Heart Problems

I have not been feeling well this year. I had promised to get some music out to a friend in January and I don't think I sent it until April. I just don't seem to have the stamina that I used to have.

Initially I tried to transfer the old cassette tape from the early 1980's to another cassette, but the sound quality didn't come through. One of the songs was garbage and my friend wanted me to perform a couple of songs I had written. I could not find any recordings, so I got out the old synth and Fostex 4 track.

I transferred everything to 1/4" reel to reel tape and then to the new cassette. It was a struggle because I am so exhausted. I play guitar every night before going to bed and my fingerpicking chops are really coming along. But sitting down and recording is a chore. And it used to be so enjoyable. I am just not feeling well.

I was supposed to get together with another friend this weekend and record one or two songs for a project. However my heart went into atrial fibrillation and wound up in the hospital.

I've been to the doctor several times and she has chalked it up to being 56 years old, having diabetes, high blood pressure and being overweight. She upped my blood pressure meds a couple of months ago.

I went to see Dr. Tcheng about ten days ago. I had told her my blood pressure was too low, 105/60, so she cut the blood pressure meds back. The blood pressure went up, but so did my heart rate.

I also chronically have trouble with sinus drainage. Last week I took some over-the-counter decongestants. I had taken them before with no problem, however the combination of the heart meds I take and the decongestants caused my heart rate went up to around 150 beats per minute and would not slow down. At one point I became very faint while in the bathroom and called for Linny to help get me to bed. This all happened Thursday between 9 pm and 1:30 am.

Linny, of course, wanted me to go to the hospital, but since I am a bonehead I just wanted to try to sleep.

The next morning things still had not gotten better. So I got into my family doctor and was sent to the hospital. I found out there that I was in what is known as atrial fibrillation, which meant the upper chamber of my heart was beating too fast to pump the proper amount of blood throughout my body. My heart rhythm was irregular.

I was put on an intravenous cardiac drug to slow my heart down. I went through two units of this drug, plus some other medications including anti coagulation drugs taken by injection in the stomach area. Apparently blood clots are a big concern with this situation.

By Saturday morning my heart rate had slowed down considerably, but was still irregular. The hospital doctor told me there was a good chance that I would have to take an anti-coagulant for the rest of my life if the problem did not subside. I got a phone call from Terry Fisher and we spent some time in prayer.


Within a half an hour my cardiologist walked in my hospital room and announced my heart had "converted" back to normal rhythm. I was better and would not need anti-coagulants. He then ordered the IV to be discontinued, but asked that I stay another night for observation.

I spent another night at the hospital just to make sure that I would not have another episode since I was now taking oral meds. I was able to come home on Sunday morning. I'm feeling great. My heart rate is holding steady. My blood pressure is good, 110/70 and my blood glucose has been from 121 to 90.

I thank Terry Fisher for his care and concern. I have no doubt that God put it in his heart to call and pray with me. I give Him the glory for answering our prayers by healing me and returning my health.

I was poised to go back to work this morning. I even drove there. Shortly before starting, Linny called and said the cardiologist wants to run more tests. So I went home and will head off to the hospital again. I am putting all my trust in The Lord to take care of me and do His Will.

Regarding Yesterday's Post / Pin Dancing

So yesterday when I was home sick and still sort of feverish I put up a couple of ridiculous pictures of the Icthus symbol eating the Darwin fish.

At heart I suppose I am a Fundamentalist. When I used to talk about the Jesus Movement at schools and churches I always would say that I did not claim to have the corner on truth, but that I knew who the Truth is. Unfortunately that sentence was always grammatically bad, what with my dangling participle. And just as I don't have the corner on truth, I don't have the corner on knowledge either. However there are plenty of folks that lay claim to both.

