her, and told her they loved her.  Pastors and preachers came.  And time wore on...

Sometime around five o'clock that evening my lovely bride had gently washed her mother's face then turned away from the bed.  As I looked toward her, I saw her eyes suddenly open.  I said, "Look!"  My bride turned to her mother.  She was looking my wife in the eyes, both of her eyes wide open and alert.  My wife said, "I love you."  My mother-in-law told her, in clear and easily understood words, "I love you, too!"  Since then, she has improved in many ways, and continues to do so to this very hour.

All of us who spent time with her since she was so badly stricken were told by the doctors that her time was short, that she would not last through the first night.  Some of us saw the computer data that showed the damage.  Never mind the doctors' opinions, diagnoses, and prognostications...all the hard data showed that this lady should not be alive.  If she lived, she should have no abilities, no speech, no memory, no movement at all.  By all logic and evidence she should be either dead or permanently in vegative state.  She was still alive, and now had gained much of her memories and physical abilities.  A miracle.  I will say it again...A MIRACLE!

I have to say that in the past couple of years I have not really appreciated miracles...I did not look for them at all.  Yes, I heard many people talk about "miraculous" events in their lives, but I was not impressed.  Coincidences, I thought.  Other times I listened to people talk about their "miracles" and put it up to that "fifty-fifty" chance.  You know, something either happened or it did not.  It was just a simple game of chance, nothing else.

But then she woke up.  She talked.  She knew her name, and recognized her children.  And she survived ...no just survived, but she lived.  She got one more chance to tell her children she loved them.  She got one more chance to see her friends and they to see her.  And...so sweetly ironic to me...she looked him in the eyes.  She talked to the very preacher that we had called a day earlier because she had wanted him to speak at her funeral.  He was visiting her in the hospital, and she was talking to him...lucidly and with strength.  And I knew...I had seen a miracle!  I had witnessed this lady come back from the Valley of the Shadow of Death.  It can't be explained by the doctors.  It is not possible according to the images of her injuries.  She should not be alive...but she lives.

No, the doctors and the data cannot explain how this lady is alive...but I think something can.  I am surprised after the past couple of years that I would be saying this tonight.  There is only one explanation...are you ready?  Prayer.  Yeah, that's it.  Preachers, pastors, priests, ministers, and "civilians."  They all prayed prayers of power...of power I had never really heard before.  And this wonderful lady, this mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother came back in power...not a vegetable, but a cognitive, conscious person...herself. 

Prayers of power.

The doctors still tell us this miracle may be only temporary, and maybe that is true.  But the miracle is not her ultimate survival, but her return to the living, her return - no matter how brief- to her friends and relatives.  It was a glad reunion.  It made me wonder if I had seen a glimpse of what it will be like someday in Heaven, someday when I, or you, are there for that glad reunion.  Yes, this dear lady will someday walk the last mile with the Good Shepherd.  But for now, each day, each hour we have with her is a gift from God.

This woman said just yesterday that she was still here because God had something more for her to do.  I believe that is true, but I think God has more than one thing for her to do.  I think this because she has already done at least two things: she brought joy to her family and friends by coming back to be with them again one more time; and, she showed me something I had forgotten over the past few years.  She showed me that miracles DO happen, and that prayers said in Strength and in faith are more powerful than any doctor's medicine or medical opinion.

I can't explain what happened or how...and I am not going to try.  It is time to finish my chores and hit the sack.  And tomorrow I will visit once again this wonderful lady, and look into the face of a miracle.

 

The German Airbus Crash - Spectacular Suicide or Act Of Terror?

Last night the news story broke about a terrible airplane crash in the French Alps.  I don't know about you, but as information filtered in through the various news channels and Internet sources, I began to strongly suspect that the crash was intentional.  This morning information gleaned overnight indicated that indeed this disaster was no accident.  While telemetry data indicated that the copilot had placed the airliner on automatic pilot with the plane in a calculated dive from 38,000 feet, the voice recorder in the cockpit recorded the pilot frantically trying to break down the secured cockpit door.  The door did its job; the captain was not able to re-enter the cockpit, and the airliner smashed into a mountainside in the French Alps.

