Listen

January 8th. It was a Thursday. The forecast was that it was gonna be sunny and pretty warm for January. Maybe even 50 degrees. So Dave the over doer had big plans. I was gonna do church work. And I was gonna get out in the yard and rake up those dead leaves that had blown over from the neighbor's yard. And I was even gonna wash the car. Big plans. Instead, I woke up at 4 am with pain in my gut. It felt like a baseball was on fire, in my gut. Off to the hospital Emergency Room. They decide-wrongly- that the problem is my bladder. So they give me a pill-Flomax-that's supposed to help me go to the bathroom and fix my bladder problem. Going to the hospital is like taking your car to the garage. If they find the wrong problem, and fix the wrong problem, the real problem keeps on. And so it was for me. I got sent home, but the pain got worse. Back to the hospital. Finally, after a long day of terrible pain, they finally do another test and find out the real problem is my small intestine has become twisted. Emergency surgery to fix the real problem. But remember, the pill, Flomax, is still on my chart---wrongly. When I leave the hospital, they don't tell me that the surgery leaves a scar where food can get caught and block me up again. And so that happens in February. I feel like I'm gonna pass out during a funeral at church and end up back in the ER. And a doctor says to me, "Oh, you're on Flomax." "No! I'm not on Flomax! That's on my chart because they gave me the wrong diagnosis in January!" "Oh, okay. We'll take it off your chart." They unclog me in three days. Thank you very much! But at the end of May, I get clogged again. Oh no! And this time, when I'm in the ER, a doctor says to me, "Oh! You're on Flomax." "No! I'm not on Flomax! That's on my chart because they gave me the wrong diagnosis in January!" "Oh, okay. We'll take it off your chart." They unclog me in three days. Thank you very much! And then, on June 12, I try to break a stick, and the stick wins. Instead of breaking, the stick goes, BOING!, and throws me down the hill. I shatter my femur. And when the ambulance gets me to the ER, the trauma PA says, "Oh. You're on Flomax." "NO! I'm NOT on Flomax!!!! That's on my chart because they gave me the WRONG diagnosis back in January!!!!!" "Oh, okay. We'll take it off your chart." So I get the operation to fix my busted leg. Days later, I get transferred to a rehab center. To work on my busted leg. My first day there, I'm sitting in my room, with my mouth hanging open. The day nurse come in. And she says---get ready---"Here's your Flomax." Three times at the hospital, I was told three times that Flomax would be taken off my chart. And here it is, I'm still getting Flomax!!! Shall I say, I was pissed off?!! Hardy-har!

In today's Bible reading, Jesus tells a story. He's always tellin' stories. A the end of the story, Jesus says, "Let the one who has ears to hear, LISTEN." LISTEN isn't just having the words go into my brain. LISTEN includes allowing the words to go into brain. To change my attitudes and actions. Change my character. For example, today is my first time back at church in a month. I have my usual performance anxiety. My usual fear I'm gonna screw it up. As I try, imperfectly, to let go and trust God, I will remember my friend Dorothy saying at the beginning of a worship service, "It is a privilege to worship the Lord." So, as I worry about not being good enuf, I will also try to remember, "It is a privilege to worship the Lord." Maybe I'll even go with the flow...