Happy Aniversary To Me

Well sports fans. Today is the big day. Exactly one year ago today, I was being wheeled into the operating room for open heart surgery. I still can remember the hopeless feeling I felt when they were preparing me for the operating room. It was the scariest feeling I have ever experienced. I knew that I was in good hands and that God was watching over me because of the blessing I had received, but you can’t help thinking about it. As I laid there while they shaved my chest and my leg, I kept wondering, “What happens if I don’t wake up?” “Am I ready to die?” I had the best feeling in my life, when I woke up that night after 6+ hours of surgery, and found that I was still alive. Over the next week in the hospital and the next few weeks at home, I kept asking myself why I had been so lucky and what did I have yet to do. I healed very quickly and without a lot of pain as I had heard horror stories about open heart surgery.

I finally came to the conclusion that my testimony was not strong enough and that I had things to change before I would be read; that I had been given then chance to complete some things. After this last year, with all the things that have happened in our family and all around me, I have become more aware of the infinite power that directs our lives. He knows us personally, directs our lives from the beginning to the end, and places things in our paths that strengthen our testimonies and give us the experiences we need to grow.

I once said that God had extended my contract and that I needed to find what it was I had yet to do. I now know that I needed to be here for my family; to be a better husband, father and grandfather. In the time I do have left, I will try to do that. The family is really the most important thing and ours is really special. I love each of you for what and who you are,

Dad