Finishing Well

Well, it's been one year since I received the ALS diagnosis on May 27, 2021. Today I am celebrating that: I am alive; my spirits are positive; I can talk and eat; I can drive the truck and the boat; I can spend meaningful time with my family; and have conversations and share my faith with friends and new acquaintances! Praise God for all of that!

I continue to pray - and receive prayer support from many of you - that God would remove this disease from my body. I am counting on that healing ... but it still makes sense to plan ahead should this disease progress in my body. One of the first things we did was to renovate our bathroom to create a curbless shower. That meant making the shower floor bigger to accommodate a wheelchair and to get a tankless toilet so there would be room to get the wheelchair past the toilet into the shower. It also meant widening the doors into the bedroom and into the bathroom.

Here are the before, during, and after pictures of the renovation...

Thanks to @Courtney_Turk for her design ideas and to Bob Kirk for managing all the trades to get it done!

The renovation project FINISHED WELL...and that's because Cathy and I were intentional about planning ahead for the future.

When it comes to FINISHING LIFE WELL, we need to be intentional about determining how to live our lives. None of us know how many days we have left on this earth, so it's important to finish every day well. Be planning ahead. Don't go to bed with unforgiveness on your heart. Love your co-workers. Love your spouse. Love God!

I had the privilege of speaking at a men's retreat in early May about FINISHING WELL. I then modified the talk and shared my thoughts with our church on May 15th. I encourage you to take the time to watch this 35 minute recording of my talk. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFk5Ki_ydJo

Jesus says in John 6:63 that our flesh counts for nothing. Life is spiritual. And the words Jesus has spoken to us are full of spirit and full of life! In 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 it says

"Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

What is "unseen"? It's Jesus and God and the glorious place called Heaven in which believers in Jesus will end up when life on this earth ends. I encourage you to focus on the "unseen".

I am blessed and loved by family and by God! Thanks for being on this journey with me. I've updated the prayer points which you can find on the home page of the website or using this link https://www.faith-over-fear.ca/blank-page

Praise the Lord, my soul,

and never forget all the good he has done:

He is the one who forgives all your sins,

the one who heals all your diseases,

the one who rescues your life from the pit,

the one who crowns you with mercy and compassion,

the one who fills your life with blessings

so that you become young again like an eagle.

Psalm 103:2-5