Good Health

Each day of my life I praise God for the Good Health I have enjoyed over these 69 short years! Only one major illness, and that was malaria. I do not take this good health for granted. In 1985, after a missions trip with Edward L. Williams down to Guyana, South America, I came home sick. The doctor expected it to come back on me frequently, and said that I should always have someone on standby ready to preach for me. The first Sunday after I got out of the hospital, my mind told me I could go to church - but my body was not ready. I tried to get ready...but alas...I was exhausted by the time I walked from the bedroom into the kitchen. However, by the following Sunday morning I was able to go to church and hear the visiting speaker. That same night I preached. Haven't missed a preaching session again because of any kind of illness and that was 22 years ago. Frances and I lived in Kenya for 9 of those 22 years and I have traveled to 23 countries on the continent of Africa. Still have had no more symptoms of malaria. I could get sick on this next trip - but if I do I will still thank God for the many years I did have good health.

Just last week I went for a complete physical, ekg, blood work and all. Positive report from the doctor says that I'm in good health. Thank God. I have no explanation for this except to say that God is merciful and good. Yes, my triglycerides were high and my cholesterol was elevated a very small amount. I am told I should work myself up to walking 30 minutes a day at least three days a week; I should take a baby aspirin each day; and I have to watch my acid reflux by eating the evening meal no later than 6:00p. (3 hours before bed-time!) Also I take a reflux tablet each morning.

Now, if you are sick or suffering, it does not mean God thinks any less of you than He thinks of others. Think of Job, 0f whom the Bible says that he was a righteous man and that he "eschewed" evil. Further it says that there was "no guile found in his mouth." Yet he sufferred more than most of us ever will. Also, Paul, who seems to be the hero of many Christians, sufferred in his body. Also he and other apostles were beaten, imprisoned, run out of town, ship-wrecked, maligned and mal-treated. Consider Hebrews 11 and as you study the heroes of faith you will find that many of the faithful died without ever having seen the fulfillment of promise - yet God listed them among the faithful.

To come to a point of closure let me tell you a story. Frances and I had come home from Kenya on furlough and our first-born (Frankie) and her family had come from Nashville to visit us in Lenoir City, Tennessee. When they were ready to leave, I grabbed the youngest up in my arms and in my best "Poppaw" tear-ful voice I said to the baby (who was about four years of age then) "Why do you have to go off and leave Poppaw here all by himself?" Her answer was a classic that the family now repeats often whenever difficulties of any sort arise: "Well, Poppaw, That's just the way life is!"