About 30 miles south of my home sweet home town of Newport (motto: "It's always lovely this time of year") is The Creation Museum. This is a structure was ironically situated near Big Bone Lick State Park, which was named for the giant prehistoric fossils found on the park's land. Apparently the area was quite salty at one time. Which made it a wonderful place for the dinosaurs to picnic as the Tyranosaurus Rex must have enjoyed a little salt on his Stegasaurus.




I am not certain what The Creation Museum's take on the fossils in the nearby park, since there is no mention of brontosaurs or raptors in the first several books of the Bible. The only mention I recall is of the Leviathan. The Leviathan of course is one of the books of Hebraic law. No wait that is Leviticus. So yeah, the Leviathan was the sea monster.



I think later there was mention of the Behemoth. Which reminds me of a panel in my favorite cartoon strip, Pogo, in which Albert the Alligator is pondering about a robin being one of the harbingers of spring and says, "Behemoth or be he bird, that's the prettiest song I've ever heard." Answers In Genesis, the operator of The Creation Museum claims the Leviathan was actually a large alligator. So was Albert.

The Creation Museum is dedicated to disproving Evolutionism and of course the Scopes Monkey trial not only successfully gave a legal precident to disprove Evolution, but was also successful in driving the public's attention away from the main focus of the Bible .

I for one don't care what sequence of events occured in the past. Whether we happened, evolved or were found under cabbage leaves is not something that will change life as we know it.

It makes no difference to me if dinosaurs lived before Adam and Eve started the first nudist camp. I does not change my opinion if some of the early stories in the Bible hint at being myths handed down from wandering tribe to wandering tribe and embellished as they were retold. I don't care if I am a monkey's uncle or a monkey is my uncle. It is well documented that Charles Darwin went through a very tough mental and emotional struggle wrestling with his own Christian beliefs and faith before making his writings public.

I know that my Redeemer lives and I know that God takes care of His own. I love to read His Word and everytime I read it again I learn something new.

So let's get to the point of what really matters. This of course is how many angels can dance on the head of a pin? This age old theological discussion can only be answered when one considers the variable; what sort of dance are they doing?

Survival Of The Fittest

No Illeagle Missionary Work

From the Charlotte Observer:

Despite fierce criticism from some Christian activists, N.C.-based evangelist Franklin Graham said Sunday he's sticking by his opposition to any "illegal" missionary work during this summer's Beijing Olympics.

Graham, who recently met with state-sanctioned church leaders and government officials in China, told the Observer that as head of the Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, he obviously supports evangelism. But he said he worries that the planned influx of American and other foreign missionaries into China for the Olympics could jeopardize freedoms Chinese Christians have won in recent years from the Communist government.


"I would be against any groups that would be coming in and encouraging people to break Chinese law," said Graham, who has no plans to attend the Olympics or send any missionaries. "As foreigners, we can come in and make some mistakes that would hurt the (Chinese) church. Then, long after we're gone, they suffer for it."

When I was a young man and full of pith and vinegar, I think I would have disagreed with Reverend Graham the Younger. However, in my 56th year I think Franklin's statements are very wise.

Nearly 50,000 souls perished in last week's earthquatke that rocked China. The Chinese people do not need preaching and witnessing. What they need now is aide, relief and manpower. May the Church do her job to provide.


And may God Bless us all.

More Controversy For Larry Norman

Throughout his life, Larry Norman was a controversial. He is credited as the Father of Christian Rock music. Many of his songs were aimed at the shortcomings of The Church of the day and their lack of putting forth the Good News, helping the poor and caring for their own.

No doubt, just like all of us, Larry had some issues. And when your life is lived under the spot lights, perhaps those issues become more visible. So as he was contriversial in life, so he is in death.


I am a member and infrequent contributor to a yahoo discussion group concerning Christian Music.

Recently an Australia woman named Jennifer McCallum posted the same message to several Christian discussion groups. She claims to be the mother of a son born to her in 1989 that she states was fathered by Larry Norman. This occurred during a time she was a backup singer for his touring band.




