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While orchiectomy looks like a term from Lord of the Rings (removal of orcs) it is actually the removal of the orchis (that is Greek for testicle.) I am the proud owner of three and half inch scar from my orchiectomy. I had a strange sensation in my testicle and had the urologist take a look and after a scrotal ultrasound, it was decided that it needed to go. I feel pretty good and we should get the pathology back Friday or Monday. It seems like we caught it early, but we won’t know until the pathology comes back. Thanks to all of the people praying for me and my family; God has given me tremendous peace about this and I feel like we are going to be okay in the end. It is just the waiting that is no fun…and the body part removal. As I know more I will post. God bless. I shiny apple goes to the best one testicle joke in the comments (Tanya may already be in the lead.)
Over a pound of love–no worries, this is the affectionate name for a basket of fries–and some good beer–except Josh, somehow he has been converted to…shutter…Bud Light–we welcomed Jeremy back to Rory’s last night. As always, Jeremy had a question for the night: what do you think about church membership? I will not go into the discussion that we had, but I do want to share with you something I read this morning that deals with that issue. It comes from a book called The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought by Marilynne Robinson–a book that I picked up while getting my substitute notes together this morning. One of the essays is on Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Here is what she has to say about Bonhoeffer and the Church:
By “the church” Bonhoeffer means Christ in this world, not as influence or loyality but as active presence, not as one consideration or motive but as the one source and principle of life of those who constitute the church.
It seems we have a hard time creating this idea of the church in a local body because too often the focus is on influence or loyality and not the active presence of Christ in the body. Food for thought.
Wish me luck, now I must go to a district training on the newly adopted Senior Social Studies materials. It is my belief that school districts remove spoons from training rooms to cut down on missing eyes lawsuits.
Over the last couple of weeks I have been reflecting on my friend that I have not kept in contact as well as I should. Had he not taken me seriously, I would not enjoy the outdoors as thoroughly as I do now, nor would the outdoors know me, so to speak, as well. Friends have a tendency to wash in with the tide and quickly wash out, leaving a slight aroma to always remind you of their passing or embedding between your toes to remind you of the pain of their passing. But some friends transcend crappy metaphors.
My age has revealed to me the tendency of all human beings to waste copious amounts of time on trivialities such as roaming large windowless buildings full of crap most people do not desire nor need, staring blankly at the flashing lightbox hoping something useful may show up, or fretting over the relative merits of the DH. These efforts lead us to proclaim, ‘were did the time go’ or ‘if I only had enough time’ or ‘I ran out of time.’ These are all weak excuses to cover over our inability to cultivate our relationships. On my return from saying goodbye to my father, my colleagues have given me a couple of plants to console me and to remember my father. These gifts are a blessing and a testament to the character and compassion of my coworkers, but one thing scares the hell out of me: how do I keep these plants alive? My mom’s thumb was only stained green by the chlorophyll of hundreds of plants she killed. My example of plant husbandry lacked delicacy and stamina. In the same way friendships can be smothered or withered away by pride or neglect.
God has blessed me with a friend with a strong neck to bare my thumb who speaks truth and hope into my life. It is my prayer that everyone can be blessed with a friend with a strong neck…and also a sense of adventure because not everyone will play the heater game when it is 95 degrees.
