Hismones 12/30/24

"not the way you thought it would be" We're spending a couple of days in my wife's small-town hometown in eastern Kentucky, renewing family contacts and getting the latest updates. Like most families, there's a lot of love and usually a bit of drama. I've mentioned to my wife a few times during our 30 years of marriage the possibility of moving back here in retirement. She always responds, "You'd miss me!" There are reasons kids grow up and find new things to do and new places to do them. This season of diagnosis and treatment reminds me of a time that began almost 35 years ago when my first wife, two tiny daughters, and moving van drove out of town, landing 250+ miles away. At a church conference lunch, an area pastor quoted Henry Ford as saying, "Life is just one damned thing after another." Regardless sunshine, it was an extraordinarily dark day. That night, I was kneeling in front of the hearth talking by phone to a friend who reassured me with these words: "You've walked with God long enough to know that it's going to be ok; it's just not going to be ok the way you thought it would be." Back in the winter of '89-'90, I was about to start a two-year series of family court appearances, living alone, and jogging daily to stay busy. One morning rain started during part of my route, soaked me pretty thoroughly, but ended before I was through. I believe God impressed me that the season I was beginning was like a short-lived shower and the sunshine would return. I've now started a two-year series of treatments and I believe the same: this is a little shower, no matter how severe temporarily, that will pass and the sunshine will return. As God is my witness. P.S. I discovered today that the Biologics pharmacy able to fill my new medication has only two locations in the U.S.: North Carolina and Fort Worth. Maybe not a coincidence?