When things like hip replacement surgery happen in our lives, it’s pretty big stuff we hadn’t planned on. Things change for a while; routines change and schedules change. We all have things like that happen pretty often. I had known this season was coming for several months, so I was mentally prepared for the changes in my routine. I like changes in my routine, even though I like routine. Change in life requires us to think creatively to continue to function responsibly. I get bored with life, and change stirs things up a bit. With change, there are fresh challenges and obstacles to overcome—new ways of doing things, new things to learn. If nothing new has happened for a while, I will plan one.

A new boat-building project, a bicycle trip, a fishing trip, and a research project. I have been thinking of new things to do, new learning challenges, and new skills. I have thought about earning a doctor’s degree online. I have an honorary doctorate, but this would be one I get from studying and writing that would force me to learn. I have been thinking about a doctorate in early church history, the early church fathers, the early church, and the New Testament. I have found good schools that offer those majors and are almost entirely online. I have also considered getting a creative writing degree in preparation for writing some books. I have been thinking seriously about learning to play a musical instrument for several years. I haven’t conquered the intimidation factor yet on that one.  I like to take on things that I am sure I can succeed at.

Today is the one-week anniversary of my hip replacement surgery. Anniversaries and birthdays are one of the ways we mark or measure the passing of time. One of our daughters and her husband just had their 17th wedding anniversary. We have kids and grandkids’ birthdays all the time. I will have my 77th  birthday in about five months, Patty’s 78th in 8 months, our 56 wedding anniversary in three months, and my 50th anniversary as a pastor in 17 months. We also remember events because we mark them as important. We take pictures and have celebrations and special gatherings on those days. The most remembered day in my mind is my High School graduation in 1967; I remember that day and the events leading up to it clearer than any other in my life. I am not sure why, but I do. You might think my wedding would be most memorable, but I have little memory of that day and event; I believe that fear blocked it out! Another highly remembered day is the birth of our first child, Sarah, and the birth of our first grandson, Josiah. The most significant day in my life was when I was born again into the family of God. That happened at Fir Point Bible Camp in Glendale, Oregon, in June 1961 when I was 13. I was baptized in June 1966 in Mt Adams Baptist Church in Trout Lake, Washington. I was wondering yesterday at Dave Kennedy’s memorial service, when we were remembering his life, how much we will remember of our life when we get to heaven. I think we will remember every detail and every thought and every motive. When I was a kid, we would celebrate birthdays by showing slides and super8-movie clips of whoever’s birthday it was. If Jesus does that for each of us in heaven, that will be fun or embarrassing, depending on the event and scene. Some would say that God has forgotten all the bad stuff as per Psalms 103:12. I think that reference is to the consequence of sin,  not to actual memory, but we will see. In the meantime, I will live my life daily as if Jesus sees everything I do, say, and think. It is all being recorded by Jesus to celebrate and remember for all eternity: eternal entertainment, like watching the three stooges😂.

I preached today at The Evangelical Church and will share a few minutes in my good friend, Dave Kennedy’s memorial service this afternoon. I can get in and out of bed without help from Patty, bathroom visits are no longer a trial, and I am exercising faithfully every day. My hip replacement surgery seems to be healing up fine. One of the things that I have discovered is that there are a lot of people who have had hip replacement surgeries. Once I realized this, I also found that most of them wanted to talk to me about theirs and to give me some advice from their experience. There are right and wrong ways to respond to these people. One way is as a busy person who doesn’t want to take the time for this long, boring conversation that I have already had umpteen times. The other way to respond is with grace, humility, kindness, and consideration for the other person. I know myself well enough to know that if I don’t pre-meditate my responses, I will go the first route most of the time, but if I think about it and decide what the loving thing to do is, I will do much better. One of the things I know well is that we all go through life planting seeds daily based on our actions, choices, and words. We will soon reap the blessings or consequences of those seeds we have sown. Because we are slow to connect the dots in our lives, we are unaware of why blessings or curses are happening to us. I always tell people that wise people choose to do things all day long that God promises to bless. That seems like a wise way to live life to me.