The copilot, Andreas Lubitz, according to all available evidence, locked the pilot out of the cockpit and sealed the doom of all those on board.  The only question that remained was this: did the pilot commit a spectacular suicide, at the cost of over a hundred lives, or did the pilot murder all those innocent people and sacrifice himself in the process?  So as the hours passed today, German police searched Lubitz's home for whatever they might find that would provide some clue to the young co-pilot's state of mind, and of any intentions for suicide or something more sinister.

Almost immediately, the police found disturbing evidence at Lubitz's very front door.  A plague hung on the door contained Arabic writing and Islamic symbols.  Also, within hours of the crash, Lubitz was being hailed as a hero by Muslims on various Facebook pages.  I am not making a judgment at this point since so little is really known or proven.  But if it turns out that Lubitz was a Muslim convert and made his last act an act of a jihadist murderer, I hope that news media have the courage, and more importantly, the integrity to print the truth.  The religion of Islam, we are constantly being told, is a peaceful religion.  The news media constantly pounds us with this idea as the Islamic attacks and bombings happen one after another.  Many Islamic nations are in turmoil, while many nations around the world to which Muslims have immigrated are now in turmoil as well, largely as a result of Islamic activism and illegal activity.

I hope it turns out that Andreas Lubitz was mentally twisted, that he chose to commit a very spectacular suicide.  I also hope, though, that the news media will tell us the truth if it should be true that Lubitz converted to Islam then committed a suicide mission of mass murder to show his zeal for Allah.  We have the right to know, either way.  There are many influential people and media that will attempt to portray Islam as a religion of peace and tolerance no matter how long the acts of murder, torture, bombings, and so forth continue.  Was this airplane crash one of the latest acts of jihadism perpetrated against innocent people in the name of Islam?

End of Watch: Patrolman Curtis Arellano, El Paso Police Department - March 18, 2015

The Peace Officer's job is dangerous all the time, no matter what the circumstances.  Death and injury are always just a heartbeat away, and not always because of a criminal's actions.  The very act of wearing a badge can be deadly, as can just showing up for work.  And so can "routine" operations such as funeral escorts.  It is my sad privilege to honor and show my gratitude to Officer Curtis Arellano, El Paso Police Department, who died during one such routine operation.

Patrolman Arellano was killed when his police motorcycle collided with another vehicle at North Yarbrough Drive and Edgemere Boulevard while escorting a funeral procession through the intersection.  Another patrol officer had stopped all traffic at the intersection in advance of Officer Arellano's approach at the head of the funeral procession.  As the motorcycle patrolman drove through the intersection, and while the other officer was signaling for all traffic to remain stopped, a vehicle approached the intersection and entered it against the officer's signal.  In the collision, Officer Arellano was thrown from his motorcycle and suffered severe injuries.  Although transported immediately to a nearby hospital, Officer Arellano, a ten year veteran, succumbed to his injuries.

Rest in Peace, Officer Arellano, your watch here is over as you join your brothers and sisters in blue somewhere in a better place.  May the Good Shepherd hold and comfort your wife and young son, and your parents...as well as your fellow officers at El Paso PD.




 

Just Pull Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps

So easy to say to someone, and I have said it myself.  I have also heard it myself, from those who cared for me and meant well, but said it anyway.  If you have had people tell you this, maybe repeatedly. you are probably a sufferer with me.  If so, I hope I have never told you to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and "just deal."  No one needs to tell you or me to do that...you and I, my friends, do that every day.  Some days the bootstrap is hellishly long, some days not so bad.  But if you see me and I seem down, can you just please say I care for you, I hope you feel better soon...whatever.  Just don't tell me to pull myself up by my bootstraps.  If you see me at work, I can promise you I HAVE ALREADY PULLED MYSELF UP BY THE DAMNED BOOTSTRAPS.  If you did not see my name in the Obits in today's paper, or those "online," then I indeed pulled myself up by my bootstraps for one more day.  And yes, I DID JUST DEAL, too.

