Welcome to the NFL.

By the time a player makes it to the pros he’s operating at an amazing level of athletic ability.  Playing the game at that stratospheric level requires an enormous amount of discipline, endurance and commitment.  It takes years of rigorous training and practice.  And of course, the physical and mental demands are also enormous.

Irene and I went to the grocery store to make sure that I would have lots of snacks for the big game!!  She prepared a large number of thick, marinated and boneless beef ribs, spicy bean dip and chips served in football shaped Super Bowl dishes and gigantic oatmeal cookies ….!!!!!  Without question …. it was the best Super Bowl meal I’ve ever had!!  What a party …. what a “happening” ….!!!

Irene is again experiencing some allergy or cold symptoms and hoping they will not proliferate.  Her energy level is lethargic and the nausea remains at a low rumble. Shirley Churchill worked with Irene on physiology techniques for 2+ hours while Ken and I relaxed and enjoyed the big game!

Metaphorically, Irene is playing in the SPIRITUAL NFL.  She is “stepping up her game” at a stratospheric level of performance with spiritual maturity facing her competition, which is a real life, formidable, opponent named Primary Amyloidosis.  In the “practice” of life, it took her years of to develop the spiritual discipline and training necessary to compete at this level.  In other words, her tender response to all of this is empirical evidence that she is spiritually prepared for the challenge.

What were some of her training and disciplines in the “practice” of life which prepared her for this confrontation?

Years of Bible Study and scripture memory
Daily quiet time, worship and prayer before God
Being “teachable” and mentored by a “spiritual” parent
Serving others joyfully and living within the context of community and accountability

Operating in the “spiritual NFL” requires an enormous amount of personal determination and commitment.  She wills to live and overcome her circumstances.  All of us who have watched her know that the physical and mental demands she’s facing have been, and are, colossal in nature.  That’s why

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According to Wikipedia ….

An iceberg is a large piece of freshwater ice that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water.

Because the density of pure water ice is about 920 kg/m3, and that of sea water about 1025 kg/m3, typically, only one-ninth of the volume of an iceberg is above water. The shape of the remainder under the iceberg can be difficult to surmise from looking at what is visible above the surface. This has led to the expression “tip of the iceberg”, generally applied to a problem or difficulty, meaning that the visible trouble is only a small manifestation of a larger problem.

Irene and I were out early Saturday morning running errands and enjoyed the cool, cloudy day.  Her nausea remained at a low roar.  She appears to be slowly gaining some weight, holding steady at 110-111 pounds for the last month.  After dialysis treatment this coming Monday we’ll venture to UCSF to meet with the vascular surgery team for a fistula procedure consultation.  This continues to be a dynamic journey because it is forever changing.  If the kidneys do “wake up” and function again Irene won’t endure the fistula procedure and the dialysis treatment will be discontinued.  As Hosanna Loh commented in a recent email, we pray that “He restores Irene’s kidneys”!!

In order to see below the surface of our challenges, sometimes we need to go DEEP and S.E.E. …. perhaps journeying through a “Significant”, “Emotional”, “Event”.

In other words, sometimes it’s only after we’ve experienced a traumatic or colossal event directly affecting us that we’re more receptive to the ultimate purposes of God.  Perhaps a “felt need” surfaces through the ordeal and we’re able to see more clearly than before.  Or, perhaps, as a Christ follower, God takes us into deeper water to make us a deeper person.

Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
Psalm 42:7

The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head.
Jonah 2:5

He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what

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