I have this app on my phone that gives me exercises every day for my hip. Right now, it is still pretty much dead from the spinal block. I still can’t feel anything, and I have very limited motion in my left leg. The exercises are designed to stretch things out and gradually get things to work again. The easiest exercise is to point my toes as far forward and backward as possible while lying on my back in bed. I can do that one with minor pain. Sitting on the edge of my bed and raising my leg is the hardest. Right now, I only have about an inch of motion, but I keep pretending that I am in a contest with an evil spirit trying to keep me locked down! I am also struggling to slide my left foot up to my butt while lying flat on the bed. Patty helps me out and pushes on it. I am getting up and walking around regularly using the walker. I rode my stationary bike for an hour today as well.  It is like anything else: the harder you push, the faster you improve. In our Christian walk, Paul says to “press on to maturity,” some press on a lot, and many don’t give much effort. What we are in character the day we step into heaven is what we are; it is worth working on. 

I had hip replacement surgery done two days ago, and I am lying in bed, healing up. Patty is taking care of me. Patty is a servant in temperament and spiritual gifting, and she is attracted to those with needs. She often spends way more time with others who have needs than she does with me at home regularly because I am fine and don’t need much help.  I am good with that because she gets so much fulfillment in helping others. But now, she is entirely devoted to taking care of me. Getting this much attention from her is almost worth the pain and inconvenience of hip replacement surgery. She helps me into and out of bed, brings me coffee whenever I want some, massages my feet, scratches my back, brings me food to eat, gets up, and gets me a drink of water in the middle of the night. She hugs, kisses, and tells me how wonderful I am.

I have counseled so many marriages where when one or the other spouses gets sick or laid up, their marriage struggles because of the extra pressure and demands on their schedule. I can’t remember everything, but when Patty had her hip surgery a number of years ago, I think I did OK as her caregiver. I certainly didn’t feel put out or that my schedule was being infringed upon. I felt honored to be able to help Patty when she was laid up. However good I might have been assisting Patty, I wasn’t close to being as wonderful as Patty has been to me. I get all choked up as I think about it as I write this blog. I have a lot of blessings in my life, but my wife is the most wonderful of them all.

My hip replacement surgery was done today at Willamette Falls Hospital in Oregon City. The surgery was at 2:00 pm, and I was home by 8:00 pm. It was an enjoyable experience. All the nurses and doctors were super friendly and very helpful. The spinal block worked well, and the stuff they gave me to knock me out worked well. I had a nice four-hour nap. The doctor looked at the hip he took out and said it was a mess😳! Today, I used a cane to leave the hospital made by hand with black ebony wood that I bought in Sierra Leone about ten years ago. It is a nice cane, very heavy and stout. I whacked a coon with it that ran into our bedroom a couple of years ago, and it worked well for that. I expect that when the spinal block wears off, my new hip will get to hurting a lot, but I have an entire bottle of painkillers, so I expect that I will be fine. I plan on riding my stationary bike for 15 minutes or longer tomorrow, depending on how I feel.

I look forward to standing up straight and walking normally in the days ahead. And then when I get my second one done, maybe even walking a half marathon!

My favorite verses in the Bible now are Philippians 3:20-21: “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”

I got a piece of a new and greatly improved body today, but not a glorified one. That day is not too far away, and I am looking forward to it. Only those who love Jesus can look forward to that day with me. 

So, I am sitting in my chair, having just gotten home from church, thinking about what to do the rest of this afternoon and evening. I thought, tomorrow I am going to have major surgery and have my hip replaced. I could die! I should do something special. Then I thought that if there were still a “Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour” around, I would go and order a “Pig’s Trough” and eat the whole thing myself. There used to be one in Portland when I was in college in the 60’s. It was one of the favorite spots for kids in my college. I took Patty there on our second date. The Pig’s Trough” was a giant ice cream Sunday with everything on it: Carmel, chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, nuts, Marciano cherries, bananas, and whipped cream. It was meant for two people. I ordered one, thinking Patty would eat half of it with me, but she informed me that she was very allergic to bananas and dared not eat the ice cream that had touched the bananas, so I ordered her a regular Sunday, and I ate the entire “Pig’s Trough” myself. When I finished, about six of the wait staff came out, put a hat that looked like a pig on my head, and sang a loud song, “Congratulations, you made a pig of yourself at Farrell’s.” I was embarrassed and wondered what this wonderful girl I had with me thought.