Some days are good, some are better, and some days are an eternity that changes hour by hour.  And "luckily" for me someone will sooner or later tell me, "man, pull yourself up by your bootstraps and..."   By this time I have waved and walked on.  I know he or she meant well.  One of the bad things (or good things - it changes, you see) about this thing my friends and I carry is that it does not have visible signs, other than maybe a not quite so bright smile or a not so quick greeting.  There are no crutches or wheelchairs, no walking canes with bright red tips, that let others know we are chronically ill.  Because of the lack of obvious "signs," no one knows I have this burden, and so when I am "down" or otherwise less than cheerful, someone will eventually tell me, "aww, c'mon...pick yourself up by your bootstraps, and just deal."  Yes, right on cue.

John Denver wrote a song that was both about his lost marriage and his soul's unhappiness, which I think now was depression gone untreated.  John said:

Some days are diamonds, some days are stone
Sometimes the hard times won't leave me alone

Sometimes a cold wind blows a chill in my bones
Some days are diamonds, some days are stones.

John Denver summed it up well.  There is no logic or system in it...some days are diamonds, some days are stone...and very often it is the same day.  And sometimes there is no reason for those feelings.  Blessings can be counted, happy songs can be sung, and friends can be around.  I guess in a way it can be compared to someone who suffers with asthma.  With modern treatment, that person goes through most days without any problem, because the daily dose of "meds" controls the symptoms.  Except for those times when the meds DO NOT control the symptoms.  The asthmatic is suddenly unable to get a breath of air, and I believe, for a few seconds, may feel some degree of panic.  But, the person then pulls a rescue inhaler from his pocket or her purse, breathes in the medicine, and soon normal breathing is restored.

No, I am not saying that chronic depression is as acutely life-threatening as a sudden asthma attack, please understand.  I am saying that unlike with an asthma attack, there is no "rescue inhaler" for depression.  Depression can rob the sufferer of many of life's pleasures, and can be just as "terminal" as any deadly cancer that persists no matter what measures are used to stem its growth.  I sympathize anyone who suffers from chronic depression, and I promise to work in all earnestness to never say those words, "c'mon, just pull yourself up by your bootstraps."  I can tell you that my poor fingers are quite sore from tugging on the old bootstraps so many times, and so many times more than just once a day, when the day is a stone instead of a diamond.
 

Today In US History - Abraham Lincoln's Second Inauguration

On this day in 1865, President Lincoln was inaugurated to his second term in office, thus sealing his fate, his death at the hands of John Wilkes Booth.  I have often wondered how long Mr. Lincoln would have lived had he left office after only one term.  On the other hand, from what I have read about this great and determined man, it was obvious that he would never dream of leaving the office while the War Between The States raged on.  President Lincoln, often seen by many, including many historians, as a champion of the anti-slavery movement, said that if he could preserve the Union by freeing all the slaves he would do so.  What is downplayed by many is that Lincoln, in the same sentence, said that if he could only preserve the Union by maintaining slavery as an institution, he would do so.  Ultimately, President Lincoln said he would rather die than see the Union torn apart.  In this sentiment, the President would later be joined by other great leaders, especially John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

I believe that President Lincoln, like the future President Kennedy and the preacher Martin Luther King, Jr., may have had some inclination, some premonition, if you will, that his great mission would only be accomplished at the cost of his own life.  Like John Kennedy and Dr. King, President Lincoln was warned by his friends and staff that many people were angry with him because of his policies and his actions as President.  And some of his enemies were angry to the point that they would be satisfied with nothing less than his death.  But President Lincoln stayed straight in his course, followed his plan of action, and saw this nation through the most tragic and trying events of its short existence.  As the winter of 1864 turned into the spring of 1865, it was clear to all that the Confederacy was beaten and the war was all but over.  And the President, tired from the strain of four long years of war, but satisfied in the knowledge that the fighting would soon be ended, decided to go to Ford's Theatre on that fateful evening in April.  Before the play was half over, the President was slain and one of the largest manhunts in US history was organized.  John Wilkes Booth was later arrested and hanged for the President's murder.

