Stretch

Tomorrow, I go back to the surgeon about my Fabulous Femur Fracture. It'll be six weeks since my accident. Six weeks ago, when they took X-rays of my Fabulous Femur Fracture, they also saw the bullet, down by my left knee. The bullet is from me being shot in a hold-up 45 years ago. It was a fair trade. He got my grandfather's gold retirement watch. I got a bullet. (No, it doesn't set off the metal detectors at the airport.) They decided to leave the bullet in. Trying to get it out might cause more damage. I sure wasn't gonna argue! 45 years ago, when I left the hospital with a bullet in my leg, they didn't give me any therapy. They just handed me a cane. Sent me out the door. I limped pretty good. But my knee was really stiff. Once, at work, my foot caught on the edge of the rug. That rug bent my stiff knee. I yelled loud enough to be heard in California! I wish I'd been offered therapy. Help me stretch out my stiff knee. Now, I'm getting therapy. They got me laying down. Lifting my leg up towards my chest. Ow! Then I'm supposed to use my hands to pull my leg up even more. Ow even more!! It hurts to stretch! That's the problem I got, with that darn Jesus. Jesus is always asking me to stretch! Not my leg. Jesus the therapist is always calling me to stretch my mind and my heart. Where I live, the fastest growing religious group is the NONES. When you ask them their religion, they say, "NONE." Yet Jesus the therapist challenges me to stretch my mind and heart. Jesus the therapist compares God's Work to a mustard seed that's always, always growing. Always growing?! I don't see growing. I see a lot of people staying home Sunday mornings. Maybe I'm looking in the wrong direction? Maybe the growing is growing in (unseen) trust. Or growing in (unseen) courage. Or growing in (unseen) hope. I got a friend who's a person of real prayer and real faith. He says, "There's always a way forward." That's mustard seed faith. "There's always a way forward. " Jesus the therapist challenges me to stretch my mind and heart. As I go around, I get discouraged. I say, "God, you don't stand a chance!"

For today, I will stretch my mind and my heart. Stretch by going with, "There's always a way forward." God is at work, going forward.