I have been on this diet for the last three months and have lost 20 pounds. I have had zero sugar during this time. But in a moment of weakness, I asked one of my grandkids, who drive, to buy me two Snickers ice cream bars. They have tons of chocolate and Carmel with ice cream. I put them in a bowl, covered them with whipped cream, and ate them slowly. I am allergic to sugar, so I am unsure how the rest of the day and night will go, but that sure tasted good. Now, I am ready for my surgery. 

My hip replacement surgery is on Monday. Several people have asked me if I am nervous. Not so far; I have hardly thought about it until someone asks me a question. I no longer get nervous, worried, or anxious about much of anything. Years ago, I used to get nervous and apprehensive about almost everything. On Saturday nights, I would get sick to my stomach and often throw up from nerves about preaching the following day. In February of 1989, I went to my first Pastor’s prayer summit. That four-day event and the dozen books I read on prayer in the next six months changed my life. At the summit, Joe Aldrich said you can tell if you are praying enough by your anxiety level. Pray until you have peace that passes all comprehension. I have followed that guideline since then, so if I feel nervous, I pray some more. It works very well for me.

I start every day with a to-do list I wrote the night before. I usually put more things on my list than I get done, so I will push to try and get everything done, but today, I got everything crossed off. I finished working on my sermon for Sunday, I got my boat uncovered and ready to go fishing, I drove to a friend’s house and picked up a bunch of fishing equipment they were getting rid of, I split firewood for an hour with my grandson’s help, I reviewed 150 Bible verses, I did all of my basic disciplines including exercising, and I took my wife on a date, we went and saw “Mission Impossible.” Whooooeeeeee, that movie will wear you out! With my achy hips, I am good for about 30 minutes on my feet, and then I need to take a break. I usually do that in my chair and review Bible verses while sitting. I said I reviewed 150 verses, but that was 30 verses at a time in five different rest times. I came in and sat down seven times, but I took a short nap in two of them. Back in the days when I ran marathons, I would run for ten minutes and then walk for one. That system worked well for me and allowed me to finish strong. I have been pastoring for 50 years, and I have had someone else preach for me ten different times each year. I have faithfully taken at least a day off every week from any ministry work. I went to our kids’ concerts, basketball games and fished regularly. In his book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey calls one of the habits “sharpening your saw.” He said that you can keep sawing wood even when your saw gets dull because you don’t think you have the time to stop sawing to sharpen it, but pretty soon, you are getting very little wood sawn because the saw is so dull. Wise people know when and how to sharpen their saw.

Energy, motivation, and strength all get to be more of a challenge as I get older and as I get more ailments such as arthritis and bum hips. I have developed a seven-part plan to manage my personal energy crisis. 1. I try to read my goals every day. I have my year goals, my monthly goals, and my weekly goals. Often, my low energy is just a result of a lack of mental focus and motivation. Reading my goals works well for mentally stirring me up to get out of my chair and do something. 2. God strengthens those who ask for it, so I ask a lot. I ask first thing in the morning as I try to get my internal motor started, when I sit down to rest and stay in my chair longer than 15 minutes, and before I start a complex project like splitting firewood. 3. Whenever I finish any task or project, I thank God for the strength He gave me to accomplish what I just did; the more we say thank you to God, the more He will respond to our requests. 4. I exercise self-control and don’t verbally complain about being tired. Complaining makes whatever we are complaining about worse. 5. On the flip side, I say out loud, I can do this. It might take me a little longer than it used to, but I can do it, piece of cake. I acknowledge that weariness is primarily a feeling, and I don’t have to act the way I feel. 6. I ride my exercise bike every day. 7. I stay faithful to all of my daily basic spiritual disciplines.