So today in 1865, President Lincoln assumed the presidency for a second time and began his short walk into immortality.  Would there have been war in 1861 if President Lincoln had not been elected in 1860?  Would the war have been shorter, or longer, under a different president?  If the President had lived, would there have been a Reconstruction?  Would it have been as severe?  We will never know the answers to those questions, but we can appreciate the trials and the pains President Lincoln faced.  And we can be grateful that President Lincoln took the course he did...at the cost of his life, he saved this nation.  His blood fell on top of that shed by other Americans, both Union and Confederate soldiers, he and they sacrificing all to save our America.


 

Illegal Aliens and Compassionate Americans

I have both heard and read lately a lot of rhetoric from all "sides" concerning the issue of illegal aliens in our nation.  Some people believe illegal aliens should be rounded up and "sent back" forthwith, while other believe that the various federal agencies involved, and the justice system, should exam each illegal alien that is detained should face a hearing so that whether an alien is allowed to remain in the United States is determined on a case-by-case basis.  Still others believe that there should be no such thing as an "illegal alien" in the American vocabulary, and that anyone who successfully sneaks into the country or remains in the country illegally, such as a person with an expired visa, should be allowed to remain in the country.  Further, some people believe that all illegal aliens in this country should get all manner of "free" benefits.  Many of these people believe that there should be no requirement for these aliens to prove that they have found gainful employment (ergo, these illegal aliens would never lose their free benefits). 

Some of the things I have heard (and been rather offended by, to be frank) are that anyone who does not want to not only grant "amnesty" to these people, but who does want their taxes to go toward benefits for these illegal aliens are just downright UN-compassionate and UN-American.  Maybe I should even add UN-Christian, too, because so many people use passages from the Bible to pound the heads of Americans who do not want to spend taxes this way.  Incidentally, I am sure many of these Bible-pounding liberals are the same folks who are so loudly yelling for the "separation of Church and State."  You know, the ones who do not want the Ten Commandments displayed at courthouses, don't want prayers in school, and do not want children to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the school day.

I have sat around in angry silence for years, watching illegal aliens from all over the world come into the United States and get on that great "gravy train" collecting benefits for themselves and their children that you or me, as citizens by birth, are not only not entitled to, but for which we must pay, or face prison time.  I have sat around in angry silence, not saying anything at all, while more "enlightened" people have reviled common citizens, you and me...my friends, who believe that a person should work to earn his or her keep, who believe in helping a person who is down on his luck, but who also believe that once a person is back on his feet that person is once again able to care for himself and pay his fair share.  You and I are reviled because we do not believe in a system of permanent handouts.  We are reviled because we expect persons who are receiving "entitlements" to eventually become productive citizens.  We are reviled because we are upset that so much of our hard-earned money goes to fund such welfare programs.  We are reviled because we want our borders secured, and a system in place to allow persons seeking citizenship to obtain such in a reasonably expedient manner, but in a LEGAL manner.

Yesterday I saw, in easy-to-understand terms, the comparison of a law abiding citizen's wages, and the "disposal" of those wages, and the wages of those who are in this country illegally, thus who are not paying any taxes (other than sales tax, which LEGAL citizens pay as well!).  It appears to me that a person who is making $30 an hour actually takes home LESS than an illegal alien (I refuse to use the more politically correct "undocumented alien," because the alien would not be undocumented if he were here legally) because the illegal alien who works "under the table" or "off the books" does not have social security and federal taxes deducted from his wages.  By the time all of a "working person's" expenses and taxes are paid (taxes which in part pay for the illegal alien's benefits) the legal worker keeps just over ten percent of his wages, while the illegal alien, who is receiving thousands of dollars of "free" benefits each year, keeps over eighty percent of his pay.

