I have looked, and thanks to your note this morning, seen.
I'm gettin' out there!
Thank you Gerard.

JWM

Gerard, there's no coincidences in God's world. Everything happens for a reason.Perhaps unfathomable to us, but then, we don't have to know.

Go look at my blog for today. Does it resonate for you?

chas

I figure it this way: I have lessons to learn; I will be somewhere, touch someone, do something that will affect another. This is not all wavy-gravy mystical. Basic Baptist if you have to know.

My dad once told me "son, if you ever save anyone it will probably be by accident".

Yup, the center of the universe.... and it sure isn't me. I'm just a witness.

Though no longer do you 'walk through the valley of the shadow of death', I would think that now colors will be more vivid, days will be brighter, and smiles will be warmer. What a gift to a truly talented poet.

"I think over again my small adventures.
My fears, Those small ones that seemed so big,
For all the vital things I had to get and reach.
And yet there is only one great thing,
The only thing,

To live to see the great day that dawns
And the light that fills the world."

Welcome Back, Jerry.

Going out for a walk. See y'all here later.

Today was Good Shepherd Sunday at my church. A Navy chaplain was given the pulpit for the day, and as he prepares to leave his family and go on tour with the Marines, he adjured each of us to follow where He leads, even into the valley if it must be so. For where He guides, He provides.

We sang,

"Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants
beyond my fears,
from death into life."

Yep.

Life is fine
Fine as wine
Life is fine. -Langston Hughes

I imagine, when I remember to, that as we breathe praise into the darkness, the Spirit of the Lord is moving to and fro upon the face of the earth to seek such praise. I imagine that, if in no other part of the world is there raised a glad voice, then my poor offering shall be a rock that cries out, "He is worthy to receive power and glory and majesty!"

I stumbled on your blog several months ago. Now I carry copies of The Missing and The Ship of State with me. I tried to relate The Name in the Stone to my wife today and couldn't do it without choking up. Okay, I'm an emotional sap but very glad you remain among the living this Sunday.

There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

- Albert Einstein

You were dead and now you are alive, you are a miracle. Happy One Month of Life Anniversary.

As to me I know of nothing else but miracles... Walt Whitman

Thanks for sharing this, Gerard, and happy one-month-iversary. Luniversary?

I would say "God bless," but he already has, and you already know. And that is a wonderful thing.

How thankful I am (and so many other readers) that you were dead but are alive again. There is a certain clarity that comes with this pullback from the brink. You may remember that I posted about my own almost four years ago.

Welcome back from the brink, my friend. I think that now you will know what I have come to know: every day is a holiday and every meal a banquet.

There's something mysterious about heart attacks and Sunday morning.
Grace and two doctors saved my Mom as she fell with a major M.I. while climbing the steps of Trinity Episcopal Church on Sunday morning. My girlfriend lost her fiance (a 65 year old neurosurgeon) on a Sunday morning right after they'd made whoopee. She has a new fiance now.

My Sunday morning meditation included this quote:

We are born knowing nothing and with much striving we learn
but a little; yet all the while we are bound by laws that
hearken to no plea of ignorance, and measure out their rewards
and punishments with calm indifference. In such a state,
humility is the virtue of men, and their only defense; to walk
humbly with God, never doubting, whatever befall, that His will
is good, and that His law is right.

Paul More, Pages from an Oxford Diary

Thanks for the notes from your heart.

The ways of the Lord are mysterious. Why me? Why now? Why here? The questions go on, but the answers remain elusive. You have had a peek behind the curtain. And that glimpse has warmed your heart, opened it to the miracle that is life. That, in itself, may be why you are still with us.

Does this mean you get 2 Birthday Parties a year, Gerard? :)

Brings new meaning to sudden death overtime...

emphasis on "IS", "The Lord IS my shepherd", it's about surrendering, finally!The best way IS His way. Being grateful for every second we have left here!My fave psalm also, got me through scary cancer trmts. I'm glad you are getting your strength back. We need you!

My bride and I use Psalm 118:24 almost every morning. We even have a sign up with that verse so we see it as we leave each day.
Verses 22 & 23 tie into Matthew 21's parable of the evil tenants as well (33-45) with Christ as the cornerstone.
Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride. It's a roller-coaster ride.

Life with all its crises is designed to push us more and more to the foot of the Cross. Everything that happens to us is the kindest alternative God has of infinite choices.

His urgings always start with a whisper to our souls, then if ignored it gets louder and louder, until it's a shout that we can't evade. Only you can know the messages He has for you, one day at a time. You must never let things get back to the old normal.

Glad you're feeling better.

emphasis on "IS", "The Lord IS my shepherd", it's about surrendering, finally!The best way IS His way. Being grateful for every second we have left here!My fave psalm also, got me through scary cancer trmts. I'm glad you are getting your strength back. We need you!

The Word loves His poets and storytellers so much that He took flesh and became one of them. It is fitting that the lady heard the psalm: perhaps from one of your guardian angels, perhaps from unsaintly St. David, king and singer.

These are the real though invisible things, which sometimes we are allowed (or compelled) to see.

Amen.

I am glad you are still with us. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us.

A friend came up with a somewhat less Biblical way of phrasing this sentiment.

"Start each day by assuming it's your last, and try to live and act accordingly. Because sometime - and much sooner than you probably want - you'll be right."

Gerard, As I have reiterated several times before, God has given you the rare talent to truly see the world and the even more rare talent to be able to put to paper, for other's enlightenment, wonderful descriptions of what you observe. Perhaps, as a reward for a job well done, your eyes have purposely been opened a bit wider.

Amen to all that. You've come back distilled.

I'm glad you're back with us, Gerald. As for the woman who was with you when that happened, may God bless her aplenty! She was your angel.

Unfortunately, we are in a somber mode at our household today. We returned from a weekend trip last night to find our faithful and true 14-year-old kitty dead in our garage. From the looks of it, he fell asleep and drifted away into the next world. Our under-5 girls were asleep or close enough, and we didn't want them to see him like that, so we placed them into their beds and waited until they were totally out. Then, we found a burial place in our backyard and placed our faithful kitty there. It was all over before 1 in the morning.

We don't know how to tell our girls that faithful, toe-chewer, shade-rattling, fence-marking, dog-behaving kitty of ours is gone.

" As for the woman who was with you when that happened, may God bless her aplenty! She was your angel."

Not a day passes when I do not reflect on that and believe it.

Thanks for stating what happened.
I thanked the Lord that you were able to stay with us.
Perhaps you are meant to write about health-care.
Ask your cousin about health-care, EMS, the emergency system and what will happen with national health care. Ask her about the abuses of our hospitals and emerg.rooms. Ask her about
health-care and the number of people who call
an ambulance for trivial things; some for just a ride. You were lucky to have a good EMS system and one not out on a false run and not available for you as a result in a timely manner. Ask her about all the regulations and frequent fliers.

Don't know what to say other than to thank our Lord and Savior for giving you the opportunity to continue.

Welcome back Mr. V.

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