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.

Tonight is my last night in Soldotna, Alaska, at “Funny River Fishing Lodge.” I have been on a diet for the previous three months and have lost over 20 pounds. I thought I might gain a little this week, but I have been doing well on my eating, so I decided to splurge just a little bit tonight. I popped one microwave popcorn bag and put half a cube of melted butter on it. I am eating it slowly, one kernel at a time, and enjoying the moment!

This week, my goal was to get my boat all fixed up and ready to take out in the ocean with people in it to catch halibut. I put a new Honda motor on it and a new floor in the boat. When removing the old floor, we removed the wiring under the floor, which ran the boat lights, horn, bilge pumps, and fish finder. Yesterday, I tried to rewire everything but could not get the bilge pumps to work. I worked on it for several hours and was so frustrated that I finally went to bed. In the middle of the night, I had a dream and rewired the bilge pumps perfectly. They ran like a charm. When I woke up, I immediately wrote down what I had done in my dream. I knew it would be gone if I waited even a few minutes. I went out and wired the bilge pumps the way I had in my dream, and they worked perfectly. In the past, I have written blogs in my dreams and even wrote an entire sermon once. Many Bible characters had dreams of God and of the future. But I have dreams about wiring bilge pumps. Oh well, it was fun.

Tonight is my last night in Soldotna, Alaska, at “Funny River Fishing Lodge.” I have been on a diet for the previous three months and have lost over 20 pounds. I thought I might gain a little this week, but I have been doing well on my eating, so I decided to splurge just a little bit tonight. I popped one microwave popcorn bag and put half a cube of melted butter on it. I am eating it slowly, one kernel at a time, and enjoying the moment!

This week, my goal was to get my boat all fixed up and ready to take out in the ocean with people in it to catch halibut. I put a new Honda motor on it and a new floor in the boat. When removing the old floor, we removed the wiring under the floor, which ran the boat lights, horn, bilge pumps, and fish finder. Yesterday, I tried to rewire everything but could not get the bilge pumps to work. I worked on it for several hours and was so frustrated that I finally went to bed. In the middle of the night, I had a dream and rewired the bilge pumps perfectly. They ran like a charm. When I woke up, I immediately wrote down what I had done in my dream. I knew it would be gone if I waited even a few minutes. I went out and wired the bilge pumps the way I had in my dream, and they worked perfectly. In the past, I have written blogs in my dreams and even wrote an entire sermon once. Many Bible characters had dreams of God and of the future. But I have dreams about wiring bilge pumps. Oh well, it was fun.

I enjoy going to different churches as I travel. Today, we went to Soldotna Bible Chapel. I have been at this church half a dozen times over the years when we were here fishing. It is a relatively large church of about 400 people this morning. The preaching is solid, and the worship is about half hymns and older choruses. I enjoyed it very much. I have been to every kind and flavor of church imaginable and enjoy most of them. Several people greeted us, and one fellow talked at length about where we were from and what we were doing. A lady there grew up in Trout Lake, and I was her youth pastor for a year. It was just by chance that she saw me. It was fun talking to her. God’s blessings in our lives are conditional. His blessings are rewards for living for him and obeying His Word. One of the significant reasons He blesses us is because we love His Church and are involved in making her beautiful. Jesus loves the church; the church is the body of Christ, the Bride of Christ. It is a good area to consider: what are we doing to make our church healthier? What is our general attitude toward our church and the church in general? Don’t ever do or say anything to create disunity in your church; that is a quick way to get in trouble with Jesus.

One of the most amazing statements in the Bible that overwhelms me with its sheer absurdity is that God thinks about me often, and in fact, He thinks about me more often than all of the sand of the sea.

Psalms 139:17-18 How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is their sum! If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand.

When I think about the number of people in the world right now, God can focus on just me and think about me more times than all of the sand on the seashore. When I have selfish or bitter thoughts or say thoughtless things to people, I wonder what He thinks about me. When I think about making the Lord sad by my behavior, it grieves me. My desire to please Him is the driving motivation of my life. The problem is that I am much more familiar with what makes Him sad than what brings Him joy.