Ouch. My good intentions on blogging were interrupted by medical issues. The first issue is trying to recover from that dogged upper respiratory thing. I was horribly embarrassed yesterday with my coughing. One would think the symptoms would clear up after taking medicine from Wednesday on but it seems not! At one point I am sure people feared that I would keel over or take off more than my suit jacket. The good news is the cough seems to be gradually going away. The bad news is that people ended up listening to it on Sunday. There are probably more than a few church members praying it clears up before I hack through another sermon.

I also took my son to the doctor on Friday. He needed blood drawn due to some of his medicine that he takes. We talked on the way up about what would happen while we were there. He was not at all keen on being stuck with the needle but he was a brave trooper! No dad could be more proud of how he sat still for the procedure. He was of course rewarded with stickers and suckers by the nurse. His dad rewarded him with a trip to shop along with the required stop at McDonalds. We spent the rest of the day together as I told him over and over how proud I was of him.

Today found me in Shreveport taking my mother for a doctor visit. She has a retinal tear so she needed a driver for when her eyes were dilated. I understand those eye problems. Nearly 15 years ago my retina detached without warning. My daughter was ten days old at the time. It goes without saying it was not how I planned to spend that time. My mother's visit went much better than mine. She will not need the operation as I did. The original point was to say these are some of the things keeping me from blogging as I wish.

I am reminded that recovery can be as painful as the symptom. My eye operation really was not painful but the recovery was tedious. People who have heart bypass surgery often look worse immediately following than before the correction. Doctors lie if they tell you this won't hurt much because it will. Even when God takes us through a time of correction we find the recovery is painful. Take time to read Psalm 32 and 51. David went through some painful times while discovering the miracle of forgiveness. He says recovery hurts but it does not hurt nearly as much as sin. God's recovery assures us that brokenness will be set in place by grace. He truly is The Great Physician. His mercy far outweighs the hurt of our selfish behavior. He sometimes leaves us with a scar of His grace but that often leads to better blogging and to better living.

Bro. Trey