Since my stroke, I have more and more instances of being misundersood. It could be by me wife, it could be by my secretary, it could be in church; I know what I want to say, and I think I am saying things clearly, but people don't know what I am talking about. Sometimes it is because I think of something, then say it assuming everyone knows what I am talking about. The problem is that they don't know what I was thinking. Sometimes it is because I think I know what someone else is talking about, so I respond, only to find out that wht they are talking about and what I had heard are two different things. The truth is, it is irritating. Not so much (I hope) for the people who I talk with, but it is really irritating for me. I want everyone to understand me perfectly the first time. At times, I even argue the point, even though most times it is because the other people don't know what I am saying. It reminds me of what Paul told the Corinthian church. In 1 Corinthians 6, Paul is talking about believers who go to law against each other, but the application can be made in this point: Why do we argue so much? Paul said "Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather [let yourselves] be cheated?" Now, I realize that for most people it goes against everything we believe in to accept the fact that we might be wrong, but let me ask this: Will the world cease rotating on its axis if you are not right in this one occassion? If not, why argue? Why not accept the fact you might be wrong (if you are not, then no one needs to know that except you). The truth is that the name of Christ is diminshed every time we let someone else lead us into a confrontation. Why not accept the wrong so that Christ's name can be lifted up? What is more important?
On December 8, 2008, my life changed forever. I had a double sided cerebellar stroke with 2 brain stem compressions. It was not until December 10, 40 hours after my stroke, that surgery was finally done to relieve the pressure. Dr. Piper, the neuro-surgeon from Iowa Methodist hospital in Des Moines, told my wife that surgery was nothing more than an attempt to save my life, but that it would not erase the deficiencies as a result of the stroke. Although she admits that she did not really understand what Dr. Piper had just said, my wife, Laura, agreed to the surgery and the care team performed a decrompessive craniotomy, to hopefully relieve the pressure and allow my brain to function somewhat normally. For those who have followed my blog for the last 14+ years, the surgery was successful, I returned to the church and I now live a relatively normal life, although I do have some pretty severe, though not always visible, defieciencies. I really thought that life could not get any worse th
Comments
Post a Comment