In her letter she goes on to say that Larry promised to look after her and her son, but never followed up. She then claims that he met them in 1994 and treated them to a trip to Disneyland, but never followed through with his promise of taking care of her and reputed son. She then states that her son went to England to a Larry Norman concert to speak with him, but the event did not go well. 

She also references Randy Stonehill and his wife into the posting. She ends by stating she requested that the Norman family provide her and her son with Airline tickets to attend Larry's funeral and was upset when they did not respond to her request.

Larry's brother Charles Norman posted to the group that he was aware of the rumors of someone in Australia claiming Larry had sired her son. He states he has spoken with the woman by phone and communicated through an attorney requesting that a birth certificate be produced and a DNA test be performed.

Charles states that some of the events described in Jennifer's post do not add up. For instance she states she was with Larry during a 10 week concert tour of Russia in 1989.

Charles states that he and Larry went to Russia for a 2 day concert in 1988, but never in 1989. Additionally the birth certificate she did produce does not have a name listed as the child's father. That line was left blank
.

I am very much aware in disagreements there are always at least two sides. I am also aware there are many people, that are unaccepting of the reality, much less the truth. My opinion of the situation is this lady had years when Larry was alive and healthy to pursue this paternity claim through legal venues in her country and in the United States and State Court system. If her words are true, she is not only causing added grief to the Norman family, but to her own son and her family. From her own words she did not pursue her claim through proper channels in a timely manner. Just like the rest of us, she needs to deal with what was put on the plate before her and live with it. Be grateful and accepting that she has a loving son and move on with her own life.


However, we must also consider the validity of documents and claims posted on the internet. For all we know Jennifer McCallum might just be a guy on the internet making up contriversial claims.

Black Chritianity...

...is Christianity. 

In my mind there is no Black or White Christianity. I've been to churches in which the congregation was made up entirely of African American people and more often congregations that were entirely populated by Caucasians. And I heard the Word of God presented in each. I will also point out that there were an just as many ladies with big hats and flowery dresses in both Black and White churches.

Thankfully in 2008 we are seeing more diversity in the Body of Christ. I attribute this to people seeking a personal relationship with Jesus and a desire to do God's Will. Perhaps in the past there was more of a desire to hold onto cultural identity instead of individuality.

There definitely was more of a liberation doctrine in Black churches in the past than in White churches. This makes sense based on African American history in the United States.

I think the Jesus Movement was a large factor in liberating White congregations from a congregation mentality to a more personal God-seeking outlook. I attribute this in part to the events that preceeded The Jesus Movement. The March on Washington, Assasination of Martin Luther King, the riot in Watts and riots throughout the United States, the Viet Nam War and the search for identity that we referred to as the culture of the '60's, drugs, peace and free love.






The time was ripe and God had a plan.









Recently the local PBS TV affiliate did a program about the religious structures in Cincinnati. In the 19th century the Jews of Cincinnati built beautiful synagogues in the downtown area. The documentary demonstrated the leading factor for migration from the city proper was urban renewal in the poorer areas of town. As the Jews moved to the northern part of the city, Black congregations purchased the synagogues and moved their families to the surrounding area. This happened several times in the past 150 years as members tried to mainstain the cultural identity and boundaries.

What brought these thoughts to mind was the recent headlines about Reverend Jerimiah Wright, the retired Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ. Here is a man that most of us had never heard of until about a month ago. The recent venting of his radical statements regarding Black Christianity have been hot topics in the news as of late.

I've seen this man interviewed on TV and read his words in the online news. And I've heard the sound bites of his sermons. The divisiveness of his language gets my ire up. (After all, I am of Irish heritage)

Keep in mind that in the world of public relations, bad press...good press, it's all the same as long as you get your name in the public eye, you wind up with your 15 minutes of fame. However I would rather he not drag the Body Of Christ into his debacle with Candidate Obama.



In the words of Jesus from Matthew 7:16 "You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"