Eating Primally

My new Cardiac Physician checked me out today and set me free for six months. Insofar as it is possible I am attempting to eat and move and live a lifestyle of heart recovery.

I am following the theory that the problem for diabetic related heart problems is inflammation as a result of insulin sensitivity and insulin overproduction to deal with glucose. There are tomes of evidence that the strict control of carbohydrate intake is the best chance for stopping and or reversing my genetic and whatever else is causing my arteries to clog.

The natural foods I am eating are filling. I will always love bread, but I have not missed it as much as I thought I would, and yes, there are still times when I eat Wasa Bread, or Wheat Crackers, or an occasional sandwich, but it is just a small part of my daily planning.

Breakfast, an omelet with turkey bits and cheese, Lunch, a salad with homemade dressing, and some lowfat cottage cheese with pineapple bits, yummy. Dinner, Chicken breast in wine with mushrooms and white cheese, some leftover salad, and quinoa, my new high protein rice substitute. Hard to call this suffering??

I may get hit by a bus, or develop cancer, but this is something I can responsibly do to help me be a good steward of the time I have left in this body. If the big one hits my heart, I will not regret this effort.

I love the people I am connecting with in the Primal/Paleo side of eating. I enjoy the crowds at my gym of people of all ages moving, stretching, and lifting. I am kind of encouraged that a fine group of teenagers are working out regularly. Mark Sisson or Marks Daily Apple, and the Primal Blueprint have helped me a bunch, and my new educational cookbook by Sally Fallon is named Nourishing Traditions. Yum.

Life is Challenging

I learned that the Giant Sequoia's only live at a certain band of altitude, they trive in the heights.

No matter where you live, you will be surrounded by people facing changes and challenges. My life has returned to normal after a serious life threatening heart problem. I sat with a man yesterday who has been handling severe back pain for almost a year that has changed the quality of his life.

Another man has a wife who no longer knows him and tries to escape him in public. I have a friend at the gym whose beautiful mountain home is being threatened by Arizonas high country wildfire.

Life is sweet and life is tough, and if I understand Paul’s gospel, it has a purpose in our lives because we are God’s project. We are hammered on an anvil that is pleasant and painful, for an ongoing restoration project in which our character is more important than the present tent of our habitation, and the stuff that surrounds us.

Our response and our endurance bear fruit unto the ages. We suffer a little while and find comfort to keep on keeping on until we cross the river. There is nothing wrong with hoping and praying that each situation will improve, that loss with be avoided, but there is nothing ultimately tragic if those events change us and lead us to become those who overcome their trials with faith.

Vacation withdrawal

Now that it is June I find myself longing for some out of town scenery. We made a personal commitment to remodel instead of travel this summer. I am totally with that decision, and the joy of our new eating space is deep and satisfying.

It does not however, extinguish my desire to hear the ocean crash the shore, to see what kind of stores occupy the downtown of a new place. Until this desire passes, I shall look at pictures of old vacations, create some staycations around town.

If I had the resources, I would visit Dixie again, see my sisters up in Minnesota and New York, wet my toes in San Diego, and find someplace cool enough for a jacket.

How can I top this view of town called Hanalei.

Recovering the aionian Gospel of God

God did behave badly in the Old Covenant. People were judged. Uzzah incurred God's anger in the rather innocent act of stabilizing the ark as it was being returned to Israel. To the modern Atheist this indicts God and makes Him unworthy or worship.

If you see God speaking through the ages, then the harshness of the Old Covenant helps you understand the power and glory of the New Covenant. You also see that Uzzah will live again. Yes, there is a sense in which he was the victim of a series of violations of God's desire for the symbol of His presence and blessing. the incident unnerved David and he sent the ark away, where it resumed its power to bless.

Now we know that God has the power to bless and curse, and more than that, the power to bring blessing out of curse, and to reverse the curse in his own good time. I grasp the ultimate victory of God, and can rejoice in His jealousy for His own name and fame, for it will be ours as well when He totally destroys the work of the evil one.

Captain Jack Sparrow

Last summer we encountered the crew of Pirates IV setting up camp at Hanalei, Kauai at the ball field of the Lutheran School. Scores of white trucks passing by were quite exciting. We were eager to see how the island would play a backdrop in the adventure we have enjoyed.

We recognized the beautiful interior shots, but of course the play of real and fantasy is what made this series so fascinating. You could never tell when Jack was improvising with great luck, or just was a genius who planned so many moves ahead that he always comes out on top.

The absence of the beloved characters from the early movies made this effort seem worn out, but the mermaid theme, the Christian Character, and the incredible scenery still created a spectacle. So many people find work in a major movie, all over the world. Of Course we waited through the credits for the teaser that opens the possibility for lover's revenge. A fun night out.

I graduated from Belhaven College in Jackson, Ms in June of 1972. Hard to realize that I will have a 40 year reunion next year. It’s a small Presbyterian College that is now a University. My four years there were great and foundational to my life in so many ways.

Today I led as Bible Study at Ocotillo Village Retirement Home, and the lady next to me graduated from Belhaven in the 30s. Small world. She knew President Gillespie, and his son who was Dr. Gillespie, my roommates father in law.

It was a woman’s college until the early 60’s, some of my spiritual mentors were in the early men’s classes. I had the privilege of teaching there as an adjunct professor for two years after my ordination.

Each time I am back in Dixie I drive through the campus with a sense of gratitude for the education and the fun I had there.

Sharing Pictures is a blessing

Today our Church Directory arrived. I have enjoyed recording our events with my camera and seeing them published like this is gratifying. Pictures have always had a large impact on me. I remember loving to flip through the Life Magazine when it came and I learned so much history graphically.

My family always had a Kodak of some sort, and when I purchased my first SLR, a Ricoh, I was hooked. When It broke I had a Yashica fixed Lens, some more inexpensive cameras, until the early digitals came out in the late 90s.

Borrowing a slide converter to save some of Mom's slides, a digital scanner enabled me to save my big box of pictures I took from the younger years of our family. And of course, the last several years have seen me pointing and shooting a just about everything.

Truth be known, most people do not enjoy looking at other peoples photos. I do, and I visit my own favorites quite often.