I may be accused of being an uncompassionate, bigoted, uncaring, non-Christian by the world.  So what?  I refuse to sit quietly in my little corner any longer while our taxes are frittered away on relief programs for those who are here illegally.  I will no longer sit still while illegal aliens and others live high on the hog while our soldiers are never sure from day to day if the benefits they were promised by senators and congressmen will be suddenly stripped away, yet "entitlements" continue unabated to illegal aliens.  I will now be holding my political representatives responsible for their votes on benefits to illegal aliens.  I will hold these same people responsible for any cuts to benefits for soldiers and veterans.  I am NOT opposed to cuts in the military weapons budget, cuts in funds for use in the various unconstitutional and undeclared wars around the world, and cuts in black funds for illegal espionage in the United States and for illegal murders abroad.  I am bigoted?  If that means I want our soldiers and veterans cared for FIRST, then I AM GUILTY!

I may be accused of being an uncompassionate, bigoted, uncaring, non-Christian by the world.  So what?  I am a taxpaying citizen of this nation, given that status by birth.  I am proud to be an American.  Other people born in other nations have the right to have just as much pride in their own nations.  I am not saying I am any better than anyone just because I am an American; I am saying that I am DAMNED PROUD to be an American.  Were you born in France?  Be damned glad to be a Frenchman.  But as an American...as a TAX PAYING AMERICAN, I am no longer going to sit quietly by the way as my tax dollars are being squandered both on useless, endless wars on nouns such as "terrorism" and on paying benefits to illegal aliens while Americans, including veterans and our own poor, are placed secondary to those same illegal aliens.  By the way, illegal aliens are just as "illegal" whether they cross from south of the border or from the north.  And now we know that potential foreign-born terrorists are filtering through both borders while our own Border Patrol is ham-strung at every turn by politicians and even its parent agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).  I want our tax dollars to be used here in America on American problems.  That is why I will begin holding our politicians responsible for the debacle at our borders.

I am in fact compassionate and caring, but about Americans FIRST, as other nations should care about their own citizens first.  I hope you will join me in taking what for some would be the unheard of step of sending letters and emails to their senators and congressmen.  We need to make our voices heard now like never before.  We have allowed the worst, most arrogant, most lawless man ever to hold the office of President...not once, but twice.  This man, Barack Obama, promised his loyal voters (which does not include me) that his would be the most honest, the most open, the most transparent administration in United States history.  Instead, not only did he renege on those three most simple promises, he carried on the policies of the previous administration, the same administration he had so viciously denounced during his campaign prior to the 2008 elections.  And if that is not enough, his citizenship, even his very identity, are not completely vetted.  Yet instead of being impeached and removed from office early on, he was re-elected to carry on, and do even worse for this nation during his second term. I intend to become a bug in my elected officials ears concerning this most un-American and un-patriotic Commander In Chief this nation has ever seen.  

If any of the above makes me an uncompassionate, bigoted, uncaring, non-Christian, than I will wear that label proudly.  Illegal aliens, so welcomed by the President and so many of his supporters, are by definition, criminals.  As such, they ARE NOT entitled to the many benefits that you and I, Americans and taxpayers, are providing to them by the force of the very government we elect and empower.  Instead, illegal aliens need to be captured and returned to their home nations - that is one tax expense I am willing to bear.  Another burden I am willing to bear is the taxes necessary to take care of our soldiers and veterans for life.  We PROMISED them...and we DID NOT promise to provide permanent care for those who are here illegally.  So I will continue to pay my taxes, but I will also continue to oppose this most loathsome tax, the tax we pay to support those who are not supposed to be in this nation at all, while we, Americans, cannot get the same benefits those in power seem so eager to bestow - WITH OUR MONEY, NOT THEIRS- on those here illegally.

God bless America
God bless Texas